MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - BC's Top 10 Boxing Fights for MMA Fans To Watch

Episode Date: February 17, 2022

Brian Campbell is here to break down his top 10 boxing fights for MMA fans to watch. BC discusses what made these fights soo special and why an MMA fan would enjoy them. Morning Kombat’ is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Bullhorn and wherever else you listen to podcasts.    For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit:morning kombat.store   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing the new McSpicy from McDonald's. It looks like a regular chicken sandwich, but it's actually a spicy chicken sandwich. McSpicy. Consider yourself warned. Limited time only at participating McDonald's in Canada. Quick honorable mention, the 2013 Marcos Maidana-Adrien Broner brawl that aired on Showtime in one of boxing's best years in recent memory. Don't overlook this one.

This was boxing Twitter's biggest win of all time because A.B. Adrian Broner was calling himself the next Floyd and was so flamboyant that people just wanted to see him get served. And Marcos Maidana turned out to be the perfect foil in San Antonio and dropped him twice early. But then Broner didn't go away and figured out after trying to quit midway through by following that he might be able to dig in and fight. And that was a great forgotten fight. And obviously the Israel Vasquez, Rafael Marquez trilogy, the third one coming in 2008, it could be in the top five of anybody's best list of the last 20 years.ke and i went deep on these three fights it's a four fight series but it's the trilogy first that really matters um for the morning combat pandemic showtime classics i think you can still find on youtube right now so uh always a great trilogy brutal shit but in some ways it's like they were almost too perfect for each other. Like there's so little contrast between them,

like style wise or anything else that it's like, it's a really great taste, but it's a lot of that taste. And it's classic though. And if you're talking about sort of off the beaten path fights, 2006 had this French war between Mehar Manchapur and Soms and Chichowal. Yeah, that's a mouthful. It became the fight of the year globally, and in part

because formerly of ESPN, Dan Rayfield really pushed it on a high level to get people to take notice. It's just a savage, savage 12-round war. Just two southpaws in France, and they're just, I mean, it's just it's insane.

It's really insane. So check that out. Also, in the top 10 BC fights, I was their list. Forgot about this one. It's got to be mentioned. The first Chocolatito, Serisa Kett, Sohr Rung, Vasai fight, Madison Square Garden, Komein to Triple G versus Danny Jacobs. Bloody Chocolatito was the pound for pound king coming in,

and that perfect window, Floyd had gone away. Klitschko had lost. Andre Ward had just retired. There was an opening there. Chocolate Tito filled it on the back end of his career. And then this was a, a crazy war. So check that shit out.

You know, I love Shane Mosley versus Oscar de la Hoya one from 2000. One of my favorite fights of all time, high speed chest at its finest. All right, here we go. 10 fights for an MMA fan to cross over. You must see boxing wise to get a little taste of what we do here on this side.

Number 10, it happened in 2008 in the welterweight division. Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, part one. They were on a collision course to fight each other for a while. And this was really banging the drum to be like hard you know coto's a star but this is like hardcore fight fans dream at the

same time margarito from mexico and he's just like the he's the bad guy in the movie he's just a motherfucker you know what i mean and he loves being that guy but he'll take all the punishment you got you have no idea how he can make weight in this weight class and just doesn't stop coming and koto's the the unbeaten star and and he's and he's a great boxer but you know going to the body going to the liver with the left hook this is like when koto used to go after it and puerto rico mexico i mean it had everything right and then the fight was unbelievable and cotto dominated the first half but you're watching the it's like you're watching the titanic slowly sink you're like oh crap margarito's like he's still coming like he's

still coming is he gonna break the will eventually and eventually he does and it's a great all-time great fight but of course it's stained to a large degree by the fact that Antonio Margarito, you know, not too long after against Shane Mosley in that knockout loss, was caught in the locker room beforehand with the plaster of Paris, with the loaded wraps,

with the cement in his hands. And then you look back at Margarito's run to that point, you know, the Kermit Cintron fight and the punishment he took against Paul Williams, which was an amazing war. And you're like, man, you have a load of gloves in those two? And then you're like, oh, the Cotto beating,

he, I mean, Cotto's face afterwards is a, it's a car wreck. I mean, it's, you know, that rivalry between them because of this it fueled so perfectly into that rematch and it was a koto win at madison square garden 2011 i was in the arena it was incredible it was just a scene but you know margarito was a little washy by then but this fight if you can understand with the probability of the loaded gloves for margarito which which it does change the way you watch it it really does but it's a great fight with a probability of the loaded gloves for Margarito, which it does change the way you watch it. It really does.

But it's a great fight with a lot of that energy in the building in Las Vegas of like nation versus nation, man versus man. I mean, it's good shit. It's good shit. All right, number nine is a classic middleweight championship bout that feels like it could have come out of the 1940s. It happened in 2007, and it's the ghost kelly pavlik in part one of his two fight series against jermaine

taylor um taylor was a middleweight champion of the world you know he had fought bernard hopkins twice and and it was really damn good and he was well-rounded and he hadn't yet it hadn't yet fallen apart for him and when it fell apart it was it was crazy but he was still the guy and kelly pavlik is this white dude with with with no hairline from youngstown pa and and he's you know he's m he's mma factory town tough like he's he's factory there's no question i mean he's hard scrabble as shit and he can punch but as you're watching him each time he's taking another step up you're like okay it's cool but like he's gonna get flattened at the highest level like you know like you have sometimes with the white guy you have that sort of built-in like i ain't that good right and uh

this was the fight that you're probably gonna find out that he ain't that good because he came in with so much fanfare and he got to this point and you know, the fight before for Kelly Pavlik, he was in a war and I mean, he took away Edison Miranda and he was near, it was Kelly Pavlik was nearly the fight of the year during fighter of the year during the stretch. But he,

he's in fights, man, he gets hit. I mean, he's a fighter and Taylor gave it to Pavlik early and dropped him and you're like oh the fight's over I've seen this and Steve Smoger had one of the all-time great nights as a referee a fight friendly referee a fighter action fight friendly who's like go ahead you know he lets it keep going he's in there in the right situations and Pavlik turns that corner I

believe this was in Atlantic City and the crowd was going ape shit and when Pavlik rallies to finish him late it's just one of those like swings and momentum so perfectly painted that you know it's like a it's like an old time movie it's like an old classic fight and the roar from the audience and the oh god he is for real you know what I mean like holy shit this kid it's one of those moments you know it catches you off guard uh number eight you know one of the all-time great heavyweight slugfests of all time heavyweight boxing title on the line and it was this weird fight in 2003 that wasn't supposed to happen it was lennox lewis the last fight of his pro career

and he was gonna uh i got i got dead wrong for this when I referenced this a couple weeks ago. Was it Kevin? Not Kevin Johnson. Who was the guy he was supposed to be fighting? Somebody else who you're like, okay, Lance Lewis is going to blow that guy away. And then that guy falls out. And Vitaly Klitschko comes in at the last minute.

And this is before Vitaly Klitschko had permanently cemented his Hall of Fame all-time great resume. And he had been a champion before and had, Vitaly Klitschko had permanently cemented his hall of fame, all time, great resume. And he had been a champion before and had, but that loss he had to Chris bird when people thought he quit because of an injury to his shoulder. And people were like, oh, he's, you know, when it going gets tough against a non puncher, but a great fighter and Chris bird, but a non puncher, you're going to quit. By the way, they would find out in the medical exam, like years later when it went public that like, he was that close to his like shoulder

permanently falling off and and having to like probably be amputated like he was like it was one of the most disastrous physical injuries inside the ring and so Vitaly Klitschko had like something to prove only he's like crazy mayor of uh Kiev like he is today saying I'll go to the front lines of the roar against the Russians if I have to like he went after Lennox Lewis and it was like a Lennox Lewis who was like the detail on the Lennox Lewis career there was always that little fear or teeth Lennox Lewis's chin by the way got knocked out twice but came back to to knock out in the rematch both of those guys and those are the only two he ever lost to so lang sluice is one of those rare all-time great fighters that says i beat everybody i stepped into the ring but because

he had been stopped twice there was always a little bit of fear that like okay maybe that chin isn't isn't great and you can get to it we've seen it twice and there was also that fear that like the tail end of his career is he trying as hard he had filmed that oceans 11 movie or whatever and and didn't wasn't fully trained coming into the uh hasim rockman first fight and he got stopped in south africa and it was you know this wild upset he got him back and he got him back by the way if you haven't seen lennox lewis's knockout of hasim rockman in the rematch he got him back in like the most vicious fuck you way ever i mean that's just not like laid him out but there was like that fear of like well what if he doesn't show up tonight and like fully what if he's not motivated dude klitschko wanted to prove

that he was like the most grimiest assassin of all time and he put on a pace on lennox lewis in the first half of this fight i think i only went six rounds in the end he put a pace on lennox lewis that was like i'm gonna find out right now if I could be the heavyweight champion and you're all going to find out that my balls are made of brass and I would never quit in a fight. And I'm going to show you who I am right now. And you can tell Lennox, like,

you know, it was like, Oh, nobody told me this wasn't an exhibition. I mean, he had that like, Oh shit, I got to fight my way out of this.

Now to Lennox, his credit bought his way out of it. The best he could. Now, like there's times you can watch that fight and oh shit, I got to fight my way out of this. Now to Lennox's credit, fought his way out of it the best he could. Now like there's times you can watch that fight and almost support Larry Merchant's sort of like jabs he was throwing at Lennox in the post-fight interview of like, hey, you're kind of lucky the fight got stopped, right? But then there's also times you can go back and go, nah, dude, Lennox adjusted and put it on this guy.

Either way, Lennox put it on this guy so much that Vitaly's face was falling off. It was falling off. I mean, it on this guy. Either way, Lennox put it on this guy so much that Vitaly's face was falling off. It was falling off. I mean, it was just disgusting. And they stop it, and he goes nuts, and he's all pissed off. But the pace of that war for two, not only elite heavyweights, you know,

Hall of Fame, like almost top 10 heavyweight. I mean, Vitaly's probably not top 10, but like he's right there, right? I mean, these are, to just go at it, at this, I mean, Vitaly's probably not top 10, but like, he's right there, right, I mean, these are, to just go at it, at this, I mean, it's a, it's a sick fight, and you wanted a rematch, and Lennox Lewis waited a year, and then retired, and that, you know, I don't, never ended up getting the rematch, or, you know, Lennox never fought, um, Vlad Klitschko, his brother, uh, except for in that Ocean's 11 thing that they filmed, um, yeah, it's, we, we called it the last great heavyweight fight for a long time until really we finally got AJ,

Anthony Joshua against Klitschko in 2017. And then since then we've had Wilder Fury 3, but classic. Number seven is, it's just a joy to watch this slugfest 2000. Junior middleweight unification felix trinidad unbeaten from puerto rico against unbeaten fernando vargas represent mexico and just a young brash badass in vargas who just is like you know i'm I'm coming on like I mean he's fucking coming

on bro he's coming on every second of his career for the most part but especially before that first loss and the fight was so huge I mean it was a monster pay-per-view for non-heavyweights and it right off the start just delivered and they both get knocked down and you know vargas as he also did in his knockout loss to oscar de la joya a few years later um you know when he would lose at the highest level he'd lose spectacularly you know he'd have his moments but he would um he he took a beating to end this fight and it's a war and it's crazy it's got one of the best intros ever when uh vargas is dressed like Aztec warrior. And there's this fake mountain of like boxes and he's, you know, like a temple and he just kicks it. I mean, it's just it's just it's wacky and it's awesome.

And the and it's Trinidad survive in the storm and showing exactly who the hell he is. And you can always look back on Fernando Vargas, who ended up having a, you know, a very great career. But you're like, man man was it too much too soon could he have been could he have sustained it better and been better you know uh taking his foot off the gas just a little either way he made amazing great fights number six on this list of you know mma fans guide to which boxing fights they should watch. You talk about a great trilogy in the middle 2000s. It's Manny Pacquiao versus Eric Morales, but it's the first chapter of that.

I got serious, serious back into boxing in 2004. I'd still been watching the big fights, but I had taken a few years off of hardcore level for sure. And I mean, the NBA is on fire, you know, of course in the late nineties before that we all had a run in pro wrestling, you know, everybody did it in, in, but I came back because I started sparring in late 2004 and, you know, you get, get knocked around and, and, and, you know, re learning the, the craft of it for the first time. And my hunger for rewatching old fights just became out of this world.

I mean, that's the pre-YouTube last chance for if you can convert all these to VHS and sell them online, you can make good money. And there are people charging a lot of money for these fights. And I'm just buying people's whole career collections. And then I'm like, okay, I'm getting so hardcore into this

what's the next big fight because i got to get myself fired up and i remember talking to this uh tape collector guy in mexico in uh california i'm sorry i'll be a mexican guy and he was a huge eric morales fan and he's like dude eric morales is fighting manny pacquiao at 130 pounds pacquiao is moving up in weight it's like this is the fight this is the one this is the one that we're all been waiting for all the hardcore fans like this is the fight. This is the one. This is the one that we're all been waiting for. All the hardcore fans. Like, this is the fight. And Pacquiao had blown away Marco Antonio Barrera in San Antonio. And Ben, like, you know, tell me how my ass tastes, basically, to the boxing world. We're like, oh, my God.

You know, he's moving up in weight. And, you know, Morales had been through the trilogy with Marco Antonio Barrera. And he had lost the last two fights in that trilogy and he wasn't washed but you're still like is he going to be set up to be blown away by this hurricane forced win that is Manny Pacquiao in the small weight classes and this is just prime Pacquiao finally figuring out what to do with his right hand remember the you know for a while it was he's got this right hook it's his secret it's called manila ice and and it took him a while to become a two-handed fighter but this is when he's putting it together and this is 12 of my favorite rounds in boxing history eric morales gets a close

decision win in the end because he caught pacquiao and pacquiao in his early half of his career didn't like that he did he was a different fighter when he was cut and hurt. And this is like the perfect setup for Eric Morales, who I think is the, he's my favorite badass in boxing history. I mean, he's my campeon. That's why anyone who used to listen to my boxing podcast on CBS Sports knows how I would campeon my heroes in Las Vegas when I'm drunk and off the clock at big time fights with my, you know, media friends.

And it's just like, oh, I love that guy. Let's go up to him. Let's accost him. Let's tell him that, you know, he had no business getting up from, from that. You know, I'd be like, you had no business fighting my Donna with your eye closed, you know, the way votes you got, it's just, it's humbling, you know? And I've done that to a few of my heroes, you know, uh, Castle Castle, my or Joel Castle, my or did that to him too. I've can't be owned a few of them. There's a reason why, because Eric Morales is a badass. And when you hit him, he's the best I've ever seen at the elite level of boxing or MMA,

where he gets so hurt and offended, and you can see the emotion in his face that you landed such a big shot. He's like, oh, no. And he comes, just like drops everything and comes back and just instantly lands big shots in return. And there's a sequence in this first round, Pac he comes, just like drops everything and comes back and just instantly lands big shots in return. And there's a sequence in this first round, Pacquiao against Morales. That's just beautiful to watch of exactly that happening.

A great fight, but this fight, what makes this all-time great and what makes the, hey, Morales is a badass thing real, why you would want to drunkenly accost him in public to celebrate the size of this man's huevos is in the 12th round morales turned southpaw for no other reason than because he's a badass and went to war with pacquiao standing both in the center of the ring and not moving and just throwing bombs and morales got lit up like he got lit up and you're like oh my god he's getting knocked out and he survived it and fired back too and and gets the close decision win and you're just like

oh my god this guy's such a badass and then in the after in the interview afterwards with larry merchant through the translator he's like you know did you like that yeah yeah like yeah larry you know because this is what i do you know what i mean um he would go on to the trilogy is great to re-watch the second fight was a it was on the way to being a classic way and then the third fight is most known for the fact that morales got steamrolled and he kind of had a no mas moment he got dropped for like the third time and he sat up against the ropes and he's just like, referee was like, you getting up? He's just like, no, I'm good.

I'm good. It's like, I'm too smart to take this beating moving forward. This guy's got my number. But the first fight, Morales taking a stand, we should get some beers together and watch that together.

I mean, that'd be great. Number five on this list, could you not go wrong in the Eric Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, all Mexican, all man rivalry in the eric morellis marco antonio barrera all mexican all man rivalry in the lower weight classes uh the first one in 2000 is my favorite and so just so people know uh the rematch was great trilogies often do have like a stinker and of one of the three which is not a great fighter not action the second one is this it was very boxing and you know

barrera made the adjustments and it was very boxing heavy the third one in 2004 is just hey we might as well meet a third time and just brawl and it was great but the purity of this first one i mean these guys like had brawl that press conferences before the fight like these guys hated each other and it's like the badass like villain at the end of the movie morales just putting his you know testosterone up there and barrera's like they call him the baby face assassin but he's he's the guy who like he'll he can brawl with you but he kind of wants to be a boxer and he should be a boxer it's smarter for him and the reason why this matchup between these two was so great is morales would lure him into a war and sometimes barrera would lure morales into a war to try to counter him and and they're just they would have it's it's akin to

listening to you know jazz or like you know jam band rock and roll which of course is you know influenced in a lot of ways by the free form improvisation of of jazz but in those great jams you know whether you listen to fish in in the or, or, or you're listening to, you know, Miles Davis. And by the way, Oh God, I'm the corner by Miles Davis. I don't talk a lot about Miles Davis cause I'm trying to do it right. I'm trying to take my time. I'm trying to really, really, you know, I want to speak out of turn, you know, I'm really, you know, if you're coming on, I'm coming on miles. Um, damn um damn that that that blend of of funk and rock fusion is insane but there's moments in those jams obviously where you know fish does a great job of peeking you know

almond brothers as well where they just they're out of control they're just just it's beautiful it's another world level morales and barrera would have those same sequences of just your just fury and it's just a sight to behold and it's beautiful. And the spite they had for each other in the ring, it's, it was like that special sauce on top. So the first one's from 2000, you you'll love it.

You'll love boxing. You'll love Mexico. You'll love everything about it. Uh, number four is the greatest example of a Rocky movie fight actually playing out at the highest level, at somewhat highest level. And I cannot believe if you haven't seen Timothy Bradley Jr. versus Rusan Provodnikov from 2013. I mean, really drop everything and just go find that find the footage because it was supposed to be tim bradley the great champion you know trilogy with manny pacquiao and it was supposed to be him

like blowing away this contender but like attraction and russ lumpelwagon he's a brawler he comes head-on but bradley's gonna blow him away and away and Bradley had so much motivation to like say F you to boxing because he goes in there and fights Manny Pacquiao in the first fight and he fights through two serious injuries like you know ankle and his leg and he wins this very controversial decision and you know he didn't score it that way the judges did right but he fought his ass off so of course he's like well man you know no i i you know i'm not gonna apologize for getting the win here and the the boxing public just like villainized it and he took that shit to heart and he was of a mindset that like he told his dad, his trainer, who's a trip.

If you ever watched the, you know, the pre-fight documentary stuff is just a, I mean, his dad just questions his son's manhood constantly. And he's like, well, what's that? What's that smell? Is that pussy? And, you know, just, you know, just ridiculous things. You know, he told his dad before, I'm going to kill this kid, meaning Ruslan Provodnikov.

You know, I'm going to shut everybody up. Those are the best ever setups for like great fights for somebody in the NBA scoring, you know, 50 and like an FU game. But in boxing, it's pretty damn violent when it's fueled by that kind of spite. And Bradley just went in there was like you know i'm just gonna blow this guy away and that's what ruslan provodnikov welcomes that's the spider web but there's no like tricks he's not like he's just sitting here saying dude come and get it like i'm gonna go life or death with you and these two went life or death with each other and bradley got knocked the hell around and kept getting back up and you know there's some rounds

that he's actually boxing from distance which is what he's supposed to do and then the next round just gets monstrously concussed again and he's fighting when he should be holding and it's just a example of how do you want to say the human spirit like juliana pena upsetting amanda newness is like the human spirit coming through i mean mean, this is just like the human will. This is just too stubborn. People just saying like in Provodnikov's face is a mess, but he's still coming on. And there's questionable scoring on the ruling of a knockdown. And Bradley ends up winning a very close decision.

A lot of people saw it the other way. And Bradley, to his credit, would springboard from this fight. Go fight Juan Manuel Marquez on pay-per-view right after marquez knocked pacquiao out cold and like outbox him in a thriller just a great tactical technical fight um but he some people think he got a gift here and i think i scored a draw and i didn't hate the judges giving it to bradley although you know the scores were a little, little funky in some ways, but, uh, the, the punishment Bradley took, I mean, he got like, he was effed up after this fight physically, you know, like deep concussions and, and react, you know, like long. I remember he was, he did an interview with Max Kellerman on like LA ESPN radio after that fight.

And he was like, tell him that she's like, know i told my dad this is your fault you created this killer with no off switch this is your fault and he's like you know i was in like dark dark places you know physically and mentally after that that fight and uh just a psycho this guy's just a psychopath that's why i love timothy bradley jr so much by the way he's a great commentator and he's a great guy to interview always has been always been an all interview team because he just tells the truth with passion but uh you talk about the human will and the human i mean this guy like he had to go to a it wasn't just hell right it was like okay i'm in hell i gotta see the back room you know let's see the pipes of this place uh unbelievable i'm humbled even telling you about this fight if

there's anyone still watching right now i'm humbled to tell you how great that fight is number three on this list is uh you know it it might be the greatest like sometimes you know usually in boxing like some fights are meant to be great fights but it's like action fighter versus action fighter what we love the best is when a great fight between pound for pound grades and all-time grades in this case turns into that great all-time action fight in like turning into that is a great ending right we love it when they turn into action fights but sometimes it's got to be technical and tactical for a while no this was manny pacquiao versus juan manuel marquez part four and this turned out to be one of the greatest fights in boxing. One of my favorite fights, one of the most emotional fights. They're both still, they're old and this is the

fourth time they're fighting. And let's not forget there was customer fatigue, like a lot of it of people saying, I don't need to see this matchup again. I saw the first three and most people thought Marquez got a raw deal on most of the scorecards. Marquez never thought he lost any of the four, by the way. He's probably never thought he lost any of the four, by the way. He's probably never thought he lost a fight in his life. He's notoriously stubborn in that regard. But these guys were at the end of their careers, but Marquez was going through his,

is he on roids or is he just drinking jet fuel period where he bulked up to welterweight and it's just suddenly this force and he's old too. But yet they're still like two and three in the pound for pound top 10 and they're both future hall of famers and this is their fourth meeting but we all kind of came in there going okay it'll be fun right the third one was like a thriller when manny made that comeback to force you know the close scorecards and you know the first two were just incredible for so many great dramatic reasons i thought the fourth one was going to kind of stink but just be fun because it's them and they're old i didn't expect like a blood and guts almost barrera morales fuck you

type pace to this fight of just like i hate you i'm coming after you and this is like street fight rules right this is like rocky five when rocky took tommy more tommy gun to the to the to the alley you know you oh you push around polly won't you try knocking me down as my dad would say endlessly after that after we saw rocky five that that shitter in the theater um this was incredible pacquiao gets straight up dropped early and you're like oh and he got it was a looping right hand and pacquiao went down hard and you're like oh shit i don't think i've ever seen pacquiao knocked down before actually and you know what pacquiao's such he's he he's such a force i don't really think i've ever seen like crazy hurt like i saw him bleeding against morales i saw him in you know certain shootouts against marquez but like never hurt like that and they and you had marquez just

fighting like like you stole everything i worked for in my life and i am here at the end of this action movie to gain my revenge because you know it was the all-time greatest revenge when marquez legitimately feels like he was screwed on the scorecards against the more marketable fighter at every fight every single fight including the first one when he got knocked down three times in the first round and yet still forced to draw because he came back and he's like just the demeanor of i'm going to kill you but then pacquiao puts it on him in this rally and it's like old pacquiao again it's like the the pacquiao who used to womanize and gamble and like that pacquiao the no fear like trunks uh dyed hair with the blonde bristles that manny pacquiao you know that guy he was back that night

and that's what led to him getting knocked the hell out in the most vicious manner ever. But how sweet is this for Marquez, who's basically like, I'm going to take out all my anger of how my career went on you right now. And he is almost stopped the round before the knockout happens. His nose is is a broken, bloody mess. And he's getting battered and he's walking through him, but he's getting there's a price he's paying for it you know and then he uncorks the deadliest counter shot of all time with that right hand that flatlines manny pacquiao to a level that it is not hyperbole and i'm doing i think i was doing a live blog on espn.com at the time doing like constant play-by-play typing it um and so i'm watching this and i'm in this fight right and i'm and i'm going i'm texting everybody in between how sick is this fight there's a war and then it's over and it's over in the most stunningly violent emphatic way ever that for the 55 seconds that manny pacquiao was

down out cold and not moving before they revived him during that 55 seconds they're showing his wife screaming crying climbing up the apron they're showing his wife screaming crying climbing up the apron they're showing bob arum trying to comforting her but looking in his face like like his son was just murdered or something you know they massacred my boy i mean like he had that face and you thought manny pacquiao was dead no one talks about that enough like you know you know no you you're like no he's he's dead like that's the most i mean for that to happen in the in the fourth you know that's the greatest rivalry of the modern era without question and it was already going to be one of the best but to have that that's your send-off and in morale and sorry mar Marquez, you know, blood everywhere.

Jump up on the corner, turnbuckles and the Mexican fans going sick in Las Vegas. You know, I remember doing that live blog and Karen Mulvaney, who's host of the Showtime Boxing Podcast right now with Eric Raskin. And I love Karen. I've been up and down the road with him forever. Been his editor a lot of times, that stuff he was ringside and when pacquiao's down for 55 seconds when you're doing a live blog like i was for espn you got to constantly pump that thing with what you're seeing and everything i mean you're you're telling the story for those that didn't buy it right

i didn't type anything for like 90 seconds two minutes because my jaw was like down to here but as soon as i wrapped up what I was doing and, you know, put up the story that just whatever I had to do as an editor, I text Mulvaney and I think he texted me and he was like, Oh my God, I can't believe I just witnessed that. And I tech and, and I was just like,

I think I was like, tell me what it felt like. Tell me what it smelled like. Like, tell me what it tasted like. Like you just experienced like you were in the movie you know and he goes hey do you mind if i call you right now and like i'm in the first floor of the house i'm renting my kids are small and i'm still sleeping my wife's sleeping and i'm just like yeah

yeah dude call me right now and we proceeded like giddy school girls to be like oh my god i can't believe i just watched that oh Oh my God. And, and I'm sure I just screamed into the microphone and woke a lot of you up, but like, that's as amazing as this sport can get when it's got the storyline, you know, the fourth fight of the rivalry and they hate the shit out of each other. And the guy that got screwed throughout is able to land the final blow and just be like, and you know and there's questions if he's on the stuff and in uh i can't believe pacquiao rebounded from that and was you know still the fighter that he was the rest of his career and might still be i do think he's coming back by the way i do um

but you know not 80 percent of fighters who would take that kind of knockout loss at that age that Pacquiao did they may never they're not fighting again like that's the end of your career that's the end of that's the extinguishing of all that invincibility that allows you to believe you can do this at this level you know and and i mean it was it was out and credit to bacchia on the post-fight interviews after they rewoke him and he's calming down his family but like damn damn that there's there's no you can't like you i don't feel that watching the super bowl you know what i mean and i've been a i've been a monstrous sports fan my whole life in every sport and you know and i've worked the front page of espn.com and you know

where you're you got to know everything and every i mean i've lived this and you know i've been a part of some great moments watching as a fan like you have you know like landon donovan scoring that goal in the world cup and like you know that kind of like i've seen some fun ass stuff you know nba moments that are just shakespearean nothing ever made me feel like pacquiao marcus four and like the forget one hour afterwards like the next day like that's just like that's real life i mean that is wow oh i mean hope i hope you feel like that after watching the mk documentaries i doubt it i hope that's my you know that's my working plan and my goal all right um number one and two are you pick your your flavor whichever one you like better one's definitely better than two in terms of better fight but these are the two defining not defining rivalries although mickey ward versus arturo gatti

was a great rivalry and it is one of the rivalries. But these two were like, I mean, these are fights that brought people back as boxing fans. Again, these two, these are fights that. In some ways, like how does it like I say this, I say this once a while, like I don't know any real boxing fans in my day to day life for the most part. A couple of dads around town that know a little bit. We have some nice talks and all that. And that's fun. And I treasure that. But like, you know, I'm talking to my brethren in this game, the other journalists, you know,

the Rafe Bartholomews or the, you know, great fans that I've come to meet and even getting like DM or text relationships with because you're just super fight fans. Right. And these are like, these are the type of fights that build the resolve in you as a addicted super fan to put up with all the ridiculousness that this sport makes you financially uh in terms of your patience in terms of you know everything it's fights like these two one and two that i mean you know they're it's the hag they're hag what is Hagler Hearns to a generation of people you know everything

rightfully so you know it almost defines the reason why you watch and the feeling that it gives you and number two it's my favorite fight of all time it's the first Mickey Ward Arturo Gotti fight 2002 their trilogy is insane shout out to

HBO their documentary about that trilogy is also very well done um but they're like they're paired together as sort of two journeyman action fighters on the way out who hey wouldn't it be great if these two ever fought so hey let's just do it now and they'll both get a good payday out of it and yeah and obviously gaudi had a brighter ceiling at that time and was still, you know, and largely entitled contention. Gotti would have Arturo Gotti was. I mean, he lived like living your life quarter mile at a time, like fast and furious.

Like that was his life, dude. I mean, I actually just recently talked to somebody who had partied with him and is an MK fan. And I was talking to who, who, who had, was in that close to that circle at one time. And he's like, dude, nobody went harder than,

like, nobody went that hard. You know what I mean? And I mean, look, he lived fast. He died hard. And it's how he died is just,

you know, it's unsolved to say the least. And still just ridiculously sad, but he had a brighter ceiling to still be a title contender, but he would have so many highs and lows and dips and parting too much and injuries. Like he would, he would crash and burn a lot in his career where you'd stop taking him

seriously as a like legitimate fighter, like title contending one and just attraction. A guy who had authored some of the most absurd come from behind all action, blood and guts wins in this history to the point where like arturo gatti became one of those weird rare franchises where he had his own fans and they followed him wherever and when he you know they rightfully would gave him a home there at boardwalk hall in atlantic city and it was like a rock concert when he fought you know and coming out to thunderstruck by you know acdc is just like the you, it's the chef's kiss. It's

perfect. And, you know, he, he lived up to that reputation time and again, but he's fighting old ass Mickey Ward here who, you know, like tried his best to become a real title contender, but never quite got there. Like, you know, had some bit the Shane Nary when I love it, they built the Mark Wahlberg movie. The fighter was really built around the the run mickey had against all odds to even get in that shanary fight which was for like a ibu title like one of those not real titles but like whatever um but mickey had been the all-action b-side guy you know and and he'd had great comfort behind wins but and he's had great action fights god the emmanuel augustus fight emmanuel burton augustus god that's a great fight um but when you put these two together and said use you know use your powers

you know like you've met your equal that's what they both said i want to meet my equal ahead of this fight but you know they met their equal there's a reason why these guys became brothers after this trilogy to the point where ward was started training Gotti for those last couple of fights of his career. It's, it's almost spiritual, this fight. It's weird to say that, but like in it,

the reason why I put Corrales Castillo ahead of it is because, and you have to put it historically too. This fight wasn't for a title. It was just for like, you know, action fighter payday, but it took a while to kind of get serious. You know, it's a couple rounds feeling you out, but when it turned, I mean, it's got, it's got the round

is around nine, my favorite round in boxing history. I mean, it's got one of the most insane rounds of all time, really the most insane, like couple round package of like seven, eight, nine, 10 in a row. Um, it's, you know, I could sit here for an hour and tell you how, why that fight is so great. But I think ultimately the reason why it's, it clings to certain boxing fans' hearts more than Corrales Castillo is the human emotion that was shown by both in it and overcoming so much. And the same thing happened in Corrales Castillo,

no question. But like, God, he making that like grimace when he got dropped by that body shot. And he had no freaking business getting up from that body shot. Mickey Ward knocked out so many. Mickey Ward had that out pitch. He had the fork ball, the cutter. Say it, Mariano.

The cutter. He had the damn cutter that you couldn't hit. And you couldn't stop. He'll find a way to get that left hook to your liver and he'll stop you. And he hit arturo gatti with one of those and god he's like trying like hell to be like nope i'm i'm the biggest badass you ever met man i fight through this shit and he's like and it's not letting him and he finally gets to his feet and you know the beating he takes after that like thank god frank cappuccino

was so stubborn and old as a legendary referee at that point that he's just like, you know, because Jim Lampley, the famous announcer, was yelling into the mic, you know, you got to stop this fight, Frank. You got to stop this fight. You can stop at any time. And, you know, seeing him overcome that and then flip it back on Mickey Ward. And that's the same thing of what made the first Riddick Bowe-ie, Vander Holyfield fight so great in that incredible round 10 is because it had that same thing where somebody's on the verge of this dominant stoppage. And then it turns in a Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin type way, and it turns fast and quick. And, um,

the back and forth of the final two and a half rounds here is just savage. And you know, their whole trilogy was the second one's the stinker of the three i have a soft spot for it the third round is is among the best rounds of the rivalry between these two but it was one-sided god he boxed like he always should against this guy uh the third one's wild man you know god he uh building a big league but then hurting his hand and he can't throw his right hand suddenly and then he gets dropped and and that's a wild ass fight uh godi wins it. And he was the fresher fighter.

But they put themselves through life altering hell with these 30 rounds. And the first one is just an emotional journey that you're not going to find. Forget sports. You're going to find it in life. Really. It's an incredible ride to get there. The final one. Number one.

It's not out of line to call this the greatest fight in boxing history and like the old like the real old timers really tried to like not do that after it happened and be like okay it's among that it's all time great but like hold on let's i mean is it really the best of all time it might be the best of all it's the best of this era like with a bullet and it's 2005 it's at the mandalay bay in las Las Vegas and it's a lightweight title unification Diego Corrales against Jorge Luis Castillo um there's not enough amazing things and it was just you know what was it two years ago was the anniversary of this fight what was it a 15 year anniversary I'm guessing 2005 to 2020 and you know we did a bunch of morning combat was around we did a few fun interviews online i think i interviewed uh the referee tony weeks i interviewed joe goosen who was famously

with the with the awesome dress shirt like he's going out to rock the clubs in the corner of diego corrales you know and he delivered one of the all-time greatest lines by a trainer ever of better fucking get inside on them now like like a disappointed dad which fueled you know one of the maybe the greatest comeback in a boxing match of all time when, when Diego Corrales turned the table. But, um, I got a chance to talk to those guys about it. And I wrote a oral history that if you've got time search, uh, CBS sports from a couple of years ago, the oral history of Corrales Castillo one talked to a lot of people who were there and, uh, man, that's's a why couldn't i have seen the future and

got a flight to go to that fight so there was only like 4 000 people in the crowd for that fight it was on showtime but it was expected by everybody to be like i talked about like when ward and god he got together you're like okay this is an important fight title unification but like the way these guys are wired and the way that they're giving interviews like they're gonna they're willing to die and they're like they're they're good they are ready for the war of their lifetime and it absolutely turned into that more and unlike goddy ward which had a couple you know slow rounds to set things up this off the start is just electric and it's just both standing in the center of the ring and it's not

what makes it great is it's not sloppy it's not just some sloppy brawl people try to say you know mickey ward arturo got it was just a sloppy brawl there's a lot of sloppy there's a lot of great sloppiness in there it was also you know they could box too but this one corrales castillo is really at a higher level they are both executing their offensive plan almost to perfection against one another. They're making defensive counters and adjustments. So it's not sloppy and out of control, but they're having great success with what they're trying to do when they sort of take turns taking the lead and the brutality of the body shots and the damage that they're accepting, that they're willingly accepting to take to

not give up that real estate. You know, like, like I love football. I play the, I play one year organized football, but I'm glad I did it, you know, because I was, I was not, I was not tough enough to be like, you know, high school football player looking back. But playing one, you know,

getting knocked around playing one, one year, you know, you have a certain respect for it, certainly that you wouldn't have had. But we all watch football in different ways, betting perspective betting perspective fantasy or just love our favorite team so much and and um but like you talk to the hardcores the coaches the high school coaches interview a million high school coaches and they just love the battle that happens at that line of scrimmage and i there's one coach i used to always interview is a lead an elite high school coach. He had a great program, but he's the worst interviewer because every single time he would say

I ask what the key to the game coming up is. Whoever blocks and tackles better at the line. It's going to be our five against theirs and blah, blah, blah. The ones that get it, the ones that lived it, know that football to them feels like an alternate reality of war and the line and setting up.

In theory, in a running-based attack, yes, of course. These guys, Corrales and Castillo, were concocting that same battle in such a tiny little phone booth. And were just not willing to get off that line and take a back step. And the fact that it never sort of turned into a wild brawl and stayed a very high level action fight kind of filled in any gap it would have had an argument of not being this great

it was perfect it had the perfect ending and the perfect characters that had castillo just not just being a badass and there was waves of momentum at the end of the first round al bernstein's showtime is just like this is like an all-time great fight like already like this is just ridiculous there's so many great calls that he and steve albert had during that fight and uh just corrales's comeback is just you re-watch it like i i'm a mets fan i'm not a hardcore baseball fan anymore uh but you know i was in the 90s 2000s the 80s of course um but you know there's a there's a thing that if i see a video of like you know the buckner play and rain night rounding third and the mets win it you almost get emotional you know it's like that's my

team that's my team i remember that and um it's like that watching die Diego Corrales' comeback here, even if you have no connection to Diego Corrales at all. Like, it's just, it's what's possible when you don't give up, right? And it's, I mean, he spit out the mouthpiece to lose the point, but by time, how ingenious in that moment, something he had just learned the fight before, you know, a couple fights before against Popo Freitas Asselino Freitas when he went in there and won that title to really

kind of set up the need for this fight and it's Joe Goosen yelling at him wearing that shirt and it's the moment of like, oh my god, he came back from being down 35 to nothing at the start of the fourth quarter, like he actually did this

damn back from being down 35 to nothing at the start of the fourth quarter. Like he actually did this. Damn. Those are the 10 fights that move me that I think will move you to enjoy. All right. I guess we've hit the two.