Boxing history articles
Iconic publication Sports Illustrated has covered all the major sporting events around the globe for decades; but what are the publication’s picks for the top 100 greatest moments in sports history?
The website of the magazine has just revealed the picks for the top 100, and boxing features quite a few times; six in all. And “The Greatest,” Muhammad Ali, features in no less than four of the choices for momentous moments in the history of The Sweet Science.
1,006 punches: that’s how many Welsh dragon Joe Calzaghe threw in a fight that is exactly ten years old today.
Amazingly, when looking back on the display of sheer dominance Calzaghe put on inside The MEN arena in Manchester, he was the underdog entering the fight with unbeaten star in the making Jeff Lacy. Calzaghe, who had a history of injuries and of pulling out of fights, was supposed to be smashed by the Floridian puncher some were calling “the next Mike Tyson.” Instead, British boxing bore witness to one of the finest, most ruthlessly efficient performances in ring history.
Due in large part to former WBA heavyweight ruler David Haye, a petition designed to get the one and only Muhammad Ali a honorary Knighthood in Great Britain is gaining plenty of momentum. According to a report in The Mail, 12,000 people have already visited Change.org and signed their support – included amongst these people, fellow boxers Anthony Joshua and female Olympic gold medal winner Nicola Adams.
Joshua, who captured his Olympic gold medal some 52 years after the then Cassius Clay first rose to prominence by winning his, says Ali had a huge influence on his life and career:
Well over three years in the making, “Hands of Stone,” the biopic on the life and legendary career of the one and only Roberto Duran, finally gets released in the U.S this August, on the 26th. The film – written and directed by Jonathan Jakubowicz and starring Robert De Niro as Duran trainer Ray Arcel and Edgar Ramirez as the Panamanian warrior – was filmed on location in both New York and Panama.
Also starring Usher Raymond, as Sugar Ray Leonard and Ruben Blades as Duran’s main man, Carlos Eleta, the film will also have portrayals of infamous mob guy Frankie Carbo and another boxing legend in Angelo Dundee.
MSG Networks (NYSE: MSGN) continues the special 20-part television event “The Garden’s Defining Moments” presented by SAP with “Marciano defeats Louis.” “The Garden’s Defining Moments: Marciano defeats Louis,” narrated by Ben Stiller, premieres Thursday, February 18 at 11:00 pm on MSG Network, following MSG’s telecast of Rangers \ Maple Leafs. Interview subjects include Mike Tyson, Joe Louis Barrow Jr., Ed O’Neil, Sugar Ray Leonard, George Foreman, Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini and more.
Sugar Ray Robinson, the ex-welterweight king, entered the ring with an amazing 120-1-2 record, his adversary, one he had grown accustomed to going to war with, climbed through the ropes with a 78-14-3 ledger. And the feared “Bronx Bull,” Jake La Motta was not going to give up his cherished middleweight crown without a fearsome, brutal fight.
World middleweight world champion Gerald McClellan was, as anyone who ever saw him fight will always remember, a fearsome talent. Known as “The G-Man,” McClellan would indeed rise to fame as a special fighter, but, sadly, it is his tragic career-ending war with Nigel Benn – this too simply unforgettable for any fight fan – that Gerald will always be most remembered for.
Living legend and former four-time heavyweight king Evander Holyfield is currently in the UK, and tonight on “The Bunce Boxing Hour,” the finest cruiserweight in the division’s history was asked, amongst other questions, just who hit his famously granite chin the hardest during his amazing, over twenty-five year pro career.
“The Real Deal” didn’t hesitate as he brought up one man’s name with something that looked like a shiver, “George Foreman,” he answered. “Big George.”