The Five Greatest Trilogies In Boxing History

By James Slater: It’s arguable that, had they got down to business and actually fought when they should have, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao could have even wound up fighting a trilogy together; with fights one and two being so great and so fiercely fought that a rubber-match was needed.

Instead, we have yet to see fight-one (and may never get to see it).

But there have been some sensational boxing trilogies over the years. Here I list my picks for the five absolute best:

1. Muhammad Ali v Joe Frazier

Quite simply, when Ali and Frazier fought – the world watched! Yes, fight two was a disappointment, but the first and final bouts of the series, “The Fight of the century” and, “The Thrilla In Manila” are as mesmerising to watch today as they were when they occurred, some three decades ago. We can only dream of seeing a heavyweight fight this great today. Ali and Joe were willing to bear their souls in a bid to decide who was the better man and as a result we fans were treated to boxing that was both brutal and beautiful. Both men’s names will be forever linked. It is almost impossible to think of one of them without the other. Sadly, only Ali, recently turned 70, is still with us.

2. Marco Antonio Barrera v Erik Morales

The opening bout of the series was absolutely breathtaking. Neither man was willing to give in and the violent slugfest that unfolded will never be forgotten. As with the Ali v Frazier trilogy, fight two was something of a letdown. But the third and final instalment made up for it. The quality of boxing put on by both Mexican legends was first rate – some even favour fight three to fight one. What almost everyone agrees on though, is that there has never been a better three fight series among the lower weight classes. These fights were fought over three different weight classes, yet despite being heavier men in each subsequent meeting the pace never slowed down. Amazingly, Morales is not only still fighting at the highest level, but he is a reigning world champ!

3. Tony Zale v Rocky Graziano

Boxing Illustrated magazine, when looking back at this trilogy, wrote that these fights were not fights, they were wars without survivors! How could anyone dispute such a statement? All three fights were crammed full with savagery and violence – to such an extent that neither fight ever looked remotely like going the distance. Brutal KO’s were the order of the day when Zale and Graziano met. What is a crying shame though, is the fact that only one fight from the trilogy was ever captured on film – the final fight. As a result we can only read about the first two thirds of the most fierce trilogy of fights in middleweight history. Both Rocky and Tony spring to mind instantly when a fight fan attempts to picture a consummate tough guy.

4. Arturo Gatti v Mickey Ward

More than a few experts made the comment that this three fight series was akin to the vicious and wild affairs fight fans were used to back in the 1950’s. The action packed fights Arturo and Mickey put on actually top most of boxing’s previous match-ups for toe-to-toe slugging and sheer drama. The first fight especially, was utterly mind boggling. Both men gave their all and, as with many of the fighters on this list, their names will always be correlated. Ward wisely retired after the third and final gruelling bout, whereas Gatti fights on still. Ward has been given the full movie star treatment in the recent and terrific “The Fighter” film, while Gatti sadly left us a while back.

5. Riddick Bowe v Evander Holyfield

Another heavyweight series, Bowe’s three fights with “The Real Deal” are the best from the big guy’s division in recent years. Fight one had an incredible tenth round in which both men took turns in landing hurtful shots. “Big Daddy” had the upper hand in the series’ opener though – only for Evander to extract his revenge (despite the idiotic actions of “fan Man”) in the rematch. Holyfiled almost won the rubber match too, courtesy of a stunning left hook that dropped Bowe at the halfway stage of the bout, only for the younger man to come back to stop him in the eighth round of a very dramatic fight, the only KO of the series. Tragically (or potentially tragically) both men still harbour interest in fighting again; Evander whilst almost 50, Bowe whilst well into his 40s.