By Steven Goulding
The recent grudge match between Julio Cesar Chavez JR and Sergio Martinez produced, arguably, one of the greatest final rounds in boxing history.
Martinez had schooled his young opponent in every department for 11 rounds, Chavez went into the final round with a broken nose and needing a knockout (It was that one-sided that even the Vegas judges couldn’t have handed him the decision!). Going into that final round us spectators thought it was game over, with either a Martinez stoppage or the most one sided unanimous decision in the history of such a major bout.
But this is boxing, where just one punch can alter history… and so almost did when Chavez Jr floored Martinez with a crashing left hook, and floored him again before the round was up with Martinez clinging on for the final bell and the decision.. The Argentine fans were stunned, the neutrals were stunned and the Mexican fans went wild as they smelled blood, the atmosphere was electric as Martinez managed to hang on for the victory… This is why we love Boxing. For me it is impossible to rank the greatest rounds of all time in any order, I have personal favourites of course, but there are so many worthy rounds of Boxing that to call one the best is just too difficult. Below we have listed what we consider the best rounds of all time (With a little help from our followers on twitter) although if we have missed any notable mentions, make sure you let us know!
Jose Louis Castillo V Diego Corrales: Round 10 (May 7th 2005)
This was suggested by Nick Burton (@nicburt08) and was never in any danger of missing out on this list as it is a personal favourite of mine, right down to the last details of the round. Diego ‘Chico’ Corrales was battered, bruised, swollen and quite frankly, out on his feet coming into the tenth. Castillo dropped Corrales just 25 seconds into the round, the streetwise ‘Chico’ spitting out his mouthpiece to buy some extra time. After a brief recovery period Corrales continued to trade with Castillo despite a seriously swollen eye and hit the canvas yet again, taking a nine count and removing his mouthpiece once again the referee this time docked a point, although it has to be said if the same thing happened today I wouldn’t be surprised if the referee stopped the fight, and we would praise it as a great stoppage. The fight went on however and with it came one of my favourite boxing quotes of all time, Corrales’ extravagant trainer Joe Goosen re-inserting the gum shield and saying the fight changing words “You better F**king get inside on him now!”. Even Goosen mustn’t have expected what came next, both fighters continued to trade and ‘Chico’ landed a peach of a right hand followed by a barrage of hooks that forced the referee to step in. A remarkable turnaround in what proved to be Corrales last victory before his tragic death. R.I.P Chico.
Larry Holmes V Ken Norton: Round 15 (June 9th1978)
This was suggested by Danny Lovelock (@lovejoy73) and is a throwback to the old-school 15 round championship bouts. With the fight very close many believed Holmes needed the knockout going into the final round, both fighters traded huge shots and Holmes went all-out in the final round, how neither fighter was knocked down in the final round is frankly astonishing with the shots being landed. Holmes edged a split-decision to win the title.
Carl Froch v Jermain Taylor: Round 12 (April 25th2009)
A great shout by Michael Yardley (@myardley7) and another in the final round. Froch was making the first defence of his title and was outclassed for most of the fight by Taylor, massively behind on the scorecards going into the final round. The Cobra showed his heart and spirit however, punishing Taylor and forcing the referee to stop the fight with just 14 seconds remaining, an astonishing comeback.
Graham Earl V Michael Katsidis: Round 2 (Feb 17th2007)
Another fantastic shout, this time by Robbie Mitchell (@robsguiness) and although this is one of the less glamorous fights on this list, it is certainly no less worthy. This was a war that Earl was losing and after being dropped by ‘The Great’ again in this round his corner threw the towel in, only for the experienced referee Micky Vann to ignore it. This proved great judgement as Earl responded by dropping Katsidis himself, a truly thrilling round.
Marvin Hagler V Thomas Hearns: Round 1 (April 15th 1985)
This was suggested by Ryan Brigdale (@RBrigdale1984) who wanted all three rounds! He isn’t wrong, all three rounds were non-stop action, but we need to narrow it down to one unfortunately mate! I’ve gone for round one because it was so cagey… just kidding, quite frankly the most brutal first round I have ever seen. You would think it was the last round of a close fought battle, but these two warriors went at it from the first bell, Hearns even broke his hand delivering a right hand to the chin of Hagler. Hagler won the bout in the third round, if only the top boxer’s today would fight each other like the ‘Four Kings’: Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns, Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran.
So that’s our rundown, there’s simply too many to write about in one article, one’s that I’ve missed out include Ward v Gatti round 9, Barrera v Morales (any round!), Khan v Maidana round 10. I’m sure there is many, many more, so don’t hesitate letting us know! Get involved @thatsaknockout on twitter.
