My pick would probably be Coralles vs Castillo. Dang that's some punishment Diego Coralles took.
Definitely Shavers vs Holmes (of course my man Eddie was on top of it right away).
That is by far the hardest knockdown I've ever seen. When the right hand landed, it was so hard that it echoed and the sound was freakish too, it almost sounded wet IMO.
What human could take the punch Holmes took and still get up? It was crazy...
There are other good ones though too...
Timmy Bradley got SMASHED by Kendall Holt in their fight, in one of the first two rounds. It was a very hard knockdown, and not many could take the full force of a counter hook by Holt.
Nigel Benn was destroyed and knocked out of the ring by Gerald McClellan in the very first round, and then got up to win.
Jermain Taylor hurt Kelly Pavlik badly and knocked him down. Then Kelly got up, and stormed back to stop Taylor in one of my favorite fights ever.
There was the huge "Long Count" controversy in the rematch between Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey. Tunney was completely owning Dempsey, and them was hurt and dropped badly.
Tunney beat the count, but the count seemed like it took more than ten seconds. Tunney was a wreck, but he survived and went back to boxing Dempsey's ears off.
Castillo vs Corrales was up there and defined tenacity best. Chico had to use another magic trick to pull off the fight though. I mean it was like a basketball coach whose team was down 1 point and having no time out left, decides to call the time out and risk the technical to come up with a better play. That's what the scenario is about. Diego spit his mouthpiece on purpose after suffering two knockdowns -to buy time. Yes, he was warned, even taken off 1 point but that's composure and you see a man who just knows exactly what he's doing. Composure was the name of the game even in basketball or boxing and the ring savvy Chico had saved the bout for him.
Who has been the fighter to be dropped and hurt the worst but came back to win?
Chico got groggy and was on the brink on being stopped! But came back to win via stoppage.
I always think back to Corrales vs Castillo. Corrales showed the kind of heart that is rare among human beings in general, much less the small percentage of people who are professional boxers. I'm not talking about being tough...There is a difference. There are a lot of "tough guys" out there. Chico was hurt, and hurt BADLY, yet he pulled the fight out of the fire and came back to win by stoppage after suffering multiple knockdowns, got up and stopped Castillo in the same round he got dropped in. That fight is one of the kind that will move you emotionally as a boxing fan, and that fight has a special little place in my heart all its own. This fight is the reason I hold Chico in higher regard than most people. He was special. God rest his soul.
My boxing history isn't as good as others out there but from memory, I can think of one fight - Diego "Chico" Coralles was hurt pretty badly and on the brink of defeat before he came back and caught Castillo with a big shot and was somehow able to finish him.
Chris Eubank was getting spanked by Watson and was floored badly at the end of round 11. Then 10 seconds after getting floored Eubank nailed Watson with a bomb of an uppercut which is the punch that caused watson to slip into a coma after the ko in round 12
@Eddie F had the best pick, Holmes looked like he was hit by a truck twice against Shavers's right hand but came back to stop him.
Archie Moore against Durelle, he was dropped 4 times in the fight then he himself dropped Durrell 4 times and stopped him. Also:
Nigel Benn vs Mcclellan
Pavlik against Taylor
Michael Carbajal against Humberto Gonzalez I
Terry Norris vs Waters
Gatti against Wilson Rodriguez
Peter Griffin vs That Chicken
This is the winning answer....
Nowhere in the history of boxing will you see this..
Earnie Shavers dropping Larry Holme with a hydrogen bomb attatched to his fist...
Google the footage, you will never see such a peach of a punch,,,,
How Holmes made the count is still unexplained....An elephant wouldn't have recovered from that punch in a week... Never mind ten seconds...
Holmes weathered the storm, and went on to stop Shavers.
Corrales dropped and beat up then turns it around 5o get a stoppage
Maidana dropped 3 times by Ortiz drops him twic3 and makes him quit
George Foreman against Ron Lyle. That slugfest was a show of heart and a war of attrition.
Re-watching Froch-Groves inspired this question. Froch was hurt BAD!
My pick would probably be Coralles vs Castillo. Dang that's some punishment Diego Coralles took.
I agree with Eddie F, but I'll add Tim Bradley vs Provodnikov. I know you think the same way as me about this fight, that Provodnikov was robbed, but for Bradley to be hurt that badly and to make it to the end of the fight was pretty impressive.
Damn was going to pick seans answer.
Erm rocky balboa vs ivan drago?
