5. Shane Mosley vs. Vernon Forrest (2002)
Shane was an exciting fighter who had that rare mix of speed and the ability to take a punch. On this day (Jan 26) 9 years ago, Shane was dropped by an uppercut and follow on left hook. He somehow made it through the knockdown and survived the fight. The knock down upset me so much that I threw one of my daughter's bouncy balls against the wall. Unfortunately, the ball rebounded and connected with my nose. If only I'd had an iPhone back then. I could've been disappointed with both the fight and my phone's inability to make a phone call...all while recording the child's toy hitting me in the face.
4. Michael Grant's Career (1994-2010)
At 6'7", 240 pounds, Michael Grant was the face of a new age of American boxing. He was clean cut, well spoken and hadn't been to prison. After 30 beautiful fights, Grant faced Golota and was dropped in the first round not once but twice. Sitting in my small Denver apartment overlooking the Rocky mountains, I thought about throwing a ball during that 1999 fight but put the idea on hold because Grant came back and won the 10 round fight. Within the next year, Grant was facing a rejuvenated Lennox Lewis in what was the tallest fight in history (until the Klitchskos and that 7' tall hairy guy). Grant ran across the ring with flailing arms only to find himself with a one inch closeup of Lewis' size thirteens. He was knocked out in the 2nd round. After that, his career went straight into the toilet. 3. Tyson vs. Holyfield II (1997)
Yes, this was the bite fight. I was sitting in a cramped Brooklyn apartment while my friend and I shuddered in fear, not for Holyfield but for ourselves. We had strung a 50 ft. coax cable from our apartment, out the window and across the fire escape to a cable splitter tied into the neighbor's pay per view feed. As soon as the biting occurred, we were out the window onto the fire escape along with 15 other cable thieves, hurriedly dismantling our little technological innovations. We complained for days for wasting money on a 50 foot coaxial cable.
2. Roy Jones vs. the NYPD (Richard Frazier-1999)
Frazier had been propped up by the WBC & IBF as a number one contender. At the age of 40 and with a record of 18-3, Frazier had a better chance of contracting Ebola and being cured within 6 minutes than beating the greatest light heavyweight of our time. The fight lasted 5 minutes 59 seconds. Frazier was dropped in round one by a woman cooling herself with a fight program and again in round two by a Roy Jones sneeze. HBO put so much into the fight that Larry Merchant actually forgot where he was during the buildup video and began bad mouthing the WBC for designating Frazier as a number 1 contender. Unfortunately, the microphone was on during his little gaff.
Richard Frazier (who?)
(I sure hope officer Frazier is retired or I may have to lay low in Jersey)
1a. Pacquiao vs. Mayweather (Never)
If this fight ever happens, both fighters could be in their late 40s. That fight will be like watching George Jefferson against Mr. Miyagi. I'm sure Ralph Macchio would appreciate working as a corner man.
1b. Larry Holmes vs. Muhammad Ali (1980)
This fight was 3 disappointments wrapped into one. For those that loved Ali, this was a horrific display of one man's strength and toughness. Ali took more punches in this fight than any other and couldn't throw more than one punch and/or one insult at a time. The second disappointment, for those of us who wanted to see Ali dropped, was that Holmes couldn't seem to put "The Greatest" down. Up to this point, Holmes had been sending people to the morgue. It's true that Larry's looks could send kids running but Ali stood in and took the punches. The third disappointment was that mini-referee Mills Lane didn't stop the fight earlier. As the fight dragged on with Holmes connecting on everything he threw, we collectively yelled at the television for mercy.
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