Skip to playerSkip to main content
AJ McKenzie
  • 2 days ago
Too HW biased
IG: aj_mckenzie416
Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
Transcript
00:02Welcome to another edition of Who's Number One. I'm Trey Wingo.
00:06So many names, the squared circle, the sweet science, no matter what you call it.
00:11This show is dedicated to the guys who practice it.
00:14Some are crafty, some are courageous, some simply brutal, some bleed a lot.
00:19But all of them the best in the sport of boxing.
00:22So come out and shake hands and let's get ready to present ESPN Classic's 20 best boxers of all time.
00:312020
00:34I love Larry Holmes. When I was a kid, Larry Holmes was the heavyweight champion of the world.
00:40And he was that for a long time and I'm glad he made the list. He deserves it.
00:45Nobody ever beat Larry Holmes until he was 35.
00:50He is underrated and underappreciated. The Easton Assassin. He was a great guy to watch fight.
00:56And he used to, by the way, fight on network TV and it was an event. Not a Muhammad Ali
01:00level event.
01:01Not an event that a Mike Tyson fight would be later. But it was the heavyweight champion fighting.
01:07Larry Holmes had a jackhammer jab that was, for all its brutality, somehow a thing of beauty.
01:12He was an artist with his fists. He won 69 of 75 fights, including his first 48.
01:19Holmes defeated such power punchers as Ken Norton and Leon Spinks, held the heavyweight title for seven years.
01:33And continued to fight even after becoming AARP eligible. But his place in history is still debated.
01:54He didn't get the respect he deserved because he followed someone who called himself the greatest, Muhammad Ali.
02:01And people were angry that he was the one who kind of put him into retirement.
02:07I'm sorry that I can't be a Muhammad Ali or a Joe Lewis or a Leon Spinks.
02:13But I wasn't born to be those people. I was born to be myself, Larry Holmes.
02:21He was a great fighter. I'm glad he made the list. He deserves it.
02:32Julio Cesar Chavez will go down as one of the all-time greats.
02:35But from Culiacon, Mexico, he was brought up tough. He was brought up fighting in the streets.
02:41Based on his record, he's probably a little low.
02:46His numbers are gaudy and argue forcefully for the raw brilliance of Julio Cesar Chavez.
02:51A streak of 87 straight victories to start his career and 108 wins in all.
02:56The Mexican mauler held world titles in three weight classes.
03:02There was no tougher man than Julio Cesar Chavez.
03:06He would take two punches to land one.
03:08It was, in fact, an urban legend that on a CAT scan they saw that his skull was actually thicker
03:14than the common man's
03:15because he could take more punishment.
03:17Just a tough little SOB.
03:19I mean, he never took a back step.
03:25He was real consistent.
03:27That's, you know, it's speed with work and punching power and a good shit.
03:31It's being reliable.
03:32He wasn't flashy.
03:33You know, he wasn't sensational in one area.
03:37But he was very good in all areas.
03:39Greg Holland once said Julio Cesar Chavez fought more Mexican cab drivers than the history of anybody in the world.
03:45And then he went and fought Chavez.
03:46He got beaten to a pulp.
03:47And after he said, OK, so they were tough cab drivers.
03:51He was probably the greatest Mexican fighter ever.
03:58That's gotta be solved over Sanchez, though.
04:02It's it.
04:03Presenting the undefeated, undisputed.
04:08The field over Holmes, Julio Cesar Chavez, over a lot of people who didn't make the list.
04:14No.
04:16The circle was 44 and 10.
04:18How great could he be?
04:22Heavyweight champion of the world, Evander, real dear Holyfield.
04:31Evander Holyfield is one of the toughest human beings in the history of the planet.
04:36If you fought Evander Holyfield, you were going through hell.
04:40Evander Holyfield has no fear of no man, ever.
04:42He never will, he never has.
04:45Persistent to a fault, Evander Holyfield became the first heavyweight to win the title four times.
04:51His warrior's refusal to quit has been both his strength and vulnerability.
04:55His biography will be highlighted by his two victories over Mike Tyson, especially the controversial second bout.
05:02It's a shame that a guy who was such a great champion for so long will probably be known as
05:07the guy who got his ear bitten off by Mike Tyson.
05:11But Evander Holyfield outboxed Tyson, outboxed the people of his day, and really is a dominant champion when you look
05:18at the annals of heavyweight fighting for an awfully long period of time.
05:27I lose four title reigns, four, four, a bunch of title reigns, and if you're a guy who stayed in
05:34primarily one or two weight classes, means you lost the title four times.
05:40He held the four titles for a combined six years. Give me Larry Holmes one title reign for seven years
05:48over that.
05:52He has shown...
05:53They cannot stop it, Riddick!
05:56Bowe!
05:57Has got the cha...
05:58Oh my god!
06:00Champion! Almost out of his feet!
06:02Here were two really tough guys.
06:05Holyfield! What a warrior! What a champion! He comes back with a ride of his own!
06:09This Evander Holyfield is something to behold!
06:13And at the end of the day, Bowe wins in what was really considered an upset at the time,
06:18but it was also the first of what would turn out to be three very good fights.
06:30Gene Tony is a smooth, smooth fighter.
06:32You want to see a guy who can box?
06:34You look at Gene Tony for heavyweight.
06:36He fought the marines. He was well-schooled.
06:41He's not high enough.
06:44Experienced, savvy fighter.
06:48He started fighting in like the...
06:51What, 1918 or something?
07:011915.
07:02He was about 80 years ahead of his time.
07:09His 63 fight career, Gene Tony suffered only one defeat, and that was as a light heavyweight.
07:15The fighting marine was heavyweight champ from 1926 to 1928.
07:22His unofficial record was 81, three draws, one no contest, and he avenged the one loss.
07:31So he beat pretty much everyone he faced.
07:41My face can't die.
07:42Gene Tony is this largely forgotten figure, despite the fact that he won the biggest fight in the history of
07:51fights.
07:54He beat the idol of America, Jack Dempsey, and America held it against him.
08:01Most people thought that Jack Dempsey would run right through Gene Tony.
08:05Tony just outfought him.
08:07Tony was the better fighter in the sense of boxing.
08:10And then they fought again.
08:11I think it was in 27.
08:12Tony beat him again.
08:14In their rematch, Dempsey knocked Tony down in the seventh round.
08:18But taking advantage of a delayed ten count, Tony was able to get on his feet and go on to
08:23win what has become known as the long count.
08:27He's still not considered the equal of Jack Dempsey, whom he beat twice, fair and square.
08:33He retired as the heavyweight champion of the world. Not many people do that.
08:37He deserves a lot more credit than he gets.
08:49Mike Tyson was a force.
08:51Oh, he's nowhere close to the list.
08:53If you look at his resume, who he beat, who beat him, he's not even close to the list.
09:00...of nature.
09:02He delivered what people like to see, knockout punches.
09:06His career, he was probably the most exciting fighter to watch, save for Muhammad Ali, in boxing.
09:14In the 1980s, I thought we were looking at a 10 to 15 year reign for Mike Tyson.
09:21And I didn't see how anybody could possibly beat him.
09:29On November 22nd, 1986, at the age of 20, Mike Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion ever.
09:37A product of the mean streets of Brooklyn, he fought with an uncageable fury and seemed to be invincible.
09:43Until he met a 42 to 1 underdog named Buster Douglas.
09:47Tyson, we never expected to see this. Does he know where he is? We get a new heavyweight champion! We
09:53have a new heavyweight champion!
09:55When finally he started to fight fighters his own size, at least in terms of skill level, suddenly he became
10:02fairly pedestrian.
10:04He fought Vander Holyfield, he got beat once, he quit the other time.
10:09He fought Lennox Lewis, he got knocked out.
10:13Somewhere in his head, the switch went off, and he was no longer a professional fighter.
10:18I tend to think that history is not going to treat Mike Tyson well.
10:23Mike Tyson, the force of nature, was not Mike.
10:27He never beat a Hall of Fame heavyweight in their prime. Ever.
10:34He never beat a Hall of Fame heavyweight, period, outside of 1988.
10:43Mike Tyson, the great heavyweight fighter everyone thought he was.
10:54Roberto Duran was a lightweight champion of the world for seven years, in probably the greatest era of boxing, the
11:011970s.
11:02He was definitely the greatest lightweight I ever saw, and many people will tell you he was the greatest lightweight
11:05of all time.
11:08Known as the Hands of Stone, resilient Roberto Duran began fighting in the 60s and continued into the 21st century,
11:15piling up 106 wins.
11:18Fighting against the likes of Tommy Hearns and Marvin Hagler, the Panamanian won four world titles, from lightweight to middleweight.
11:24He wore his opponents down with a merciless two-fisted attack.
11:29Roberto Duran was never given credit, really, for being as great a boxer as he was.
11:35And Duran heard him again, and Korn is going down!
11:39Very slick, tough to hit. Rolling with punches extremely well.
11:42He was always tough, but he relied more on his toughness than his boxing skills as his career went on.
11:49Duran with two good quick lefts and a third left. He thinks he's got the fight in the bag.
11:54Roberto Duran beat Sugar Ray Leonard at welterweight, which was, you know, unheard of.
11:58In Leonard's prime, at Leonard's best weight. Beat him, no excuses.
12:02So that's probably his greatest accomplishment.
12:05Roberto Duran is the new WPC welterweight champion of the world!
12:11It's the only time that Leonard actually was outsmarted by somebody, and that was Roberto Duran.
12:19When it came to the complete package, a guy who could hit hard, a guy who could avoid getting hit,
12:27I don't think there's many fighters in the history of boxing better than Roberto Duran.
12:32No.
12:34No.
12:3614.
12:38Roy Jones Jr. was a terrifically skilled fighter.
12:44I've never seen a fighter with this much talent ever as Roy Jones.
12:50The problem was, he fought in a division that nobody knew about or cared about, and at the end of
12:57the day, there were not a whole lot of opponents for him.
13:03Roy Jones Jr. began as a middleweight, grew into a light heavyweight, and held that title for seven years.
13:09He won 48 of his first 49 bouts, frequently toying with an overmatched opponent.
13:14But there continues to be disagreement about where he ranks in the roll call of the greatest.
13:21If you could magically put Roy Jones Jr. in the ring with anybody from any era, who beats him at
13:28middleweight? Who?
13:31To become a great, to become Ribeiro Duran, to become a Muhammad Ali, to become a Sugar Ray Robinson, to
13:37become a Sugar Leonard, you have to have...
13:41...the Hall of Famers handed him all of his losses by the time this came out.
13:47I think a few people could have beaten him.
13:52...put in a position to do that.
13:53He beat Bernard Hopkins, and he beat James Toney, and 15 years later, those wins were better than ever.
14:00He never showed he was great. He showed he was starting to be great, but he didn't wind up that
14:06way.
14:07He was never tested, so we can never put him up there in the top 10 greatest of all times
14:11because of that.
14:19It's March 17th, 1950. Entering the Garden Ring is featherweight champion Willie Pepp.
14:25Willie Pepp, he won two 129 matches. Not high enough.
14:29Willie Pepp was the greatest featherweight of all time.
14:32He was untouchable, beat everybody, hardly ever lost a round, let alone a fight.
14:36He's not even beaten four times in those 150 professional fights a day.
14:40The world of the wisp. You know, it's Willie Pepp. He retired 230 wins, 11 losses.
14:45Willie Pepp is an authentic 20-year man of boxing.
14:48Willie had that natural ability in the ring. He wasn't taught. He had it.
14:54Willie Pepp, the boxing, and in this case, the dancing master.
14:57You couldn't hit Pepp. It wasn't a big puncher, but you couldn't hit him.
15:00Great footwork, Willie Pepp.
15:02I mean, he could go rounds without getting touched.
15:04Willie Pepp is still the featherweight champion of the world.
15:07Greatest boxer you've ever seen.
15:09Willie Pepp made defense in art form.
15:12He was cobra quick and slick of foot.
15:14And in 1945, fought an entire round without throwing a punch.
15:18And won anyway, just as he had predicted.
15:21Wee Willie didn't suffer his first loss until his 64th fight.
15:24Among his most memorable bouts were the four with Sandy Sadler.
15:29He was in a plane crash and was lucky to survive, let alone fight again.
15:33So he fights Sandy Sadler after the plane crash.
15:37Willie Pepp with that jabbing, spearing left hand.
15:40And those guys...
15:43I think Sandy Sadler was almost as dangerous as a plane crash.
15:50His opponents will tell you that, but...
15:53I don't think their jaws are fully healed yet.
15:55You guys were so dirty, thumbing each other in the eye, head-butting, rabbit-punching, growing shots.
16:05Sadler beat Pepp three out of four.
16:07But Pepp won the second fight.
16:09It was the greatest piece of boxing I've ever seen.
16:13Pepp was the master of masters when it just came to the art of self-defense.
16:19Willie Pepp.
16:20He made Sandy Sadler fall forward on her ropes.
16:24And nobody ever embarrassed Sandy Sadler.
16:27Again, or before.
16:30One of the great little men of all time.
16:32He's a small guy, but he was a great fighter.
16:35Twelve. Twelve.
16:38Probably no fighter has traveled the miles as Archie Moore traveled.
16:42When he was at his prime, you didn't have to fight black fighters if you didn't want to fight them.
16:47Archie Moore got ducked probably more than almost anybody who ever fought.
16:51All I wanted was fights.
16:53I didn't give a damn who I fought.
16:56When his time came, he was way past what is normally a boxer's prime.
17:02The one thing you remember about Archie Moore is his longevity.
17:05Although held back by racism, Archie Moore managed to make up for lost time,
17:09winning 194 fights, 141 by knockout, in a 28 year career.
17:16The old Mongoose started fighting professionally in 1935, but it wasn't until...
17:21He didn't get a title shot until 17 years into his career.
17:26He had already fought 160 plus times.
17:30Until 17 years later, at age 39, that he seized his first world title.
17:35He successfully defended that light heavyweight crown for eight and a half years.
17:39Archie Moore is the only heavyweight in history that fought Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali.
17:46Archie Moore had one of the great fights of all time with Yvonne Durrell.
17:49When he was like 44 years old, Durrell was in his 20s.
17:53I don't think anybody thought Archie Moore was going to survive the fight.
17:58Once the Archie Moore fight with Durrell took place, everybody understood now,
18:01a fight is not over until it's over.
18:04Up at nine, but staggered.
18:07He roared back, figured out Durrell, and finally knocked him out of the 11th round.
18:12Struggling at nine, ten, he is out!
18:15Get off the floor the way he did, but then knock out Durrell.
18:19It was something to be old.
18:20You're not going to fight 200 professional fights and not have the heart of a champion.
18:2911, 11, 11.
18:30If you're looking for the 20 toughest guys, whoever boxed,
18:35you don't have to get too far past first place to find Joe Frazier.
18:39Frazier...
18:39Wait, Tua, he had 37 fights.
18:4237 boxing matches and he's ahead of Archie Moore and Willie Pep?
18:47No.
18:48No.
18:50Not even close.
18:52...was fast and hard and relentless.
18:55To watch Joe Frazier in his prime is like watching a machine,
18:59is like watching an embodiment of the human will.
19:02Smokin' Joe Frazier knew only one gear, forward.
19:06With a left hook that could topple a redwood,
19:08he compiled a record of 32-4-1,
19:11losing only to Muhammad Ali and George Foreman.
19:14Frazier, who won the heavyweight title in 1970,
19:16would fight his greatest rival, Ali, on the greatest stage in the fight of the century.
19:21Joe Frazier won that fight.
19:23And, you know, he threw that great left hook at the end
19:24and dropped Muhammad Ali and no one could believe it.
19:27It was as if I and my generation had taken a punch to the solar plexus.
19:37After Ali had beaten Frazier in their second fight,
19:40they met on October 1st, 1975, in the Thrilla in Minera.
19:46Well, let's not call it a fight, let's call it a war.
19:49Because it was a war.
19:55Two old warriors are going at it, and they inflicted a lot of damage on each other that night.
19:59It's been a super fight all the way here in the Philippine Coliseum.
20:02They gave every inch of their beings in that fight.
20:07They gave every ounce of their souls.
20:09The legend of Muhammad Ali would be greatly diminished had there never been a Joe Frazier.
20:13In their three fights, he really brought Ali to the ultimate level.
20:20As great as Ali was, there was something that he could not turn away, and that was Joe Frazier's will.
20:27Frazier's will was going to be imposed upon you, and in his prime, he was miraculous to watch.
20:38George Farmer is interesting because he had two lives.
20:42His first reign was a reign of terror, and he was probably the most frightening heavyweight champion of all time.
20:50When Ali went to Zaire to fight him, people were literally afraid that George Farmer was going to kill Muhammad
20:56Ali.
20:57When...
20:58I mean, a kid had four heavyweights in the top ten, but George Farmer's a nice start.
21:05He got the rope-a-dope from Muhammad Ali, the persona was shattered, and George's career basically was shattered, and
21:12you never thought you were going to see George Foreman again.
21:16During big George Foreman's two-part career, he punched out a record of 76-5 with 68 knockouts.
21:22He won the heavyweight title as a bully by destroying Joe Frazier in 1973, but lost it the next year
21:29to Muhammad Ali.
21:30Reformed and remade as everyone's favorite uncle 20 years later, Foreman fought Michael Moorer for the title.
21:37The pre-fight hype gave George Foreman no chance.
21:41And for the first eight or nine rounds, it was a pretty serious beating that Michael Moorer gave George Foreman.
21:49Solid right hand by Borel.
21:51Foreman's left eye beginning to close.
21:54And yet, all it takes is one big right hand from George Foreman, and it's over.
21:59The round goes for on a right hand.
22:02It happened.
22:04It happened.
22:06It happened!
22:07It happened!
22:09The fact that he actually won the real heavyweight championship of the world at the age of 45 is one
22:15of the most remarkable achievements in all of sports.
22:229.
22:239.
22:249.
22:249.
22:259.
22:25Marvin Hagler, this guy came up in the streets.
22:27He came up hungry.
22:29He knocked everybody out that he fought during his title reign except for Roberto Duran.
22:34If you wanted to pay your money to see a man fight, you wanted to see Marvin Hagler.
22:43Phone booth or free, marvelous Marvin Hagler would fight anywhere.
22:46He became middleweight champ in 1980 and successfully defended the title a dozen times.
22:52Hagler retired after a controversial loss to Sugar Ray Leonard with a 62-3-2 record,
22:57highlighted by a slugfest with Thomas Hearns.
23:02Tremendous pace in the first round.
23:05Well, Hagler-Hearns is a fan favorite because it's so savage and it's so fast and then it's over pretty
23:11quickly.
23:12Hearns getting the better of it right now.
23:13Right from the opening bell, these guys delivered in a way that you seldom see.
23:19Hagler punishing Hearns now.
23:20I don't think that either one of us really thought. We just fought.
23:24This is still the first round.
23:25Tommy was the type of person that tried not to back up. I had to back him up.
23:30Hagler goes in for the kill.
23:31You coming in here saying that you're going to take my title and knock my ball head off.
23:35You got to be dreaming.
23:37It's over.
23:37Oh, guess what?
23:38It's history.
23:40He was definitely dreaming for about five seconds.
23:44Right there.
23:46Marvin Hagler, a tremendous victory.
23:49Hagler had never quite gotten his due.
23:51And I think with that knockout, people realized this is not just a middleweight champ.
23:56This is an all-time great.
24:03Sugar Ray Leonard may have been the street-smartest, boxing-savviest fighter I ever covered.
24:10He just knew how to play the game.
24:14Leonard's genius, I think, was dictating the rules of engagement.
24:17He was going to fight when he wanted to fight.
24:21He was not going to fight and exchange when you wanted to exchange.
24:26I think he, in many ways, was the smartest fighter of all time.
24:32Sugar Ray Leonard could charm you with that megawatt smile or flatten you with his right hand.
24:36The 1976 Olympic gold medalist had charisma and pop, winning titles in five divisions and 36 of 40 bouts.
24:45Among those he beat, Roberto Duran, marvelous Marvin Hagler, and Thomas Hearns.
24:52Ray Leonard, the perception was, he was the pretty boy from the Olympics, good boxer.
24:58How tough was he?
24:59Well, we're about to find out.
25:03You're in the ring with Tommy Hearns.
25:05He's six foot two.
25:06Seventy-eight inch reach is not much shorter than Larry Holmes' reach or Muhammad Ali's reach.
25:10He's a welterweight.
25:11He can hit you from a cross.
25:11He had the same reach of Ali.
25:14That's the ring.
25:15By the way, he can outbox you.
25:17And he can turn out the lights with one punch.
25:20I was scared for Sugar Ray Leonard.
25:23Until it ended, you had no idea who was going to win.
25:29I think he would beat almost anybody, pound for pound, in the history of the sport, eventually.
25:34Because I think he was smart enough to figure out what you did would work.
25:40Nobody ever beat Sugar Ray Leonard twice.
25:43And somebody like that, he beat every one of the four kings.
25:50He lost to Duran, but he beat him.
25:52He lost to Hearns, but he beat him.
25:54He beat Hagler.
25:58It's that.
26:00Seven, seven, seven.
26:04Jack Johnson was a legend.
26:06He went against the system.
26:07He was revolutionary.
26:09Really, Jack Johnson?
26:13We're doing the heavyweight bias again.
26:16In historical significance bias.
26:20His real resume doesn't belong on the, probably doesn't even belong on the list.
26:29Once he got the chance, Jack Johnson became the first black heavyweight champion in history,
26:34winning the title in Australia.
26:36To the chagrin of the white establishment, he held the crown for six and a half years
26:41until losing it to Jess Willard in Cuba in 1915.
26:45Johnson flaunted convention at a time when racism was random.
26:50First of all, in order to win the heavyweight title, he had to prove himself the best
26:54among a group of black heavyweights who were avoided by the white fighters of the day.
27:01He had to chase Tommy Burns around the world to fight Tommy Burns for the title,
27:04which he won at Christmas Day in 1908.
27:06He was one of the few fighters in that era who was really able to fight everybody
27:09and proved himself the best.
27:12Jack Johnson drove the white establishment nuts.
27:15He was cocky, he was arrogant, he was everything that would give white America a stroke.
27:22Johnson had taunted opponents, been flamboyant, had openly gone around with white women,
27:28things which were resented by white America at that time.
27:32In terms of his social impact, he was at least half a century ahead of his time.
27:39In other words, if it was a half a century later when he came around, he'd still be totally cutting
27:45edge.
27:45Unfortunately, the way he comported himself, there wasn't another guy getting a shot until Joe Lewis came along.
27:57Henry Armstrong was a three-division champion when there were no junior weight classes and would fight anybody.
28:03Armstrong belongs to a long line of champions.
28:05There were only nine divisions back then, so he was holding a third of the belts.
28:10The night he was boxing better than ever, he could do everything in a boxing ring.
28:14He wanted to box, he could out-box you.
28:16He wanted to brawl, he could out-brawl you.
28:18Boring in with his head down, hardly ever giving the other fellow a chance of hitting us.
28:22If there was no such thing as Sugar Ray Robinson, Armstrong would be the greatest fighter of all time.
28:26In fact, as long as Henry's in the ring, and he just can't keep out of arm's way.
28:30If he wasn't the greatest, you don't have to get too far down the list to find his name.
28:34Henry Armstrong!
28:38Even though he lost three of his first four pro fights,
28:41versatile Henry Armstrong retired in 1945 with 151 wins.
28:45In 1937 alone, he had a career, going 27-0, 26 by knockout.
28:53Homicide Hanks, the only fighter to hold titles in three divisions simultaneously.
28:59God, he was good.
29:01He was non-stop.
29:02Busy, busy, busy.
29:04It was a different era.
29:05It was an era when guys would come out every week, every two weeks, and fight and defend their titles.
29:10He was a lightweight who was good enough to clean out that division and win the title,
29:15drop down to featherweight to win that title,
29:18and then move up to welterweight to win that title,
29:22and make 18, 19 defenses in like two and a half years.
29:25Nobody accomplished more than Henry Armstrong.
29:35There was no greater draw in America, in sports, than Jack Dempsey.
29:41He fought for money when he was 16 and found he had the aptitude for it.
29:45Jack Dempsey threw lightning bolt punches, knocking out some foes in less than 20 seconds.
29:50We're doing the historical significance card.
29:59It has nothing to do with how great a boxer actually was.
30:02They were going to bring up the million-dollar gate, and all he was ahead of his time this.
30:10He was the defining athlete of the 1920s dad.
30:14That means nothing.
30:17The heavyweight champ from 1919 to 1926,
30:20the Manasseh Mauler was one of the marquee names in the golden age of sport.
30:25Jack Dempsey represented a whole new era.
30:28He comes in like a pit bull.
30:30He crouches low, his hair is shaped up the back of his head,
30:33he's got this scowl, and he's out to kill his opponent.
30:37He had that ducking, lower style.
30:39He was a swarmer.
30:40He was an attacker.
30:40They called him the tiger.
30:41Jack Dempsey was this human wrecking machine who had torn everyone he had fought to shreds.
30:49This excited the country.
30:51I mean, the country has come out of the war.
30:52They wanted heroes, and boy, they love Jack Dempsey.
30:55He had a great way about him, that rugged look.
30:59He turned people on.
31:00That's why he was such an attraction.
31:02Nothing personified being hard and being able to overcome and be successful more than Jack Dempsey.
31:10The only thing with Dempsey, he didn't fight enough.
31:13When he won the title, he didn't fight for three years.
31:15Now, he wouldn't fight black men, which was ridiculous.
31:19So that...
31:19Fuck black men.
31:20His promoter, who controlled everything, Tech Rickard said, told him to say he wouldn't do it.
31:28And then Harry Wills, who was supposed to be such a threat, he goes on and loses to some short
31:35guy, Polino Uskinen.
31:37So that stifled him.
31:40He fought black men.
31:44But he still didn't...
31:45He shouldn't have taken three years off after winning the...
31:49And gone to Hollywood after winning the title for so long.
31:56That's got to take some points off him.
31:59He was such a huge figure in America.
32:03He continued to be a legendary figure, you know, right up until the day he died.
32:13You talk about desire.
32:16You talk about doing anything to win.
32:18That was Rocky Marciano.
32:21Tough as a rock.
32:23He was very well named.
32:26It was like going up against granite.
32:29He was relentless.
32:31The bell would ring, he would be on you.
32:33The bell ring, he'd stop.
32:34The bell would ring, he would be right back on you.
32:37He just kept coming and throwing that dreadful overhand right that just hammered everybody into submission.
32:46In a violently imperfect sport, Rocky Marciano was perfect.
32:50He was never beaten.
32:52The only champion in any class to retire undefeated.
32:5529-0.
32:56And he's still the only undefeated.
33:01Well, well, not anymore.
33:04But he was.
33:06...feated with a 49-0 career record.
33:09He ruled the heavyweights, beating luminaries as Ezard Charles and Archie Moore.
33:13And Jersey Joe Walcott, who Rocky knocked out with the greatest punch in boxing history.
33:20Marciano trained like an old-time bare-knuckle fighter.
33:23He had the endurance to go 20 rounds.
33:26He could knock you out in the 20th round.
33:30He had to train.
33:31He had to be in better shape than his opponent, otherwise he wasn't going to win, and he knew that.
33:34Based on just skill and natural speed and strength, he wasn't going to beat the top heavyweights.
33:39So he had to work that hard.
33:40In 1951, Marciano fought his idol, the aging Joe Lewis.
33:44After knocking out his mentor in the eighth round of a non-title fight, Marciano was reduced to tears of
33:50remorse and guilt.
33:51Afterwards, you know, you could almost feel all the power draining out of Marciano.
33:57You know, there was all the sense of him saying, I'm sorry, Joe.
34:01He never lost a fight.
34:03Never lost a fight.
34:04Not even to his wife, which is what he always used to say.
34:10I don't really look at the 49-0 so much.
34:12I look at who he beat.
34:13Bottom line, he beat good contenders like Lestarza, and he beat Joe Walcott and Archie Moore in fights where he
34:19deserves full credit for really beating those guys.
34:22Anybody wants to argue about Rocky Marciano, just look at the record.
34:2449-0.
34:323-3-3-3.
34:36If you ask God, build me a fighter, he would build sugar.
34:40No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
34:43He's number one.
34:45By a long shot, number one.
34:49You're going to tell me Joe Lewis is ahead of him.
34:52I don't know if he's ahead of him.
34:55I don't see it.
34:58Ray Robinson, that's what he did.
35:00His athletic ability was so superior to every fighter you fought.
35:05He was a wizard in the ring.
35:07His hands moved like lightning.
35:08He was like a gazelle.
35:10It was like watching a ballet.
35:11You would never know the other guy was in the ring when he was there.
35:14Walker Smith Jr. was so adept at the sweet science
35:16that he became known as Sugar Ray Robinson.
35:19Walter weight champ and five times middleweight king.
35:22Satin smooth, he amassed 175 wins
35:25and was accorded the sport's ultimate compliment.
35:27Ray Robinson could do everything.
35:29Knock you out back and up.
35:31Ask Gene Fuller.
35:33A choking left hook by Robinson and Gene Fuller
35:35crashes to the canvas.
35:37That was Ray Robinson.
35:38You want a box?
35:39This is Sugar Ray Robinson.
35:41He's 37 years old.
35:42He was supposed to be washed up.
35:49Well, he washed Gene Fuller up.
35:52And that was the only time Gene Fuller was ever stopped in his career.
35:58We'll box 100 rounds.
35:59He'll never, ever touch me.
36:02Robinson engaged in brutal wars with Carmen Basilio and Gene Fuller
36:06and in a six-fight savagery with the raging bull, Jake LaMotta,
36:10that concluded with the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
36:13That fight was great because you had the bull, Jake LaMotta,
36:18who had beaten Robinson once.
36:20LaMotta was the only man to beat him in his first 123 fights.
36:32You saw one man not giving up, trying his damnedest to catch Sugar Ray Robinson.
36:43And Sugar Ray Robinson toying with him at times.
36:49No man can endure this coming.
36:52The fight is going to be stopped on a signal.
36:56I said, I'm the greatest heavyweight of all time.
36:59But pound for pound, I still say Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest of all time.
37:05And the new world middleweight boxing champion, Sugar Ray Robinson.
37:10Greatest fighter, powerful pound that ever lived.
37:13There's no question about it.
37:27Joe Louis was the greatest phenomenon the ring had ever seen.
37:32Joe Louis was the Green Hornet, Superman, Batman.
37:36As far as a finisher, as far as a knockout artist, he was really an artist.
37:41He was Leonardo da Vinci in a boxing ring canvas.
37:51Instead of a paintbrush, he had two gloves.
37:58And Dick Tracy, all these people rolled into one for African Americans.
38:03He had this tremendous burden that he had to carry.
38:05He had to follow a pretty strict code of how to comport himself in public
38:09and how to talk about his opponent.
38:11He had to worry about a lot of things that most fighters never ever had to worry about.
38:15He understood his role in terms of breaking down the barriers in this country.
38:19Some fighters do their talking before they get in the ring.
38:22I do my own when I get in the ring with my fist.
38:25On top of all the social significance of him being on top as a black man being the heavyweight champion
38:30of the world,
38:31he dominated the sport that was considered the singular sport.
38:38Joe Louis knocked down opponents and knocked down social barriers with equal facility.
38:43He held the heavyweight title from 1937 to 1949, successfully defending it a record 25 times.
38:50In all, the Brown Bomber won 68 of 71 bouts.
38:54On June 22, 1938, he met Max Schmeling in a rematch with unprecedented implications.
39:00I'm going to be in the best of shape, and I'm sure that it's going to be a very good
39:04fight.
39:04It was not a boxing match at all.
39:07It was a fight about two systems of government, two ways the world was going to go,
39:12the Nazis and the American way.
39:16Nobody was going to beat him that night.
39:19And he came out so sure of himself.
39:22And he gave that German such a shellacking.
39:26The fight is over.
39:27Max Schmeling is beaten in one round.
39:30Put him in the hospital for a week.
39:32At that moment, it felt like Joe had knocked out Hitler.
39:37Joe Louis was the hero of the hour, not just to black America, but to all America.
39:48Not my name no more.
39:49Officially Muhammad Ali now.
39:51Muhammad Ali, right.
39:52Muhammad Ali.
39:54Muhammad Ali is a great fighter.
39:57Muhammad Ali turned out to be a great man who could move like a lightweight, punch like a heavyweight.
40:02I mean, he had everything.
40:04I shook up the world!
40:05I shook up the world!
40:07There was no such thing as trash talking until Ali showed up.
40:11I'm handsome.
40:12I'm fat.
40:13I'm pretty and can't possibly be beat.
40:16He put on a show before the fight.
40:17He put on a show during it and after it.
40:19He was even better.
40:20He changed the way athletes acted with the media and the way the media treated athletes.
40:25I'm the greatest.
40:26I'm knocking out all bones.
40:28If you get too smart, I'll knock you out.
40:43Ali was also a controversial figure.
40:45Despite being a fighter by trade, Ali was a man of peace.
40:49He boycotted the Vietnam War, only to be stripped of his title and banned from boxing.
40:56I will not go 10,000 miles to help murder another poor people.
41:02What happens now to his title?
41:04He will doubtless be stripped of it by every state boxing commission in this country and by the World Boxing
41:10Association.
41:11He was able to come back from that three and a half year absence and then later pull off one
41:18of the great upsets in boxing history, knocking out George Foreman.
41:24After knocking out Foreman, Ali fought Joe Frazier a third time in the epic Thrilla in Manila.
41:30That victory secured Ali's place not only in fistic history, but as a man who was once reviled and then
41:36came to be admired for his convictions and the courage to stand behind him.
41:41If you had told somebody in 1968 that in 1996, Muhammad Ali would be the most beloved individual on earth
41:48and the mere sight of him holding an Olympic torch would bring people to tears, you'd want a lot of
41:55bets.
41:55As a cultural icon, certainly he was more important than any other athlete.
42:02Muhammad Ali is the greatest fighter of all time.
42:08But he's not, and he never was.
42:12You would have Ali on film saying Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest.
42:15If Ali doesn't think Ali was better than Sugar Ray Robinson, why shouldn't anyone else?
42:22I don't care how much impact he had on the planet earth.
42:29He didn't have 174 victories and 109 knockouts.
42:39So there they are, our 20 most adept engineers of the sweet science.
42:43And here they are, our second guessers.
42:46So thank you guys for sharing.
42:49I really hope you like that.
42:50Everything looks fine.
42:57Let's go to Kadaruse.
Comments