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The men on this list snatched victory from the jaws of defeat when all looked lost. I know I have missed some, so throw your greatest boxing comebacks that I missed in the comment section!
So one narrative to this fight was that both fighters sought a knockout win to finally settle their longstanding rivalry – Marquez, in particular, hoped to get his hands on Pacquiao as soon as possible. At the same time, Pacquiao wanted nothing more than to end this man who had taunted him over multiple weight classes over years of competition.
Marquez sent shockwaves through the boxing world in Round 2 when he utilized an overhand right disguised to drop Pacquiao for the first time since 2013. Pacquiao survived despite appearing dazed, however.
Pacquiao appeared hesitant to engage with Marquez’s right hand from hereon out, backing away from the opening – something which Freddie Roach addressed by calling out in the corner.
Pacquiao evened up the knockdown count by dropping Marquez during their exchange. Marquez quickly responded with a counter right that buckled Pacquiao before Pacquiao broke Marquez’s nose before the fifth round was concluded.
It looked like Pacman was n his way until lightning struck.
Entering the 11th round of this fight, Hatcher needed a knockout as he trailed by six and seven points, respectively, on the three scorecards. Hatcher landed and put Bumphus down and a wold melee ensued, and when all was said and done, Hatcher was a world champion!
John Molina was chosen as Mickey Bey’s opponent against TMT fighter Mickey Bey, an unbeaten fighter aiming for a world championship. Molina would provide Bey with an aggressive yet manageable opponent as they tried to earn one themselves.
Bey easily outclassed Molina throughout their 10-round bout, using his quicker and slicker style to outwit Molina’s aggressive approach and bank round after round. Molina simply wasn’t effective enough against Bey’s counter-punching strategies.
Going into the final round, Bey was ahead on all scorecards, with one judge scoring all nine rounds to his favor. Molina managed to land an unexpected left hook from out of nowhere that stunned and stopped Bey and began throwing everything he could at him to try and force a stoppage of Bey. Referee Vic Drakulich eventually called time on this round as Molina found just one shot that stunned and stopped Bey, derail his unbeaten record, and win this fight from nowhere!
Froch was starting to establish his reputation, having recently won his world title by defeating Jean Pascal and set to defend it against Jermain Taylor in his first defence fight.
Froch was down on two of three judges’ scorecards going into the final round and needed a knockout victory to prevail.
Froch landed a hard right cross to knock Taylor to his back before following up with a barrage of punches that forced the referee to stop the bout with 15 seconds remaining on the clock.
Froch’s victory established him as an official world champion at 168 lbs, and led to him having an unprecedented run of 10 consecutive world title fights, which included big money bouts against Andre Ward, Mikkel Kessler and, maybe most significantly, George Groves himself.
Julio Cesar Chavez and Meldrick Taylor engaged in an exciting light-welterweight title bout in 1990. Although Chavez was generally the harder puncher, he was outboxed considerably throughout most of the bout and trailed significantly on two judges’ scorecards; potentially jeopardizing his title.
Chavez unleashed fierce blows in the 12th and final round, which badly wounded Taylor. Chavez delivered right and left hooks that struck Taylor both head and body before knocking him down before referee Richard Steele intervened to stop the fight as only two seconds remained; Steele thought Taylor couldn’t continue.
Chavez made an unlikely comeback from certain defeat to claim victory and achieve victory.
Mike Weaver was just an unknown heavyweight when he entered the ring against John Tate for the WBA World Heavyweight title bout in 1980. Sure he had given Larry Holmes a life and death battle the year before, but most thought it was a fluke against a Holmes that did not take Weaver seriously.
Weaver entered the ring with an unimpressive 21-9 record, showing slight improvement by winning seven of his previous eight fights and possessing a powerful punch.
Tate was an impressive boxer who was easily beating Weaver for 14 rounds.
However, the 15th round was different: Weaver continued his relentless assault, hoping desperately for one last knockout blow against Tate. About two minutes into the final round, Weaver finally succeeded and unleashed a fierce left hook punch that stunned Tate.
Tate had his left shoulder resting against Weaver. When Weaver pulled away, Tate fell forward onto the canvas face first and was counted out.
Weaver won his championship through an epic knockout victory, and held onto it until Michael Dokes dethroned him two years later, under shady circumstances.
As the 9th round progressed, both fighters were still standing, yet clearly showing evidence of battle damage.
Corrales had fallen prey to Castillo’s left hook early in round 10, as Corrales spit his mouthpiece out onto the mat after taking an obvious body shot from him, appearing dazed and fatigued from Castillo’s body assault, staggering into his corner as referee Tony Weeks beseeched Joe Goossen to reinsert it back.
Weeks gave Corrales another chance as he rose back up before penalising one point for excessive mouthpiece spitting out.
Trainer Goossen sent a powerful message to Corrales during their fight. With Corrales facing an out-of-reach 10-6 round heading into the final rounds, this command had lasting reverberations as Corrales appeared poised to outclass Goossen provided they didn’t stop moving forward at that moment.
Castillo attacked Corrales from behind, looking to finish him off quickly as Corrales attempted desperately to throw back. At around two minutes left in the round, Corrales began trading with Castillo before landing a powerful left hook which seemed to stun Castillo; Castillo fell back against the ropes as Corrales managed to throw combinations against an injured Mexican.
Castillo managed to escape, only to be caught once more by Corrales, who suddenly seemed on the verge of stopping Castillo with a powerful combination. Sensing that Castillo was done, Corrales chased him back into the ropes before unleashing yet another combination into him before pushing Castillo back against them for good.
Castillo’s head jerked back, his eyes rolling back, and Tony Weeks intervened to call off this historic bout, making for one of the greatest rounds, fights and comebacks ever seen in boxing history. Corrales had earlier declared he would “walk through hell” before surrendering his title that evening; how prophetic.
Billy Conn was an outstanding fighter when he met Joe Louis in 1941, yet it would become clear to everyone who witnessed their bout that Conn was up against a legend who would go down in history as the greatest heavyweight fighters ever.
Conn was known for his speed, hand-eye coordination and punching power; however, for this fight, he weighed 174.5 pounds, while Louis weighed in at 199.
Even though Conn was at a weight and strength disadvantage against Louis, he fought valiantly throughout the night, moving fast while throwing crisp lefts and rights and starting to establish an edge in later rounds.
As the fight progressed, Conn was relentless. By the 12th round he had hit Louis with some big shots that caused his champion to falter.
Conn would have won the fight if he had played it safe and boxed from a distance.
Conn’s brave decision cost him dearly; while he scored some heavy shots against Louis, Louis’ power showed itself late in the 13th round as he dropped Conn with multiple punches that sent him down and Conn was counted out at 2 minutes 58 seconds.
Jersey Joe Walcott was an expert boxer who won the heavyweight title in 1951. However, in Philadelphia, he met and faced off against hard-puncher Rocky Marciano as his rival for that title.
At that point in his career, Marciano was respected for his power but awkward in the ring, often off-balance when throwing punches.
Walcott hoped that his superior boxing abilities would enable him to impose himself on Rocky.
Walcott immediately established control in this fight, knocking Marciano down with an aggressive right in the opening round and dominating most of it from then on out.
Marciano still had power late in the fight and sought an opportunity to strike. Early in Round 13, he did just that, sending Walcott reeling back against the ropes before toppling over in knock out fashion – giving Marciano his championship in one devastating blow!
George Foreman entered the ring against Michael Moorer in 1994 with an aim of winning back the heavyweight championship he had lost to Muhammad Ali two decades earlier.
At 45, Foreman had become slower and less aggressive yet still packed a powerful punch. His veteran experience came in handy.
Moorer was giving Foreman an intensive boxing lesson. Moorer kept beating Foreman with every punch, leaving him bruised and his face swelling with redness and puffiness.
However, Foreman knew he still had a chance at the title with one more powerful right-hand blow from him. That chance arrived in the 10th round when Foreman used an effective counter punch against Moorer’s left to deliver a crisp right that hit Moorer right on his chin and forced him down for the count.
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