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Tony Bellew Vs David Haye II – A Look Back At Other Boxing Rematches Over The Years

By Faisal “Fayz” Masood

Saturday 5th May should have given us the year’s most eagerly anticipated rematch as Gennady Golovkin was set to battle Canelo Alvarez. With Canelo’s failing of the drug test and the subsequent cancellation of the fight, there was still one other rematch going on over in the UK when a bad blooded match up between two former cruiserweight champions campaigning as heavyweights took place. Tony Bellew won the first fight, mostly against the grain as the majority of fans and pundits were expecting a victory for the ‘Haye maker’ but an injury mid fight scuppered any hopes of David Haye walking away with the win. In this article I look at some other great rematches where the first fight did not necessarily go the way people were expecting.

Sugar Ray Robinson Vs Randy Turpin II

Their first battle took place in London of 1951 as part of a whirlwind tour which had Sugar Ray fighting around Europe. Robinson fought in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and his last stop was England against the tough Randy Turpin. Robinson had been warned his opponent would be a stiff challenge and it would be his 7th fight in seven weeks on tour. The lead up to the fight hadn’t gone well for Robinson and the fight would go even worse, Turpin out worked a lethargic Robinson and took the middleweight title with a points win, inflicting only the 2nd defeat in Robinsons career in his 132nd bout.

Robinson wasted no time in securing a rematch and this time it would take place in his home country. The fight was scheduled just two months later in New York in front of a crowd of over 61,000 and Sugar Ray was determined to right the wrongs of the first fight.
The fight was closely contested through nine rounds, but in the tenth Turpin butted Robinson, something which had been a problem in their first fight and had caused Robinson to cut, requiring eight stitches after, with Robinson fearing the worst he decided to take the attack to Turpin and unleashed a flurry of punches, a feint led the way and the following was over 30 punches from Robinson between knockdowns as the referee finally waved the fight off, giving Robinson revenge, victory and his world title back.

Muhammad Ali Vs Leon Spinks II

Just like Robinson, you could probably choose a number of rematches Ali participated in but this one makes the cut because no one really expected Spinks to defeat Ali in their first match up. Ali entered the first fight as the heavyweight champion boasting a record of 55-2 37 KO’s, he was at the end of his career at 36yrs old but he was facing here a 24yr old Olympic gold medallist with just seven fights on his resume. Ali had expected an easy bout against his fresh faced foe and paid the price with a split decision loss, like Robinson, Ali was quick to secure a rematch before Spinks could fight anyone else, Spinks even was stripped of the WBC belt for fighting Ali and not Ken Norton.

The rematch took place seven months later and Ali would undoubtedly be taking the return bout far more seriously wanting revenge from the only man to take his titles in the ring. An in shape Ali was to fight like his glory days, jabbing and moving around the ring, giving those legs one last chance to float like a butterfly in front of 63,000 fans in New Orleans. Ali controlled the fight with his jab, tying Spinks up whenever he got too close, effectively preventing Spinks from countering with shots of his own. The end result was an easy win for Ali, who regained his titles and became the first man to win the Heavyweight title three times.

Roberto Duran Vs Sugar Ray Leonard II

Just two years later, the Superdome in New Orleans would host another rematch that would also join the Ali and Spinks rematch as one of boxings most famous fights. The first fight between the pair had taken place earlier in 1980 with Duran getting under Leonards skin in the build up to the fight. Leonard fought the fight that Duran had wanted him to fight, a fight which suited the challenger with his furious brawling and aggressive style. The end result was a first loss for Leonard, losing his welterweight titles to Duran who had already previously conquered the lightweight division.

Like the other names on the list, Sugar Ray Leonard called for an immediate rematch, sensing that Duran was still in celebratory mode….

The fight would take place in November of the same year and this time Leonard would not be falling for any of Duran’s pre-fight tricks. Leonard stuck to his game plan this time, whereas Duran didn’t even stick to his diet. Busy celebrating his win in the first fight, Duran’s team took the fight knowing Duran would need to crash diet to lose the weight he had been piling on whilst celebrating his win over Leonard only months earlier. Sugar Ray Leonard took the canvas in the rematch and this time he was fighting the way he wanted to fight, Duran, a mean machine who loved a tear up, would not take kindly to Leonards constant movement.

It would only get worse for Duran as Leonard began to taunt Duran and even baited him with an Ali shuffle. Just as bad for Duran was Leonard winding up his right hand and then hitting Duran with the left. The embarrassment of Leonards taunts seemed to be inflicting more pain on Duran that the actual punches themselves. Round eight would cement the fight in boxing folklore, Duran had enough of Leonards tactics, both his taunting and his movement and decided to turn his back telling the referee he had enough of fighting this ‘clown’. The famous words of ‘no mas’ were then claimed to have been muttered and the fight was called off, Sugar Ray Leonard had won back his WBC, Ring and Lineal world welterweight titles.

Check out Fayz’s available books for download on Amazon. He also runs his own Personal Training site and blog over at Fayz Fitness.

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