Via Ken Hissner – With this long rematch coming up (four years) in the upcoming third bout between IBF and WBA world middleweight champion Gennadiy “GGG” Golovkin and IBF, WBA, WBC and IBF super middleweight world champions and WBO Saul “Canelo” Alvarez to take the title on September 17order at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, I began to think that there are very few three-part matches in modern times.
I went to my “The Ultimate Boxing Encyclopedia” in “Boxing Truths and Miracles” and found the following in the “Famous Series:
Ted Kid Lewis vs Jack Britton (20 encounters), Sam Langford vs Sam McVey (15), Langford vs Harry Wills (18), Joe Jeanette (14), Jeff Clark (13) and Jim Barry (12). Langford is the king of three-part battles.
In this fight with a boxing fan recently, he brought to light a series of fights I forgot about. There have been many rematches but a third fight in the last twenty years or so?
I think of world heavyweight champions Muhammad “The Greatest” Ali and “Smokin” Joe Frazier and Ali’s fights with Ken Norton all three times.
I remember two world heavyweight champions “Sugar” Ray Robinson and middleweight champion Jake “Bronx Bull” LaMotta fought six times with Robinson winning five of them. Robinson also played Gene Fullmer four times, 1-2-1, while LaMotta played Fritzie Zivic three times.
The first match that comes to mind in modern times was between “Irish” Micky Ward and double world champion Arturo “Thunder” Gatti, who fought not only three times but three in a row in 2002 and 2003, which included Ward’s final. three fights before retiring. On top of that, they ended up becoming good friends.
Six-division world champion Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao and four-division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez have battled each other four times. I thought this was the only time “Pac Man” was stopped until I saw it as the third but first time after becoming world champion. He has also fought two-time world champion Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley, Jr., three times. I feel that defeat alone against Bradley is a controversial decision. Same goes for Pac Man’s loss to Australia’s Jeff “The Hornet” Horn, another controversial decision.
A friend of mine in Philadelphia, world light heavyweight champion Harold Johnson lost 4/5 to light heavyweight champion Archie “Old Mongoose” Moore.
Featuring world heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson and Sweden’s Ingemar Johansson, Patterson almost lost the retired world champion Rocky Marciano.
I’m sure readers will think of many others reading this article that I’ll think “now I remember those things!”
