This week in boxing history, PBC remembers a heavyweight great, a light heavyweight title rematch, a sweet middleweight championship KO and two Fights of the Year, including arguably the most thrilling bout of all time.
April 11, 1981 – Larry Holmes defeated Trevor Berbick by unanimous decision to retain his WBC heavyweight title at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
Holmes had defended his title eight times previously by knockout, tying the record of Tommy Burns for the most consecutive KO victories by a heavyweight champion, but Berbick ended the streak.
April 14, 1979 – Victor Galindez stopped Mike Rossman in nine rounds to reclaim the WBA light heavyweight title in a rematch at the New Orleans Superdome.
Rossman upset Galindez to win the championship with a 13th-round TKO in September 1978, and a second meeting in Las Vegas on February 24, 1979, was canceled shortly before fight time because of a dispute over the judges. In the eventual rematch, Rossman broke his right hand in the fifth round before the bout was stopped after Round 9.
April 15, 1985 – Marvin Hagler stopped Thomas Hearns in the third round to defend his undisputed middleweight championship at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
The Ring named the bout Fight of the Year, calling it “the most electrifying eight minutes ever,” and deemed the first round “the greatest round in boxing history.”
April 16, 1952 – Sugar Ray Robinson knocked out Rocky Graziano in Round 3 to retain his world middleweight championship at Chicago Stadium.
Robinson, who was making his second title defense in his second reign as champion, was knocked down in the third round before stopping Graziano less than a minute later. He vacated his title in December 1952 when he announced what would be a short-lived retirement from boxing.
April 16, 2011 – Victor Ortiz defeated Andre Berto by unanimous decision to claim the WBC welterweight title at Foxwoods Resort in Mashantucket, Connecticut.
Berto, who came in unbeaten and was making his sixth title defense, was floored in the first round before dropping Ortiz in Round 2, and the fighters exchanged knockdowns in the sixth round of The Ring’s Fight of the Year. Berto gained a fourth-round KO of Ortiz in an April 2016 rematch.
- Topics
- History
- Victor Ortiz
- Andre Berto
