Maidana and the best boxing revenge stories

By Gavin Duthie - 08/11/2014 - Comments

maidana633By Gav Duthie: Marcos Maidana claims having fought Floyd Mayweather Jr already he knows what to do to get the win he craves. Maidana told (The Ring Magazine) “First I’m going to give him a beating and then, I’m going to knock him out”.

If Maidana can pull this off it would be one of the best revenge stories in boxing history. Marcos knows he is going to have to throw everything at Mayweather because he is unlikely to beat him on points. Barring the final few rounds Maidana was hugely competitive at every stage and doing enough to secure this rematch is an achievement in itself. Floyd has only given one rematch previously in his entire career when many thought Jose Luis Castillo had done enough to beat him. The rematch was again extremely close but Maidana doesn’t want to let his second chance slip through the net. 

Here are my favourite revenge rematches to date and if Maidana could spring an unlikely knockout win he would go straight to the top of the list. 

Roy Jones 34-0 v Montel Griffin 26-0 

Fight 1, (21 March 1997)

Montel Griffin was an awkward opponent. He was one of those fighters who thrived on making you look bad. At this point he already had two wins over James Toney and he had frustrated Roy most of this fight. Jones was slightly ahead on the cards and had knocked Griffin down in round 7. When he put Griffin down to a knee in the 9th he took the opportunity to hit him again and was disqualified for his first career loss. 

Fight 2, (7 Aug 1997)

With Roy realising Griffin had sound defensive abilities from the first contest he ran out like a raging bull this time. He completely destroyed Griffin knocking him halfway across the ring. Roy settled the score in round 1 and ensured no need for a trilogy with a brutal revenge victory. 

Juan Manuel Marquez 42-2 v Manny Pacquaio 38-2-1

Fight 1, (8 May 2004)

Over an 8 year period these guys fought 42 rounds and four fights. In my opinion it only took Juan Manuel Marquez one round to figure out Pacquaio’s style but what a first round that was. Pacquaio knocked the mexican down 3 times in the first round. After his previous fight win over Barrera Pacquaio looked like a destroyer of tough mexican fighters. From round 2 onwards however Marquez completely dominated but only got a draw. 

It took them a couple of years to have a rematch and in a very tough second and third fight Pacquaio was awarded two close decisions. 

Fight 4, (8 Dec 2012)

8 years and three fights later Marquez finally gained his revenge. Ironically Pacquaio was probably having more success in this fight than any of the others. He was beating Marquez to the punch and moving out quickly. He probably got too overconfident when nonchalantly walking Marquez into the ropes where the mexican unleashed a perfect counter right hand that Pacquaio was never getting up from in round 6. Finally job done. 

Patterson 35-1 v Johansson 21-0

Fight 1, (26 May 1959)

For me this is the greatest trilogy of all time because each fight ended in a knockout and they could both really hurt each other. The swedes right hand was labelled the “hammer of thor” after he had destroyed the skilled Eddie Machen in 1 round. He knocked down Floyd 7 times in total and the ref waved the fight off in round 3 which lost Patterson his title. 

Fight 2, (20 June 1960)

If you thought 7 knockdowns was brutal Floyd topped it in the second fight. He only needed one knockdown which put Johansson out cold for 10 minutes, feet twitching from Patterson’s famous left hook kangaroo punch. This made Floyd the first ever man to regain the heavyweight crown. Patterson celebrated for about 5 seconds before he realised Ingo was badly hurt and went over to help such was the man’s class. 

Fight 3, (13th March 1961)

This one was back and forth with Patterson dropped twice in the first and Johansson once also. They continued to fight hard until a combination put Johansson down in the 6th from which he didn’t get up, revenge was complete. 

Sugar Ray Leonard 27-0 v Roberto Duran 71-1

Fight 1, (20th June 1980)

Despite Duran’s fantastic record Leonard was favourite going into this because he was the natural welterweight. This was probably the only performance where Leonard was dominated (possibly Hearns 2) as Roberto beat him to the punch and goaded him throughout. 

Fight 2, (25th November 1980)

Very different outcome here, this fight is fondly referred to as the ‘no mas’ fight meaning ‘no more’. Roberto Duran was his usual aggressive self but he couldn’t hit Leonard with anything and was getting countered with amazingly quick combinations. This wasn’t your typical revenge stoppage but he had embarrassed Duran so much that he just quit because he didn’t know how to get to him. They had a final third match which Leonard won again but this one went the full scheduled distance and completed the 2-1 trilogy in Sugar’s favour. 

Joe Louis 24-0 v Max Schmeling 48-7-4

Fight 1, (19th June 1936)

The first fight was awarded ring magazine fight of the year in 36. In reality Max was never going to be beaten on this night. Louis was undefeted and considered untouchable. Many still consider Joe Louis to have the greatest jab in boxing history but on this night Schmeling countered that jab with his powerful overhand right. The German knocked down Louis in the 4th and eventually knocked him down for good in the 12th. 

Fight 2, (22nd June 1938)

Although the rematch was only 2 years later Joe Louis fought 12 fights in between. In this fight there was no time for counter punching as Louis combined perfectly the form of brutal but accurate punching and the fight didn’t go past the first round. Schmeling unfortunately was wrongly considered a future poster boy for Nazi Germany but he was a great man and even helped pay for Joe Louis funeral in 1981 when he died. 

Notable Mentions

Zab Judah v Corey Spinks
Jose Luis Castillo v Diego Corrales
Manny Pacquaio v Erik Morales
Lennox Lewis v Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman
Ray Robinson v Randy Turpin

In all honesty I expect Mayweather to probably learn more from the first fight than Maidana did. The first fight was close but i’m not sure it warranted an immediate rematch if there had been anyone else obvious in the frame but if Maidana can win it would be the greatest revenge bout of all time and could even set up a great trilogy which is another subject all together. 



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