Cecilia Braekhus<\/a>, who has not only been a leading light in women\u2019s boxing but actually helped end her country\u2019s 33-year ban on professional boxing.<\/p>\nA nation who had literally banned the sport was never going to compete with England, the country where the Marquis of Queensberry rules actually came from, and there was no shortage of potential fighters who could have been selected to represent the Three Lions. <\/p>\n
But West Ham fan Lennox Lewis, himself a formidable goalkeeper, not to mention one of history\u2019s greatest heavyweights, was put forward here. Despite Braekhus\u2019 significance to the women\u2019s sport, she gets eliminated by Londoner Lewis.<\/p>\n
ARGENTINA vs SWITZERLAND<\/p>\n
Carlos Monzon (87-3-9, 59 KOs) vs Fritz Chervet (59-9-2, 25 KOs)<\/p>\n
A pair of real national heroes go head-to-head for the last semi-final spot here as Monzon, one of the best middleweights ever, takes on Switzerland\u2019s \u201cMozart of the Ring\u201d Chervet. <\/p>\n
Like Belgium and Norway, Switzerland has never been renowned for its boxing talent but flyweight Chervet broke that mould during his career across the 60s and 70s. He retired in 1976 as a five-time European champion but never managed to win a world title, losing in a pair of challenges to WBA king Chartchai Chionoi.<\/p>\n
Monzon, however, had no such problems at world level, holding the undisputed middleweight title from 1970 until his 1977 retirement. An incredible fighter who never lost a world championship encounter. <\/p>\n
He was named the Ring\u2019s 1972 Fighter of the Year and in 2002, the 11th greatest fighter of the last 80 years. He sails through here against the Swiss.<\/p>\n
SEMI FINALS<\/p>\n
FRANCE vs SPAIN<\/p>\n
Marcel Cerdan (111-4, 65 KOs) vs Javier Castillejo (62-8-1, 43 KOs)<\/p>\n
There is only one winner of this Pyrenees Derby between two of Southwestern Europe\u2019s major powerhouses. Castillejo\u2019s longevity and two world titles are not to be sniffed at but Cerdan\u2019s standing in history means he is a lock on this one. <\/p>\n
It would not be easy for him but it\u2019s unlikely he would require extra-time and penalties to progress. As No. 77 in The Ring\u2019s 80 Greatest Boxers of the last 80 years, the late, great Cerdan books his place in the final.<\/p>\n
ENGLAND vs ARGENTINA<\/p>\n
Lennox Lewis (41-2-1, 32 KOs) vs Carlos Monzon (87-3-9, 59 KOs) <\/p>\n
A battle fit for a final takes place here in the last-four. England and Argentina have a long and storied history, stretching back to the Falklands War in 1982, through Diego Maradona\u2019s Hand of God in 1986 and to their 1998 penalty shoot-out battle, which ended in Argentina victory. And let\u2019s not forget Amir Khan securing perhaps the finest win of his career against Marcos Maidana in their 2010 Las Vegas barnburner. <\/p>\n
But this time, it would be Argentina and Monzon who would prevent it from \u2018Coming Home\u2019. Former undisputed king Lewis was one of the most dominant world heavyweight champions of his era, with notable victories over Evander Holyfield, Vitali Klitschko and a faded Mike Tyson. There is a reason why he was named 53rd on The Ring\u2019s 2002 list. But 11th-place Monzon, with 14 successful defenses, has to progress to the final here.<\/p>\n
FINAL<\/p>\n
FRANCE vs ARGENTINA<\/p>\n
Marcel Cerdan (111-4, 65 KOs) vs Carlos Monzon (87-3-9, 59 KOs) <\/p>\n
In a rerun of the 2022 World Cup final, where a Lionel Messi-inspired Argentina lifted the trophy after winning 4-2 on penalties, Marcel Cerdan and Carlos Monzon meet in our final.<\/p>\n
Two genuine titans of the middleweight division from different eras would have no doubt served up one of the greatest 160-pound battles the world had ever seen. With 198 victories between them, against just seven losses, and racking up a total of 124 stoppages, this looks like a pick-em fight.<\/p>\n
Cerdan\u2019s tragic death in 1949 aged just 33, means he never got to complete the incredible legacy he began to put together. Monzon however, was able to call time on his career on his own terms and his incredible unbeaten run towards the end of his career is why he was named 66 places higher than Cerdan on The Ring\u2019s list in 2002. <\/p>\n
But one thing is for sure, given he managed nine in his 99 fights, Monzon loved a draw. This looks like a battle that would require extra time and even penalties to decide the winner with Argentina lifting the trophy eventually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following the tournament’s first breather after 27 consecutive day of action, The Ring decided to take a look…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":683076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[59273,3091,2560,151516,6102,7824,7108,178092,97754,206013,101,6826,56,54,55,16352],"class_list":["post-683075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-object-object","tag-analysis","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-articles","tag-boxing-news","tag-flyweight","tag-heavyweight","tag-junior-middleweight","tag-junior-welterweight","tag-middleweight","tag-sports","tag-the-ring","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-welterweight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}