And we have a new era in boxing. Home Box Office has asked the Boxing Writers Association of America to cast their votes for the three best fighters of each division, then the best fighter of each division, and finally the greatest prize fighter of all time. And you can match your picks against these experts. Speaking of experts, working with me, author, sportscaster, Larry Merchant, Larry, welcome again on Home Box Office, and Bill Gallo, the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Bill, how do you become a member of the Boxing Writers Association? Well, they're newspaper men from all over the country, and they work for newspapers or magazines. They're people who cover boxing on a steady basis. Well, Larry, we're all matching eras here. We're going back. We had some films all the way back to 1897. How do you feel about matching boxers 40, 50 years ago compared to those of nowadays? Well, it's sort of like matching singers or actors. How do you compare Barrymore with Brando and Brando with De Niro? It's awfully difficult, but we do have the evidence on film. Which is quite a standard for measuring boxers in movies. And we're going to now show you a montage of the lightweight division as we start off with our finale. And we had some outstanding lightweights, so let's just take a look at a few of them. Well, those were some of the best lightweights of all time. Now let's get down to the final three best, as voted by the Boxing Writers Association and the number three finisher, Henry Armstrong. Let's take a look at him in action. Henry Armstrong, world's lightweight and welterweight champion, battles Lou Ambers in a 15 rounder for the lightweight title. Where in round one, Henry Armstrong with a white stripe. By beating Ambers in their first fight, Armstrong became the first man in history to hold three titles at one and the same time. He held a featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight crown. After that battle, Armstrong gave up the featherweight crown. So now he's the welterweight and lightweight champion. Now in round 14. The end of the fight. In the second place, winner of the best of the lightweights, Benny Leonard. Benny Leonard backing off against Jimmy McLean, baby face Jimmy McLean, with tremendous punching power in both hands. Benny Leonard, the boxing master and quite a puncher himself. The referee is Arthur Donovan. Since Leonard's return, he's had 19 bouts. He scored seven KOs, he drew in one, winning 11. He's far from the old Leonard, though, and tonight is his first great test against an outstanding opponent, Jimmy McLean. Benny Leonard had made a great deal of money in the ring. McLean almost goes down with that right cross by Leonard. McLean is young and strong. He battles back now. That sneaky, fast right hand punch by Benny Leonard. Round four. Leonard looking to draw the lead from Jimmy McLean, with head feints, under the dancing master showing some of his former foot brilliance now, moving smartly in and out of range. Leonard showing samples of his former brilliance, but McLean has speed and youth and strength on his side. Jimmy McLean, one of the headliners of the day against Benny Leonard, the great old pro. And the boxing writers voted Roberto Duran as the greatest lightweight of all time. The fighters come out for round one. Duran, to the right of your screen, began his career in 1967, only four years ago. Duran is a great knockout artist. He has had 23 fights, winning them all 19 by knockout. A very impressive record. This is Roberto's sixth fight this year. None of the opponents he has faced this year have been able to go the distance. Kobayashi, to the right of your screen, is 27 years old, seven years older than Duran. Kobayashi began his ring career in 1962, nine years ago. A good exchange here in round one. Duran going right after Kobayashi here in round one. Blistering exchange here in round one, Roberto Duran trying to end it all. Neither fighter trying to feel the other out. Duran has dynamite in both hands and he's showing it tonight. A crushing combination by Roberto Duran and Kobayashi is down. The referee picks up the count. It doesn't look like Kobayashi is going to be able to make it up. It's all, Roberto Duran wins by a seventh round knockout. Duran reports his 24th win with a crushing seventh round KO of Hiroshi Kobayashi. Roberto Duran's fans are elated as they cheer their hero, knowing that their young whirlwind puncher has an excellent chance of becoming the lightweight champion of the world. This was a very close vote in the lightweight division. Duran just edged out Benny Leonard. Do you agree with it? Who did you vote for, Bill? I voted for Duran. I realize that the older members of our fraternity, the boxing writers, they would pick Benny Leonard because of his superior boxing style. But I feel that Duran has, he can box now. Not the boxer that Leonard was, but he's such a powerful hitter. To me, there's no greater lightweight than I ever saw. How about you, Larry? I think Duran deserves it. He showed in his most recent fights the patience of a good boxer as well as the devastating punching power with either hand. I'd also like to remind some of our viewers that really one of the great champions and a champion who's overlooked, a modern fighter, was Carlos Ortiz, who was a master boxer and a good puncher with both hands, could take a punch. An outstanding fighter. Too bad he came before so much television has come back to boxing. Alright, the modern has won the first division award by the Boxing Writers Association, Roberto Duran. Alright, what about the welder weights as we step up a little bit and let's take a look at some of the prime welder weights of all time now. Alright, the best three in the welderweight division and the writers picked third, Barney Ross, who had a great human story along with his boxing ability in the ring. McLarnon, wearing a shamrock on his trunks, is 31 years old. He was born in Ireland and is six years older than Ross, who is 25. The referee tonight is Jack Dempsey. Incidentally, this arena has a record of jinks because no champion has ever successfully defended here. This is the third meeting between McLarnon and Ross. Barney started this three-reeler going when he took the crown from McLarnon on May 28th, 1934. He lost it to McLarnon less than four months later and tonight, one year from their first meeting, Ross is out to make good again. McLarnon, on the right, is the shorter man, standing five foot five and a half, whereas Ross measures five feet seven. Ross, working behind his left jab, believes in the rough tough school of fighting. McLarnon, they say, has the face of a choir boy and the heart of a killer. Look at Ross, scoring with those lefts. Barney wants to get in there. He's forcing the pace in this first round and landing, too. You can see Ross is tired. Watch him lean on McLarnon while tying up the champion. McLarnon's body blows have slowed down Barney Ross and now in the remaining seconds of this fight, they'll slug it out toe-to-toe with McLarnon doing the most damage. Watch. It's all over and here's a breakdown on the scoring. Referee Dempsey gave Ross five rounds, McLarnon three and seven even. Judge Goldberg gave Barney eight, Jimmy six and one even, and so Barney Ross regained the Welderweight crown May 28, 1935. What a fighter Armstrong must have been. He finished third in the lightweight division and runner up as the best of the Welderweights. Barney Ross, World's Welderweight Champion, defends his title against Henry Armstrong in a scheduled 15 round bout. Bound one, champion Barney Ross with the white stripe on his trunks, 142 pounds tonight, Armstrong 133 and a half. Ross has an eight and a half pound weight pull. Ross installed a favorite tonight, two to one. If Armstrong should win, he'll hold two world's titles, Welderweight and Featherweight. He won the featherweight from Petey Sarin seven months before. 28,000 fans here tonight. End of round one. Ross takes another bad beating in round 14 and his manager pleads with him to quit, but Barney insists the fight go on as long as he can stand on his feet. Now the 15th and final round. Armstrong practically unmarked after 14 furious rounds. He's just as fast, throwing just as many punches as when the fight started. Barney lasting out through sheer courage. If this is his last fight, he wants to make his exit standing up. End of the fight. And the end of a truly great champion. The winner and new world featherweight champion, Armstrong. Henry Armstrong makes ring history. Becomes the first fighter to hold both featherweight and featherweight titles at the same time. And there he is, the best welterweight of all time, Sugar Ray Robinson. Sugar Ray Robinson, welterweight champion of the world, comes out for round one in the white trucks. Challenger Charlie Fusari is wearing black. The champion began his ring career professionally in 1940, 10 years ago. Ray, at 30 years of age, is giving away five years to the younger Fusari. As an amateur, Robinson won the Golden Gloves featherweight title in 1939 and lightweight title in 1940. Ray's amateur career consisted of 85 fights, of which he won 69 by KO, 40 of them in the first round. Round two through five were very close and hard fought. Here in round six, the champion, Ray Robinson, appears to have a slight edge in the scoring. A hard right sends Fusari to the canvas. Cavalier motions Robinson to continue the action. The fighters touch gloves. A sharp combination by both fighters. A sensational combination by both fighters. There's the bell, ending this world championship contest. When the decision comes, it's no surprise. Sugar Ray Robinson retains his world welterweight championship with a hard fought decision over top gained Charlie Fusari. And with his victory, Robinson donates his winning purse to the Relief Fund. Walter Winchell, representing the fund, accepts Robinson's donation. Larry, Sugar Ray almost doubled the vote on Henry Armstrong. It's no surprise that he was voted the best welterweight. I think that Robinson probably was at the peak of his powers as an athlete when he was the welterweight champion. When you think that a man who was beating everybody at 147 pounds could go on and beat everybody at 160 pounds when he became middleweight champion, it tells what an extraordinary athlete he was. I know, Bill, you were a great admirer of Sugar Ray Robinson. Yes, and just to go further with that, here's a man who had those two titles and he pretty nearly became the light heavyweight champion of the world. If he wasn't wilted down by the heat that night in the 14th round, he would have taken Joey Maxim's title and it would have been very interesting to see how he would have progressed as a light heavyweight champion. Let's step up now to a very interesting division, the middleweight division. Let's take a look at some of the top middleweights of all time. What a lineup of boxing names in that middleweight division. And the man that finished third, colorful nickname, colorful fighter, the toy bulldog, Mickey Walker. Walker, with his back to us, loses no time as he rushes Tommy Milligan with lefts and rights and sends him to the canvas. Milligan is the British Empire middleweight champion out to capture Mickey Walker's crown as middleweight champion of the world. Milligan's up and Mickey Walker, the toy bulldog, pulls his hand with lefts and rights. Walker likes to move in close, soften up his man on the inside, then move away and throw barrages. Milligan fires to the head and body. Earlier, he beat Ted Kidd Lewis in 20 rounds, a feat achieved by very few men over a period of 25 years. The first tonight, $100,000, winner take all. Both men working on the inside. Two good middleweights punching toe to toe, Walker to become one of the greatest welterweights and middleweights in the history of the division. A right drops Milligan. Walker rushes in to follow through. He has great boxing ability, the punching strength of a heavyweight, the speed of a lightweight. That combination makes him one of the most formidable fighters of all time. Now watch a left-right combination by Walker drop Milligan again. And it's all over. Another amazing victory for Mickey Walker. The runner-up to the best of the middleweights, Carlos Monzon. Here in round six, Monzon and Doc Trunks has built up a slight lead in the scoring. Challenger Jose Napoles in red is trying to fend off the heart-punching middleweight title holder. Middleweight champion Monzon is exactly six-foot tall, which gives him an enormous reach advantage over the five-foot, seven-inch Jose Napoles. Monzon is known as a deadly right-hand puncher, while welterweight champion Jose Napoles is considered a master box puncher. Monzon throwing bombs in there. Napoles is hurt. It's all Monzon here in round six. Can Napoles last the round out? Jose Napoles cannot answer the bell for the seventh round. In this battle of champions, Carlos Monzon retains the middleweight championship of the world with a seventh round knockout over Jose Napoles. And look at those years. The winner going away for the best middleweight of all time, Sugar Ray Robinson. In the last drop. The winner going away for the best middleweight of all time, Sugar Ray Robinson. Referee stops the bell. Two minutes, 52 seconds of the tenth round. The winner and the new middleweight champion of the world, Sugar Ray Robinson. Bill, they say that the cliché pound for pound was invented or named after Sugar Ray Robinson. Is that true? Do you know about that? Yeah, I think it was. I think they started using that cliché when Robinson came around. I think Duran owns that distinction now. But when you say pound for pound, immediately you think of Sugar Ray Robinson. Is that right, Larry? I think so. And then, of course, when he was coming up, everybody considered Joe Lewis was the greatest name in boxing, the greatest attraction. And you had to give something to Sugar Ray Robinson because he was such a great athlete. But I think in that fight against, the second fight that he fought against Randy Turpin, you saw what all of these champions are made out of, the great spirit that they have, that fireiness when they need it. Because he was about to lose for a second time to Turpin with a cut eye, and he came on as few seldom saw him when he just had to go and knock out a fighter. Because he was not a man who felt that he had to knock out every fighter. He didn't. He took a knockout if it came. The greatest champ or the greatest division champ of all time. How do you grade a fighter? Well, of course, there's a boxing ability, the ability to take a punch, the ability to throw a punch, to land the punches, his punching power. And this guy had all of that. He had, putting it all together, he was perfection in all those areas. And he's certainly going to figure later on in this show, a strong challenger, we'll see how it comes out in the poll, as the best fighter of all time. He was the closest to the perfect fighter. You think there will ever be another one like him? Oh, well, there's always somebody else, but I don't see any in the horizon that has all of that, except maybe Durant. Durant doesn't box the way this fellow did. I was a little surprised that Carlos Manzones rated second. He was an outstanding fighter at great height, six feet tall for a middleweight. He could stand outside most middleweights and punch them with his best punch from a distance. But I think there are people who would dispute the fact that he was the second best and better than somebody like Mickey Walker. All right, let's go up in poundage again. And we're now going to move in and take a look at some of the very best men who ever fought in the light heavyweight division. MUSIC I think one of the fascinations of this series to me has been some of the rare and precious film we've shown you. Now, in the light heavyweight division, the man voted the third best of all time, Bob Fitzsimmons. And you're going to see a film of the first championship fight on film ever made in America, 1897, Fitzsimmons against gentleman Jim Corbin. Corbin with his back to the camera, still ahead on points, and Fitzsimmons knows his leading battery. But amazingly, the challenger is starting to press the fight. Corbin has been boxing well, keeping Fitzsimmons off. But Bob Fitzsimmons is definitely coming on. At this point, the all-night break film starts to disintegrate. But a somewhat viewable version of the 14-pound knockout was assembled from potato chip-like fragments. Watch Fitzsimmons on the right, step on the Corbin's left jab, and land his own hard left to the champion's midsection. Gentlemen, Jim collapses. Corbin has evidently had the wind knocked out of him. He's still down when the referee completes the ten count. And Fitzsimmons raises his hand in triumph. In slow motion, let's see that again. Here comes the left hook that Fitzsimmons on the right later called his solo plexus punch. The champion goes down to his knees. He tries to crawl over to the corner of the ring to pull himself up by using the ring ropes. Meanwhile, Fitzsimmons stalks around, keeping a close watch on his progress. The referee and timekeeper, Master Jim, seems out of sequence, but it is obvious that Corbin will not beat the count. Gentlemen, Jim has lost his heavyweight crown. Marvelous light heavyweight, Billy Conn, the laughing, happy, handsome Irishman from Pittsburgh. Bettina with a white stripe on his trucks. He's a Southpaw. Emilio the Mighty, they call him. He weighs 173 and a quarter tonight. Smiling Billy Conn, the glamour boy of boxing, weighs 170 and a quarter. Round 15, the final round of this battle for the world's light heavyweight championship between Billy Conn, the Pittsburgh Flash, and Emilio Bettina, Madison Square Garden, New York, July 13, 1939. Bettina, the Southpaw, white stripe down the side of his truck. Here's the fight. It's all over. Here's the decision. The winner and new world light heavyweight champion, Billy Conn. And the big winner. He had a long reign, and he has voted the best light heavyweight of all time, Archie Moore. Light heavyweight champion Archie Moore runs into a rough Yvonne Dorrell. A short ride drops Archie early in round one. Can Archie Moore weather the storm? Moore is in the best shape of his career, as we will see as the fight progresses. Dorrell sends victory and rips bruising combinations to the body and short rights to the head. Moore calls on all his know-how in a ring career that began in 1936. In that time, he's KO'd better than half of his more than 125 opponents. Moore is hurt, tries to cover up, and a left and short right sends him down again. In round five, Dorrell continues to pour it on. Moore against the ropes, takes a right and short left hook and goes down again. In round seven, Dorrell suddenly tires and Moore comes on. It's Moore working quickly with short punches to the body. Then switching to the head, Moore knocks Dorrell down with a left and right and left. Now Dorrell is in trouble. In round ten, the tide has changed. Moore in command. Now it's Moore the clever boxer puncher. Moore with a short left, right and left. Again, Dorrell is down. The referee picks up the count over a tired game Dorrell. But he's saved by the bell. In round eleven, light heavyweight champion Moore gets home again with a left, right, left and defeats Yvonne Dorrell, coming far behind and almost out in round one to do it. As Moore would remark after the fight, this was my finest hour. Interesting division, Bill. It was sort of a manufactured division, wasn't it? The light heavyweights? Yes. Yeah, because there were the people who just weren't heavy enough. But it's kind of a division where too many fighters don't want to be in actually because the money really isn't there. The heavyweights really take it away from the light heavyweights. But there have been some great ones. Not much doubt in your minds about Archie Moore? Well, some people could raise doubts. For example, Ezard Charles, long before he became the heavyweight champion, beat Archie Moore. When few people would fight, much less could beat Moore. But I think Moore will be remembered for being perhaps before Muhammad Ali, the most colorful verbal fighter of all time. He was a tremendously entertaining character and he could do everything in the ring also. Box, punch with either hand, take a punch. And he was combative as many people remember his wonderful fight against Iraqi Marciano. How about Billy Conner, the light heavyweight, Bill? Well, I thought he was a great boxer. He was my choice. Of course, the thing with him was that he got a little careless with Joe Lewis in that 13th round, if you remember. But he beat just about everybody. Just that little more punch, a little more weight, and he would have been a great heavyweight. All right, now we're going to move into the heavyweights. And a lot of marvelous heavyweights with names that will always be remembered in this country and have been remembered since before 1900. Let's take a look at some of America's top heavyweights of all time. Music. Marvelous sketches done by one of America's best sports artists, the man sitting right across from me, Bill Gallo. Congratulations, Bill. All right, we're going to go down the heavyweight division now and move into the final three. This is going to make a lot of boxing fans unhappy. The boxing writers did not pick Jack Dempsey into the final three. He just missed out. And because he was such a colorful and great champion, we wanted to show him an action anyway. Here he is against another heavyweight champ, Jack Sharkey. That's Dempsey to the left of your screen in the strike pumps, giving Sharkey a real going over at close quarters. Look at the ex-champion work away at Sharkey's midsection. Sharkey turns to the referee to protest, and Dempsey lands on a hook that blows the younger man. Sharkey is riding on the canvas in obvious pain. The referee continues to shout the count. Eight, nine, ten. That's it. Jack Sharkey is assisted to his feet by Dempsey, but let's look at that controversial knockout again in slow motion. Watch Dempsey get in those body blows. Now Sharkey turns to the referee, and Dempsey lands that left. Sharkey tumbles flat on his face. Dempsey stands over the fallen fighter, momentarily confused. Now he goes to a neutral corner. Jack Dempsey scores an official seventh round knockout over Jack Sharkey. You know, Kurt, I think we ought to pay homage to Jack Dempsey. He was such an enormous mythic figure in this country in the first half of the century, second really only to Babe Ruth. You know, you're right. Of all the things that have happened to me in sports, one of my finest memories is still, it goes all the way back to when I was a little boy, when Dempsey was on his way to fight tuning, the famous fight in Chicago. And he came through on the Union Pacific Streamliner in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Cold morning, and we had a half hour labor, and a thousand youngsters were there. And he got off the train in his bathrobe, and he went down and shook hands with everyone else. I remember looking up in that face, and I said, Hi, champ. And hello, kid, how are you? And he went right down the line. But he really did have a mystique with everybody in the country. Well, he didn't finish in the top three. That's certainly but a colorful champion. So let's move now to the final top three finishers by the boxing writers of the greatest heavyweights of all time. Number three, retired, undefeated, and there are going to be a lot of unhappy fans about him finishing third. We're talking about Rocky Marciano. Going into tonight's fight, Rocky Marciano and Doc Trunks has had 36 professional fights, winning all of them, 31 by knockouts. Lane has a big win over Jersey Joe Walcott, and a knockout win over the hard-punching Bob Satterfield. As in all of Marciano's fights, he never allows his opponents to get a moment's rest. This has been his trademark. Marciano, always on the move, trying for that big payoff punch. When Marciano has an opponent hurt, that is when he is most dangerous. Early in round six, Marciano hits Lane with a punishing left. That punch really hurt. Lane is tired now, and you'll see how he lowers his guard. A dangerous mistake against Marciano. Marciano throws a short right, and Lane goes down and out. Marciano knocks out the rugged Rex Lane in six rounds. The writers voted the runner-up as the best heavyweight of all time, Muhammad Ali. In rounds one through five, the champion built up a commanding lead with accurate punching to the head. Here in round six, Ali and the White Trunks will be looking to end it. Muhammad Ali is considered to be a master boxer who is constantly on the move, avoiding punishment using his blinding foot speed. Many boxing authorities have stated Ali's boxing style is based on self-preservation. Ali won the heavyweight crown two years ago with a seven-round knockout of Sonny Liston. Cooper is cut badly above the left eye. The referee is keeping a close watch on Henry. Muhammad Ali pursuing Henry Cooper all over the ring. Ali throwing bombs at challenger Henry Cooper. The referee steps in and stops the fight because of that badly cut left eye. Muhammad Ali successfully defends his world heavyweight crown. Here in round seven, Ali's trainer, Drew Bondini Brown, is cheering for the champion to open up. A blistering right-left combination sends the light heavyweight champion to the canvas. Foster rises at the count of eight and the referee wipes his glove. Ali trying to dispose of Bob Foster here in round seven. A lightning quick combination staggers Ali. Another busting exchange buckles Ali's legs as he feigns being on the verge of going down. An explosive right sends Ali back again. A devastating one-two combination drops Foster for the second time in this dramatic round seven. Foster is up at seven here at the end of the round. There's the bell ending this tower at three minutes. Ali is cut above the left eye but is going all out for a knockout. A jolting right hand to the jaw sends Foster down again. The referee sends Ali to a neutral corner and picks up the count, but it's all over. Ali knocks out light heavyweight champion Bob Foster and puts himself in line for a shot at the heavyweight crown. So that leaves us no great mystery. The best heavyweight fighter of all time is voted by the boxing writers, Joe Lewis. It's February 21st, 1935. Dynamite punching Joe Lewis takes on the clever boxing Lee Ramage in Los Angeles. Lewis is wearing the dark trunks with white stripes. Lee Ramage in the all dark trunks. A crashing right by Lewis and Ramage goes down. The ringwise Ramage takes a count of nine. Lewis goes in looking for a quick knockout here in round two. This is the third bout this year for the young brown bomber. Joe has won all 14 of his fights since turning professional just 10 months ago. 11 of those 14 wins were clean knockouts. Joe Lewis, as you can see, was all business. There was a no-nonsense attitude at all times in the ring. No wasted effort. A tremendous left hook by Lewis and Ramage goes down. Lewis with a barrage of combinations settles the issue. It's all over. Joe Lewis scores a devastating second round knockout. Joe Lewis was the aggressor in rounds two through seven and has a head-on point here in round eight. A dynamite right then got a crumbling to the canvas. The referee sends Lewis to a neutral corner and picks up the count. Reddick is out and sold from that wondrous right hand. It's all over. Joe Lewis scores a devastating eighth round knockout over Jimmy Reddick to win the heavyweight championship of the world. Bill Gallo, I didn't have a vote in your boxing writers association. I would have picked Joe Lewis as the greatest heavyweight of all time. How did you vote? I voted for Joe Lewis. I think he was the best. I think that the natural thing right now is to compare him with Muhammad Ali. I felt all along that not taking anything away from Ali, of course, but the young Joe Lewis, the Joe Lewis of the late 30s and the early 40s, I think he would have beaten Ali. He did more. He was in there with better people. He did things that today's boxers don't do. Ali did it one time. I don't see him doing it anymore. What I'm talking about is that you see it absent from all fighters today. Punching in combinations. I mean combinations where you put five, six punches together. Joe Lewis did that expertly. Uppercuts, lefts, he put them all together. A real combination puncher. I see Larry shaking. I know not in disagreement with the great Bill Gallo or against Joe Lewis, but I don't believe you think Lewis was the best heavyweight of all time. Well, I have no quarrel with his selection. I think he was selected because he had the longest reign of any champion, because he was a great puncher, and we look for our heavyweight to be a great puncher, a guy who theoretically can go out in the world and knock out any man with one punch. And also because unlike Ali, he never seemed to squander his talent when he was in the ring. It was business and get it over with as quickly as possible. But I think, however, that Ali was the new breed of athlete, bigger and faster than athletes used to be, that if Joe Lewis had trouble with a boxer like Billy Kahn who was 175 pounds, how would he have handled a boxer who was every bit as fast and perhaps faster than Kahn like Muhammad Ali? Good point. Well, Joe Lewis was still by the boxing writers the top heavyweight of all time. Now we've picked the top fighters of each division, and we're going to now give you the results of the home box office poll with the Boxing Writers Association, the greatest fighter, the one man who they think is the greatest fighter of all time. And the man that finished third is Joe Lewis, the heavyweight champ. Billy Kahn is actually ahead on points. Billy has been boxing brilliantly using speed of foot and sparkling combinations to capture the lead in this fight thus far. Kahn is giving away 25 pounds to the man rated by money as the greatest heavyweight champion of all time. Watch this tremendous flurry by Kahn. Lewis is hurt. He's in desperate trouble. He grabs Billy for support. Let's look at that great flurry in slow motion stop action photography. Kahn gets in that ripping left. Billy lands another jolting left on the champ's chin. Kahn's definitely looking for that knockout. In round 13, Lewis shoots in two blistering lights in the left. He knows he's got to knock Billy out to win this fight. This is one of the greatest heavyweight championship fights in years. Watch Billy come back with a sensational flurry of punches. Kahn is desperately trying to finish it right here and now. But the great brown bomber has other ideas. Watch him go to work on the light heavyweight champion. Now it's Lewis coming on. This time it's Joe who has Kahn groggy. Lewis lands a punishing left right combination. Kahn is trying to last out the round. Watch the final six dynamite punches of the head which finally put Billy down. As the referee calls off the count, Billy will vainly attempt to rise before the fatal ten. But he doesn't quite make it. In sensational fashion, Joe Lewis successfully defends his world's heavyweight championship. Against the magnificent light heavyweight champion of the world, Billy Kahn. For ten more electrifying years, the brown bomber's explosiveness will devastate challengers as quickly as they can climb to the top of the heavyweight ladder. The brown bomber's dynamite punches will thrill audiences and scramble all opposition for a record 25 world heavyweight title defenses. Joe Lewis becomes a legend in his own time, adored by fight fans throughout the world, respected and feared by all heavyweight challengers. And eventually, after his retirement, revered in boxing's Hall of Fame as the greatest heavyweight champion of all time. There's a strange twist to this boxing writer's pole. They voted Ali as a runner up of the heavyweight division and yet they pick him over Joe Lewis as the second best fighter of all time. We pick up the action in round five. The champion in white trunks is ahead on points, but Joe in blue is starting to come on strong. Torrid punches to the body and head by former champ Smokin' Joe Frazier. Joe would love to regain the heavyweight crown. Here in the 14th round, it's still very close. A torrent of blustering punches staggers the former champion, Joe Frazier, in trouble here in the 14th round. Ali throwing bombs at Frazier. The champion is going for a knockout right here. Ali throwing bombs at Frazier. The champion is going for a knockout right here. The champion is going for a knockout right here. Frazier staggered again. It's unbelievable that Joe Frazier is still standing. It's unbelievable that Joe Frazier is still standing. This is Mohamed Ali at his very best. Netly accurate, blinding competition. There's the bell ending this torrid round. Both fighters walk queerly to their corners. By far, Mohamed Ali's best round of the fight. The doctor comes in to look at Joe Frazier. The fight may be stopped. Frazier's corner man will not allow Joe to receive further punishment. Heavyweight champ Mohamed Ali stops Joe Frazier in the 14th round in one of the greatest fights of all time. And here he is, ladies and gentlemen. The pole of the boxing writers. The best fighter of all time in the history of this country. A welterweight champ, a middleweight champ, and nearly won the light heavyweight title. The one to win the light heavyweight championship, Sugar Ray Robinson. Robinson in white trunks and Lamada have fought five times before. And Lamada won only one of those fights. Lamada is determined to hold on to his title. And here in round 11, tries to end it. Backing Robinson against the ropes, he opens up. Now Lamada really pours it on. Robinson getting hit from all angles. But the Gallant welterweight champion can take it as well as give it. He takes everything Lamada can throw. And then, showing why he's one of the greatest fighters of all time, comes back punching furiously. These are two great champions at their fighting best. We now go to round 13. Robinson after weathering that terrific barrage of punches coming on to take charge. Lamada seems to be arm weary. He's tired. And Robinson, sensing this, opens up. Robinson snaps vicious jab. Follows with solid whips and rights to the body and head. Robinson here in round 13 is going to land the hardest punches of the fight thus far. Stinging combinations with both hands will have the champion practically helpless. At this point in his career, Lamada had never been knocked off his feet. We don't know what's keeping him up. The referee wisely stops the contest when Lamada is unable to defend himself. Sugar Ray Robinson, rallying from the brink of defeat, wins the middleweight championship of the world from a courageous Jake Lamada. You know, Sugar Ray Robinson won by a vote of 4-1 over Muhammad Ali as the greatest fighter of all time. Now, is Sugar Ray your man, Larry? I think so. I've never seen an athlete who brought more to his job, his performance, than Sugar Ray Robinson. Not only as an athlete, but his glamour as a performer as well. How about you, Bill? I agree. He's the best thing I've ever seen in the ring. I was talking about combinations before. There's a man with strong combinations. He could box, he could punch, he could take a punch. He did everything. He also had a style, Larry, that I think you talked about to me earlier about Sugar Ray, a style of the champion in the ring, out of the ring that made him a champion. He felt like a performer. I think he might have been the first athlete, or certainly the first boxer, that really felt this rapport with the audience. It wasn't just fight fans, it was an audience out there. The way he bowed to the audience, the way he carried himself away from the boxing arena, with the entourages and the cars, and so on and so forth. I want to add that he was a great businessman, too, for himself. The only people he really gave headaches to were promoters and signing a contract. I want to thank Larry Merchant and Bill Gallo for working with us on this show. We hope you've enjoyed this series. You've seen history, you've seen the best, and you've seen some of the rarest film in all sports that is available in America today. And so, we have crowned through the Boxing Writers Association the best fighter of each division, and Sugar Ray Robinson as the greatest prizefighter who ever lived. On behalf of Home Box Office Television, Kurt Gowdy saying so long.support.gov.....???????