February 2, 2001: Julio César González def. Julian Letterlough by UD (113-110, 114-109, 114-109)

There were five knockdowns in this Friday Night Fights classic, Letterlough down in the first and 11th rounds, and González in the third, fifth, and 10th rounds. But overall, it wasn’t really a hard fight to score. Judges had it 9-3 on two cards and 8-4 on the other, all of which were fair. It was a bit hard to find rounds to give to Letterlough other than the rounds where he scored knockdowns, but at the same time, it’s half a miracle that González got up from the 10th round flooring, so Letterlough, in a sense, did nearly win this fight.

Punch stats saw González land 401 of 1,029 punches for a 39% connect rate, with Letterlough far less accurate at 193 of 908, 21%.

Between the knockdowns, the action was often savage, particularly with González going to the body viciously and often, and rocking Letterlough’s head around with shots up top, too. The punishment Letterlough was able to absorb was astounding, and he was always in the fight because of his power, giving a nervous energy to the whole evening.

González would go on to face Roy Jones Jr six months later, and was wiped out by decision in that fight. Letterlough’s career never really went anywhere, most notably a loss to Vassily Jirov six months after this fight, and he was murdered in 2005 at the age of 35. González, too, would die at age 35 in 2012, killed in a motorcycle accident in México.

March 19, 2005: Jorge Arce def. Hussein Hussein by TKO (2:07 of round 10)

A war of attrition between México’s Arce and Australia’s Hussein, with Arce getting opened up with a nasty gash on the bridge of his nose, but fighting, you know, like Jorge Arce fights until the fight was stopped by Hussein’s trainer Jeff Fenech in the 10th round, with Arce still doing damage, and Hussein having trouble landing anything of note.

Hussein held a lot in this fight, but Arce forced the fight he wanted. The two would meet again six and a half months later, with Arce dropping Hussein in the opening round and finishing in the second. Arce would go on to fight into 2014, but is seemingly — knock on wood — actually retired now. Hussein retired after a 2008 loss to Moruti Mthalane.

November 12, 1982: Aaron Pryor def. Alexis Argüello by TKO (1:06 of round 14)

Look, what can you say about this fight that hasn’t been said? I don’t have the ego to think I can add much to the last 34 years of discussion on this fight. I just thought it was important this week to watch Aaron Pryor’s greatest night, a few days after his passing at the age of 60. This is an incredibly impressive display from two of the best fighters on the planet at this time. This is a must-watch fight for any boxing fan, period.