By Glenn Wilson

Some things are naturally linked together throughout boxing history. Ali-Frazier, Duran-DeJesus, Barrera-Morales and Gatti-Ward. While there are certainly others that can easily make the list, these are some of the more recognizable trilogies in the history of boxing.

Each one of the major trilogies had something in common, yes they were trilogies, but more importantly they had that intangible quality that made them stand out, they all brought out the best and sometimes worst in each of the participants involved. At times it was a mutual dislike for each other and sometimes it was just the old sports axiom of beating the best in order to become the best.

The Ali-Frazier bouts are the most revered of boxing's trilogies. The first fight pitted one undefeated champion against an exiled former champion who was also undefeated. This was a fight that each man had to win in order to gain the public's respect as the true Heavyweight champion of the world.

The fight was close and brutal or as we boxing fans would say, a thing of beauty. Frazier sealed the deal with a knockdown in round 15. It also gave us one of boxing's greatest quotes, midway through the fight Joe had Ali on the ropes when Ali said, "Don't you know that I'm God and I can't be beat!” to which Frazier responded, " Well God's gonna get his butt kicked tonight".

The second fight was also close and turned out to be a good fight, but It was just that, a good fight, not great. Ali won a 12 round unanimous decision, but the boxing public knew that they could give us more and they did on October 1, 1975, in a fight called "The Thrilla in Manila". Each man was holding a victory, the third bout would settle the debate on who was better.

When the two combatants stepped in the ring for the third meeting, the fight more than lived up to the hype. The bout was brutal battle of skill and will, and was finally halted by Joe's corner after 14 rounds. The third meeting also gave us another famous quote, which took place when Ali was asked immediately after the fight how tough it was to stand up to such punishment for 14 rounds, Ali replied, "It was the closest thing to death".

While the Ali-Frazier trilogy gave us a great trilogy, it probably did more harm to the fighters than good. Each fighter, especially Ali, won some fights after their trilogy, but neither was quite the same after their third fight.

In the seventies, when machismo was mentioned, you had to be talking about one man - Roberto Duran. He personified intimidation, he wasn't just going to beat you, he was going to do physical harm while doing the deed.

Enter a man who was also at the top of his game, Esteban DeJesus. DeJesus was not scared of Duran, in fact he was willing to stand in front of Duran and trade shots.

In their first encounter DeJesus caught Duran with a left hook in the first round and scored a flash knockdown that stunned spectators. DeJesus eventually went on to hand Duran his first pro loss.

The second fight took place in the extreme heat of Panama, once again DeJesus scored a flash knockdown in the first round. The fight was very good, but the outcome was quite different, a combination of the heat and the relentless pressure applied by Duran put an end to matters in round 11.

One win a piece, a third bout was in order. In the third meeting, it was evident that DeJesus had lost a few steps.  Duran, relentless like a lion stalking his prey, worked over Esteban and ended the fight in round 12.

Duran went on to even greater glory, but many boxing experts felt that DeJesus had left something in the ring during the three fights. DeJesus won a few more fights, but he was never the man that beat Duran.

Since the year 2000, we are able to add two more rivalries to the list of boxing's all-time best trilogies, Barrera-Morales and Gatti-Ward.

Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales waged one of the greatest fights of all-time when they met on Feburary 19, 2000. Exchanges were fast and furious, and the two Mexican warriors kept the ferocious pace up throughout the the whole fight.

Morales ended up winning a controversial decision and that only added more intrigue to the first meeting, and the rematch. The rematch took place on June 22, 2002, but instead of an all out war , Barrera used his new found style of being a boxer-puncher. It didn't live up to the first fight, but it was still pretty good and again the fight ended in controversy. Barrera got the decision, but most felt that Morales had done enough to get the nod.

The third fight was again a classic with Barrera reverting back to his warrior mentality by going to war with Morales for twelve furious rounds on route to winning a decision that many experts felt was wider than the judges had it.

Morales has appeared the worse for wear since his last fight with Barrera, leaving many to wonder if he should have swallowed his pride and turned down the third fight.

Another current trilogy that became an instant classic was the rivalry between Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward. Theior first encounter was a battle so vicious and had so many twists and turns, a director should have scripted it. The ninth round of the bout is without question one of the greatest rounds of all-time. Gatti, went down just seconds into the bout from a body shot and not much later almost out on his feet from numerous power punches landed by Ward. It appeared as if Ward was about to score a knockout when Gatti made one of his miracle comebacks to land Ward in trouble. War won a close decision, but the demand was too high to turn away a second meeting.

In fight two, Gatti used his superior boxing skills to knockdown and frustrate Ward on the way to an easy unanimous decision.

The third fight picked up where the second had left off, Gatti using his skills to win rounds and frustrate Ward, but halfway through the fight Ward scored a knockdown, coupled with Gatti breaking his hand, the fight suddenly became a clone of the first. Ward stalked Gatti in hopes of landing his famous left hook to the body to end the fight, but was unsuccessful.

Gatti went on to win the decision, and Ward retired right after the bout. In subsequent interviews Micky has admitted that he is still suffering the effects of the three Gatti fights, including blurred vision in one eye.

The coming Saturday, we prepare ourselves for the third meeting between Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales. Alot of experts consider their first meeting one of the greatest fights of all-time. The tenth and final round is considered by some experts as the best round in the last 25 years and one of the best in the entire history of the sport.

The punishment that each man dealt out and received during the course of the bout was amazing. The tenth round saw Corrales go down twice and spit his mouthpiece out twice in order to gain extra time to recover from the knockdowns. Just when you thought Corrales was about get stopped, he storms back from the second knockdown with a variety of power punches to pound Castillo bad enough that referee Tony Weeks jumped in to save him from further punishment.

The rematch was marred with controversy over Castillo being unable to make weight. The bout was almost cancelled, but eventually both sides agreed to a catch weight of 147 pounds. Many people thought that the fight should have been pushed back to a later date considering how much damage they had inflicted on each other the first time around.

The second bout was as brutal as the first, but it was Corrales who was on the receiving end of most of the punishment. When the bell rang to sound the first round, both men would meet in the center of the ring and began to battle as if it was the eleventh round of their first meeting.

Castillo finally caught Corrales with a classic left hook in the fourth round, Corrales was unable to beat the count and the fight was stopped with 47 seconds remaining in the round.

On June 3, they do battle one more time. The general consensus is that Corrales has more to lose in this fight than Castillo. While Corrales won the first fight, he was down twice and took a tremendous beating in the process. He went on to take another beating in the rematch, while Castillo barely broke a sweat. So the question is; ‘win or lose - how much will Diego have left after this fight,’ and some may ask ‘how much did he lose after the second fight?’

There are several other noteworthy trilogies I did not review, but should be mentioned. Trilogies such as Emile Griffith-Benny "Kid" Paret,  Evander Holyfield-Riddick Bowe and Tony Zale-Rocky Graziano. All of these were beautiful and vicious at the same time, but in the end - they all took their toll on one or both of the fighters involved.

One can only hope that neither Diego Corrales nor Jose Luis Castillo suffer any permanent damage as result of their trilogy. On the other hand, trilogy does mean a group of three tragedies, how fitting.