Rubber match
Encyclopedia
According to Paul Dickson's The New Dickson's Baseball Dictionary (Harcourt Brace, 1999), a "rubber game" is "The last and deciding game of a series when the previous games have been split; e.g., the seventh game of the World Series." This tie-breaking sense of "rubber" apparently originated in the English game of "bowls," or lawn bowling. Despite its name, bowls has little in common with American bowling, and consists of rolling wooden balls (called "bowls") across a level green, the object being to get your ball as close as possible to (but not to hit) a little white ball at the other end of the green. "Rubber" in its tie-breaking sense first appeared in the context of bowls around 1599, and was in use by the card-playing crowd (whist, bridge, etc.) by 1744. A set of three games of bridge is still generally referred to as a "rubber."
Unfortunately, no one knows where "rubber" in this sense came from. It appears to be unrelated to the elastic sort of "rubber." (Incidentally, our modern elastic "rubber" is short for "India-rubber," from its original source in the East Indies. "Rubber" previously meant anything used to rub, smooth or clean.) Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ventures that the term may have referred to two "bowls" rubbing together, a fatal error in the game of bowls. Or it might be a metaphorical use of "rubber" (something that expunges) referring to the "sudden death" third game of a series, the loss of which would conclusively "rub out" the losing team's hopes. But there is, sad to say, no solid evidence for either theory.
fought to a twenty round draw in his rubber match with Sam McVea, a considerably shorter fight than their second meeting which lasted 49 rounds. McVea went on to lose his 1912 rubber match with Sam Langford
. Future Heavyweight champion Gene Tunney
, several years before his signature victories over Jack Dempsey
, would win his 1923 rubber match against his then-most significant rival, future Middleweight
champion Harry Greb
who had previously given Tunney his only career loss in their initial meeting. The most notable rubber match of the 1930s
was arguably Barney Ross'
decision victory over Jimmy McLarnin
for the Welterweight
title, a fight which took place in the Polo Grounds
in 1935.
In the 1940s
Sugar Ray Robinson
, having suffered the first loss of his career in his second meeting with Jake LaMotta
, would avenge the loss only three weeks later by a unanimous decision in their rubber match (Robinson would not suffer another defeat in his next 89 fights, and he and LaMotta would fight another three times, with Robinson winning all three fights; the series is depicted in Robert De Niro's
Oscar winning film Raging Bull.) Also in that decade, in 1948, Middleweight
champion Rocky Graziano
, after splitting two sixth round knockouts in back to back fight of the year contests with Tony Zale
and capturing Zale's Middleweight
title, was brutally knocked out by Zale with a left hook in the third round of their rubber match; losing his title and their great trilogy. This third fight was conspicuously not mentioned in a biographical film made about Graziano, where he was depicted by Paul Newman
in Somebody Up There Likes Me
.
In the 1950s
Sandy Saddler
won his rubber match and regained the Featherweight
titlte against Willie Pep
who quit with an injury; they would meet in a fourth fight which had the same result. Kid Gavilan
would win a controversial rubber match against rival Billy Graham
in Madison Square Garden
; the referee had to leave under police escort to protect him from the enraged crowd which believed that Graham had won (Gavilan would go on to win an uncontroversial fourth fight.) Archie Moore
won a decision against rival Harold Johnson
in a non-title rubber match, though the two would meet again in a title fight in their fourth meeting. Carmen Basilio
after splitting two fights with Johnny Saxton
, including the 1956 fight of the year, successfully defended his title and ended the trilogy in easier fashion with a quick second round knockout in his final Welterweight
fight.
One infamous rubber match took place in the 1960s
between Emile Griffith
and Cuban
Welterweight
world champion
Benny Paret
in their 1962 meeting in Madison Square Garden
, where Paret was badly battered and stopped by Griffith in the 12th round. As a result of this knockout Paret died several days later. Griffith went on to fight in two other major multi-fight series, winning a rubber match against another Cuban
world champion, Luis Manuel Rodriguez
, but losing his rubber match to Italian foe Nino Benvenuti, who twice captured Griffith's Middleweight
title. Earlier in the decade Heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson
had won his rubber match with Swedish opponent Ingemar Johansson
, a fight where both fighters were knocked down multiple times. Joey Giardello
won his Middleweight
title in his rubber match with Nigerian champion Dick Tiger
; Tiger would regain the title in their last meeting. In 1967 in Shea Stadium
, Puerto Rican
world Lightweight
champion Carlos Ortiz
clearly defeated Panamanian rival Ismael Laguna
to end their trilogy.
In the 1970s
the most famous rubber match in the history of modern sports took place between Heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali
and archnemesis former champion Joe Frazier
. A fight dubbed the Thrilla in Manila
, Ali in the brutal heat of the Philippines
won by a late TKO
in the 14th round, after a back and forth vacillating contest. The fight was named the 1975 fight of the year, and concluded Ali and Frazier's heralded and acrimonious trilogy. Ali would also narrowly win his trilogy against Ken Norton
the next year in their 1976 rubber match in Yankee Stadium
. Also in that decade, Roberto Duran
in a 1978 unification bout became the undisputed Lightweight
champion by savagely knocking out Esteban De Jesus
in their third fight, scoring his record twelfth Lightweight title defense in his final fight in that weight class. In the 1980s
Roberto Duran
also engaged in a 1989 rubber match with Sugar Ray Leonard
, nine years after their initial meeting, with Leonard winning a decision and thus the trilogy. In the 1990s
Evander Holyfield
was stopped for the first time in his career in a TKO rubber match loss to Brooklyn
rival Riddick Bowe
to end their dramatic trilogy.
Boxing had numerous important rubber matches in the 2000s. Suffering a broken hand in the course of the fight, Arturo Gatti
won his rubber match against Micky Ward
; this 2003 ending to their trilogy was named fight of the year. Three division champion Erik Morales
lost two rubber matches in this decade, one in the 2004 fight of the year against his fellow Mexican
rival Marco Antonio Barrera
as well as a third round knockout loss to Filipino
icon
Manny Pacquiao
. Rafael Marquez
lost his 2008 fight of the year rubber match against Israel Vazquez
, though he went on to defeat Vazquez in the fourth and final meeting. Prior to his trilogy with Marquez, Vazquez had easily won his rubber match with his other rival, Oscar Larios
, in a third round TKO. Unfortunately a scheduled rubber match between the late Diego Corrales
and Jose Luis Castillo
was cancelled after Castillo had for a second time failed to make weight. In the Light Heavyweight
division, Antonio Tarver
won his trilogy against former pound for pound
king Roy Jones, Jr. by a unanimous decision in their rubber match.
Mixed martial arts rubber matches include Chuck Liddell
vs. Randy Couture
, Vitor Belfort
vs. Randy Couture
, Tim Sylvia
vs. Andrei Arlovski
, Matt Hughes
vs. Georges St. Pierre
, Quinton Jackson
vs. Wanderlei Silva
, Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard
, and Matt Hughes
vs. B.J. Penn, in the UFC
, as well as Shinya Aoki
vs. Joachim Hansen in Dream
.
A third game of a three-game series
is often referred as a rubber match when both teams have won one of the previous two games, and in the NCAA game, the second and fourth playoff weeks are best-of-three matches.
During the 2010-2011 NFL season, both AFC Divisional Playoff games were between two divisional opponents who had split their two divisional matches (Baltimore Ravens
at Pittsburgh Steelers
; New York Jets
at New England Patriots
). Each game was referred to as a rubber match.
Unfortunately, no one knows where "rubber" in this sense came from. It appears to be unrelated to the elastic sort of "rubber." (Incidentally, our modern elastic "rubber" is short for "India-rubber," from its original source in the East Indies. "Rubber" previously meant anything used to rub, smooth or clean.) Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ventures that the term may have referred to two "bowls" rubbing together, a fatal error in the game of bowls. Or it might be a metaphorical use of "rubber" (something that expunges) referring to the "sudden death" third game of a series, the loss of which would conclusively "rub out" the losing team's hopes. But there is, sad to say, no solid evidence for either theory.
History
In 1909 Joe JeanetteJoe Jeanette
Jeremiah "Joe" Jeannette is considered one of the best African-American heavyweight boxers of the early 20th century.-Early life and career:...
fought to a twenty round draw in his rubber match with Sam McVea, a considerably shorter fight than their second meeting which lasted 49 rounds. McVea went on to lose his 1912 rubber match with Sam Langford
Sam Langford
Sam Langford was a Black Canadian boxing standout of the early part of the 20th century. Called the "Greatest Fighter Nobody Knows," by ESPN. He was rated #2 by The Ring on their list of "100 greatest punchers of all time". Langford was originally from Weymouth Falls, a small community in Nova...
. Future Heavyweight champion Gene Tunney
Gene Tunney
James Joseph "Gene" Tunney was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1926-1928 who defeated Jack Dempsey twice, first in 1926 and then in 1927. Tunney's successful title defense against Dempsey is one of the most famous bouts in boxing history and is known as The Long Count Fight...
, several years before his signature victories over Jack Dempsey
Jack Dempsey
William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey was an American boxer who held the world heavyweight title from 1919 to 1926. Dempsey's aggressive style and exceptional punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history. Many of his fights set financial and attendance records, including the first...
, would win his 1923 rubber match against his then-most significant rival, future Middleweight
Middleweight
Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...
champion Harry Greb
Harry Greb
Harry Greb was an American boxer. He was World Middleweight boxing Champion from 1923 to 1926 and American Light Heavyweight title holder 1922–1923. He fought a recorded 303 times in his 13 year-career, against the best opposition the talent-rich 1910s & 20s could provide him, frequently squaring...
who had previously given Tunney his only career loss in their initial meeting. The most notable rubber match of the 1930s
1930s
File:1930s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Thompson show the effects of the Great Depression; Due to the economic collapse, the farms become dry and the Dust Bowl spreads through America; The Battle of Wuhan during the Second Sino-Japanese...
was arguably Barney Ross'
Barney Ross
Barney Ross , born Beryl David Rosofsky, was a world champion boxer in three weight divisions and decorated veteran of World War II.-Early life:...
decision victory over Jimmy McLarnin
Jimmy McLarnin
James McLarnin, known as Jimmy McLarnin , was an Irish Canadian professional boxer who became two-time welterweight world champion and an International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee.-Background:McLarnin was born in Hillsborough, County Down, Ireland, into a large Methodist family who emigrated...
for the Welterweight
Welterweight
Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...
title, a fight which took place in the Polo Grounds
Polo Grounds
The Polo Grounds was the name given to four different stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used by many professional teams in both baseball and American football from 1880 until 1963...
in 1935.
In the 1940s
1940s
File:1940s decade montage.png|Above title bar: events which happened during World War II : From left to right: Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching "Omaha" Beach on "D-Day"; Adolf Hitler visits Paris, soon after the Battle of France; The Holocaust occurred during the war as Nazi Germany...
Sugar Ray Robinson
Sugar Ray Robinson
Sugar Ray Robinson was an African-American professional boxer. Frequently cited as the greatest boxer of all time, Robinson's performances in the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create "pound for pound" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight...
, having suffered the first loss of his career in his second meeting with Jake LaMotta
Jake LaMotta
Giacobbe LaMotta , better known as Jake LaMotta, nicknamed "The Bronx Bull" and "The Raging Bull", is a former American world middleweight champion boxer...
, would avenge the loss only three weeks later by a unanimous decision in their rubber match (Robinson would not suffer another defeat in his next 89 fights, and he and LaMotta would fight another three times, with Robinson winning all three fights; the series is depicted in Robert De Niro's
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
Oscar winning film Raging Bull.) Also in that decade, in 1948, Middleweight
Middleweight
Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...
champion Rocky Graziano
Rocky Graziano
Rocky Graziano, born Thomas Rocco Barbella in New York City , was an Italian American boxer. Graziano was considered one of the greatest knockout artists in boxing history, often displaying the capacity to take his opponent out with a single punch...
, after splitting two sixth round knockouts in back to back fight of the year contests with Tony Zale
Tony Zale
Anthony Florian Zaleski was an American boxer. Zale was born and raised in Gary, Indiana, a steel town, which gave him his nickname, "Man of Steel." In addition, he had the reputation of being able to take fearsome punishment and still rally to win, reinforcing that nickname...
and capturing Zale's Middleweight
Middleweight
Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...
title, was brutally knocked out by Zale with a left hook in the third round of their rubber match; losing his title and their great trilogy. This third fight was conspicuously not mentioned in a biographical film made about Graziano, where he was depicted by Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
in Somebody Up There Likes Me
Somebody Up There Likes Me
Somebody Up There Likes Me may refer to:*Somebody Up There Likes Me , 1956 film starring Paul Newman and Pier Angeli*"Somebody Up There Likes Me" , a song by David Bowie, released in 1975 on the album Young Americans...
.
In the 1950s
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
Sandy Saddler
Sandy Saddler
Joseph "Sandy" Saddler was an American boxer born in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a two-time featherweight world champion, and also held the junior lightweight crown. Over his twelve-year career , Saddler scored 103 knockouts. He was stopped only once, in his second pro fight, by Jock Leslie. ...
won his rubber match and regained the Featherweight
Featherweight
Featherweight is a weight class division in the sport of boxing. There are similarly named divisions under several Mixed Martial Arts organizations and in Greco-Roman wrestling.-Professional boxing:...
titlte against Willie Pep
Willie Pep
Guglielmo Papaleo was an American boxer who was better known as Willie Pep. Pep boxed a total of 1956 rounds in the 241 bouts during his 26 year career, a considerable number of rounds and fights even for a fighter of his era. His final record was 229-11-1 with 65 knockouts...
who quit with an injury; they would meet in a fourth fight which had the same result. Kid Gavilan
Kid Gavilan
Gerardo González , better known in the boxing world as Kid Gavilan, was a former world welterweight champion from Cuba...
would win a controversial rubber match against rival Billy Graham
Billy Graham (boxer)
Billy Graham was an American boxer from New York City, New York. Graham had the remarkable distinction of never having been knocked off his feet in his long career...
in Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
; the referee had to leave under police escort to protect him from the enraged crowd which believed that Graham had won (Gavilan would go on to win an uncontroversial fourth fight.) Archie Moore
Archie Moore
Archie Moore, born Archibald Lee Wright , was light heavyweight world boxing champion who had one of the longest professional careers in the history of that sport....
won a decision against rival Harold Johnson
Harold Johnson (boxer)
Harold Johnson , is a former professional boxer.Johnson was born in Roxborough, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He won his first twenty-four fights before losing a ten round decision to Archie Moore, who would be Johnson's biggest career rival...
in a non-title rubber match, though the two would meet again in a title fight in their fourth meeting. Carmen Basilio
Carmen Basilio
Carmine Basilio better known in the boxing world as Carmen Basilio, is an American former professional boxer who was a two weight world boxing champion...
after splitting two fights with Johnny Saxton
Johnny Saxton
Johnny Saxton was an American professional boxer in the welterweight division. He was born in Newark, New Jersey, learned to box in a Brooklyn orphanage and had an amateur career winning 31 of 33 fights, twice becoming World Welterweight Champion.- Professional career :Saxton turned professional...
, including the 1956 fight of the year, successfully defended his title and ended the trilogy in easier fashion with a quick second round knockout in his final Welterweight
Welterweight
Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...
fight.
One infamous rubber match took place in the 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
between Emile Griffith
Emile Griffith
Emile Alphonse Griffith is a former boxer who was the first fighter from the U.S. Virgin Islands ever to become a world champion. He is perhaps best known for his controversial third fight with Benny Paret in 1962 for the welterweight world championship...
and Cuban
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
Welterweight
Welterweight
Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...
world champion
Champion
A champion is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition.There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, and even further divisions at one or more of these levels, as in soccer. Their champions...
Benny Paret
Benny Paret
Benny "the Kid" Paret, born Bernardo Paret , born in Santa Clara, Cuba, was a Cuban welterweight boxer. Paret won the world welterweight title twice in the early 1960s and died in 1962 following an unsuccessful attempt to defend the crown in what is considered to be the first ring death witnessed...
in their 1962 meeting in Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
, where Paret was badly battered and stopped by Griffith in the 12th round. As a result of this knockout Paret died several days later. Griffith went on to fight in two other major multi-fight series, winning a rubber match against another Cuban
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
world champion, Luis Manuel Rodriguez
Luis Manuel Rodriguez
Luis Manuel Rodríguez was a professional boxing champion. Known as "El Feo", Rodriguez began his career in pre-Castro Havana. In Cuba, Rodriguez twice defeated the ill-fated future welterweight champion Benny Kid Paret.After the Cuban Revolution, Rodríguez campaigned in the United States...
, but losing his rubber match to Italian foe Nino Benvenuti, who twice captured Griffith's Middleweight
Middleweight
Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...
title. Earlier in the decade Heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson
Floyd Patterson
Floyd Patterson was an American heavyweight boxer and former undisputed heavyweight champion. At 21, Patterson became the youngest man to win the world heavyweight title. He was also the first heavyweight boxer to regain the title. He had a record of 55 wins 8 losses and 1 draw, with 40 wins by...
had won his rubber match with Swedish opponent Ingemar Johansson
Ingemar Johansson
Jens Ingemar Johansson was a Swedish boxer and former heavyweight champion of the world. Johansson was the fifth heavyweight champion born outside the United States. In 1959 he defeated Floyd Patterson by TKO in the third round, after flooring Patterson seven times in that round, to win the World...
, a fight where both fighters were knocked down multiple times. Joey Giardello
Joey Giardello
Carmine Orlando Tilelli was an American boxer who was the middleweight champion of the world from 1963 to 1965, and was better known by his professional pseudonym of Joey Giardello.-Early life:...
won his Middleweight
Middleweight
Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...
title in his rubber match with Nigerian champion Dick Tiger
Dick Tiger
Dick Tiger CBE was a boxer from Ubahu village, Amaigbo, Nigeria, who emigrated to Liverpool and later to the United States of America. Tiger was a member of the Igbo ethnic group...
; Tiger would regain the title in their last meeting. In 1967 in Shea Stadium
Shea Stadium
William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, usually shortened to Shea Stadium or just Shea , was a stadium in the New York City borough of Queens, in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. It was the home baseball park of Major League Baseball's New York Mets from 1964 to 2008...
, Puerto Rican
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
world Lightweight
Lightweight
Light-weight is a class of athletes in a particular sport, based on their weight.-Professional boxing:The lightweight division is over 130 pounds and up to 135 pounds weight class in the sport of boxing....
champion Carlos Ortiz
Carlos Ortiz
For the Cuban wrestler with the same name see Carlos Julian OrtízCarlos Ortiz is a Puerto Rican who was a three time world boxing champion, twice in the lightweight division and once in the Jr. Welterweights....
clearly defeated Panamanian rival Ismael Laguna
Ismael Laguna
Ismael Laguna Meneses was a professional boxer. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2001.Known as "El Tigre Colonense", Laguna was the Panamanian Featherweight Champion from 1962-63...
to end their trilogy.
In the 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
the most famous rubber match in the history of modern sports took place between Heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
and archnemesis former champion Joe Frazier
Joe Frazier
Joseph William "Joe" Frazier , also known as Smokin' Joe, was an Olympic and Undisputed World Heavyweight boxing champion, whose professional career lasted from 1965 to 1976, with a one-fight comeback in 1981....
. A fight dubbed the Thrilla in Manila
Thrilla in Manila
The Thrilla in Manila was the third and final famous boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier for the Heavyweight Boxing Championship of the World, fought at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines on October 1, 1975....
, Ali in the brutal heat of the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
won by a late TKO
TKO
-In game, music and film:* Three Kingdoms Online, a browser based strategy game* "TKO" , an episode of Babylon 5* "T.K.O. ", a song from Elvis Costello's Punch the Clock album* "TKO", a song from Le Tigre's This Island...
in the 14th round, after a back and forth vacillating contest. The fight was named the 1975 fight of the year, and concluded Ali and Frazier's heralded and acrimonious trilogy. Ali would also narrowly win his trilogy against Ken Norton
Ken Norton
Kenneth Howard Norton Sr. is a former heavyweight boxer. He is best known for his 12-round victory over a peak Muhammad Ali where he famously broke Ali's jaw, on March 31, 1973, becoming only the second man to defeat Ali as a professional .He and Ali...
the next year in their 1976 rubber match in Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium was a stadium located in The Bronx in New York City, New York. It was the home ballpark of the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1973 and from 1976 to 2008. The stadium hosted 6,581 Yankees regular season home games during its 85-year history. It was also the former home of the New York...
. Also in that decade, Roberto Duran
Roberto Durán
Roberto Durán Samaniego is a retired professional boxer from Panama, widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time. A versatile brawler in the ring, he was nicknamed "Manos de Piedra" during his career....
in a 1978 unification bout became the undisputed Lightweight
Lightweight
Light-weight is a class of athletes in a particular sport, based on their weight.-Professional boxing:The lightweight division is over 130 pounds and up to 135 pounds weight class in the sport of boxing....
champion by savagely knocking out Esteban De Jesus
Esteban De Jesús
Esteban De Jesús was a Puerto Rican world lightweight champion boxer whose life was full of controversy, problems and scandals. De Jesus, a native of the town of Carolina, Puerto Rico, was a gymmate of Wilfred Benítez and an acquaintance of Benitez's mother, Clara Benítez. He was trained by...
in their third fight, scoring his record twelfth Lightweight title defense in his final fight in that weight class. In the 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
Roberto Duran
Roberto Durán
Roberto Durán Samaniego is a retired professional boxer from Panama, widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time. A versatile brawler in the ring, he was nicknamed "Manos de Piedra" during his career....
also engaged in a 1989 rubber match with Sugar Ray Leonard
Sugar Ray Leonard
Sugar Ray Leonard is an American retired professional boxer and occasional actor. He was named Ray Charles Leonard, after his mother's favorite singer, Ray Charles...
, nine years after their initial meeting, with Leonard winning a decision and thus the trilogy. In the 1990s
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...
Evander Holyfield
Evander Holyfield
Evander Holyfield is a professional boxer from the United States. He is a former undisputed world champion in both the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions, earning him the nickname "The Real Deal"...
was stopped for the first time in his career in a TKO rubber match loss to Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
rival Riddick Bowe
Riddick Bowe
Riddick Lamont Bowe is a retired American boxer. He is a two-time heavyweight champion and a former undisputed heavyweight champion...
to end their dramatic trilogy.
Boxing had numerous important rubber matches in the 2000s. Suffering a broken hand in the course of the fight, Arturo Gatti
Arturo Gatti
Arturo "Thunder" Gatti was a Canadian professional boxer. Born in Cassino, Italy, and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Gatti relocated to Jersey City, United States as a teenager...
won his rubber match against Micky Ward
Micky Ward
Micky Ward , nicknamed Irish, is a retired American junior welterweight professional boxer and a former WBU champion from Lowell, Massachusetts...
; this 2003 ending to their trilogy was named fight of the year. Three division champion Erik Morales
Erik Morales
Érik Isaac Morales Elvira is a Mexican professional boxer. He is the first Mexican born boxer in history to win a world title in four weight classes and is the current WBC Light Welterweight Champion...
lost two rubber matches in this decade, one in the 2004 fight of the year against his fellow Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
rival Marco Antonio Barrera
Marco Antonio Barrera
Marco Antonio Barrera Tapia is a Mexicanprofessional boxer. He has won numerous world titles in three different weight classes; he is a former two-time WBO super bantamweight , WBC, Lineal, & The Ring featherweight , and WBC & IBF super featherweight champion...
as well as a third round knockout loss to Filipino
Filipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
Manny Pacquiao
Manny Pacquiao
Emmanuel "Manny" Dapidran Pacquiao, PLH is a Filipino professional boxer and politician. He is the first eight-division world champion; having won six world titles, as well as the first to win the lineal championship in four different weight classes. He was named "Fighter of the Decade" for the...
. Rafael Marquez
Rafael Márquez
Rafael Márquez Álvarez is a Mexican footballer who plays for New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer and the Mexico national team. He plays as a centre back or defensive midfielder....
lost his 2008 fight of the year rubber match against Israel Vazquez
Israel Vázquez
Israel Vázquez Castañeda is a Mexican professional boxer. He is a former Super Bantamweight world champion, having held titles at this weight from 2004 to 2008...
, though he went on to defeat Vazquez in the fourth and final meeting. Prior to his trilogy with Marquez, Vazquez had easily won his rubber match with his other rival, Oscar Larios
Oscar Larios
Óscar Larios is a professional boxer from Mexico and former WBC Super Bantamweight and Featherweight champion. He is trained by Jose "Chepo" Reynoso.-Boxing career:...
, in a third round TKO. Unfortunately a scheduled rubber match between the late Diego Corrales
Diego Corrales
Diego "Chico" Corrales was an American boxer.He was the WBC, WBO, & The Ring lightweight champion, and the WBO & IBF super featherweight champion....
and Jose Luis Castillo
José Luis Castillo
José Luis Castillo is a Mexican boxer. Nicknamed El Temible, Castillo is considered one the best lightweights of his era. He is the former The Ring and two-time WBC Lightweight champion....
was cancelled after Castillo had for a second time failed to make weight. In the Light Heavyweight
Light heavyweight
In boxing, the light heavyweight is a weight division above 168 pounds [12 Stone or 76.204 kilograms] and up to 175 pounds [12.5 stone or 79.38 kilograms]), falling between super middleweight and cruiserweight...
division, Antonio Tarver
Antonio Tarver
Antonio Deon Tarver , nicknamed the "Magic Man", is a professional boxer from Orlando, Florida and the former WBC, WBA, IBF, & The Ring light heavyweight champion....
won his trilogy against former pound for pound
Pound for pound
Pound for pound is a term to describe how any two things compare when bearing in mind their varying quantities; for example, a tin of tomatoes weighing 250 g and costing $2.50 is more expensive, pound for pound, than one weighing 500 g and costing $4 .It is used in combat sports such as boxing or...
king Roy Jones, Jr. by a unanimous decision in their rubber match.
Other sports
Similar to boxing, a rubber match in sports is the last game of a series in which the winner will win the series. For example, in a three game series, if team A wins game one and team B wins game two, then the winner of the third game, the rubber match, will win the series.Mixed martial arts rubber matches include Chuck Liddell
Chuck Liddell
Charles David "Chuck" Liddell is a retired American mixed martial artist and former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion. Liddell has an extensive striking background in Kempo, Koei-Kan karate and kickboxing, as well as a grappling background in collegiate wrestling.As of his...
vs. Randy Couture
Randy Couture
Randy Duane Couture is a retired American mixed martial artist, Greco-Roman wrestler, actor, a three-time former heavyweight champion, two-time former light-heavyweight champion, former interim light heavyweight champion and UFC 13 tournament winner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship...
, Vitor Belfort
Vitor Belfort
Vítor Vieira Belfort is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Belfort was born in Rio de Janeiro and studied jiu-jitsu with the Gracie family, namely Carlson Gracie. He received a black belt under Carlson and currently trains with Xtreme Couture, fighting in...
vs. Randy Couture
Randy Couture
Randy Duane Couture is a retired American mixed martial artist, Greco-Roman wrestler, actor, a three-time former heavyweight champion, two-time former light-heavyweight champion, former interim light heavyweight champion and UFC 13 tournament winner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship...
, Tim Sylvia
Tim Sylvia
Timothy Deane Sylvia is an American professional mixed martial arts fighter, professional wrestler, and former Ultimate Fighting Championship Heavyweight Champion. He trains as a member of the Miletich Fighting Systems camp and is part of their MFSE group...
vs. Andrei Arlovski
Andrei Arlovski
Andrei Valeryevich Arlovski is a Belarusian kickboxer, mixed martial artist and a former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion.-Biography:...
, Matt Hughes
Matt Hughes (fighter)
Matthew Allen Hughes is an American mixed martial artist, UFC Hall of Famer, and former two-time UFC Welterweight Champion. Hughes put together two separate six-fight winning streaks in the UFC, won the welterweight title on two occasions, defended the belt a record seven times, and holds the...
vs. Georges St. Pierre
Georges St. Pierre
Georges St-Pierre , often referred to as GSP, is a Canadian mixed martial artist and the current Welterweight Champion of the UFC. St-Pierre is ranked as the No. 1 Welterweight in the world according to Sherdog, MMAWeekly and numerous other publications. St-Pierre is ranked the No. 2 pound for...
, Quinton Jackson
Quinton Jackson
Quinton Ramone Jackson ;, also known as Rampage Jackson, is an American mixed martial artist and actor. He is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Jackson rose to prominence in Japan's Pride Fighting Championships where he was noted for his powerful body slams including a knockout victory over...
vs. Wanderlei Silva
Wanderlei Silva
Wanderlei César da Silva , nicknamed "The Axe Murderer", is a Brazilian mixed martial artist, who has competed in Japan's Pride Fighting Championships and the American based Ultimate Fighting Championship . Silva is known for his aggressive fighting style with the majority of his fights ending in...
, Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard
Gray Maynard
Bradley Gray Maynard is an American amateur wrestler and mixed martial artist, who competes as a lightweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He has recorded one of the fastest knockouts in UFC history, at 9 seconds against Joe Veres. He is the only fighter to hold a win over current...
, and Matt Hughes
Matt Hughes (fighter)
Matthew Allen Hughes is an American mixed martial artist, UFC Hall of Famer, and former two-time UFC Welterweight Champion. Hughes put together two separate six-fight winning streaks in the UFC, won the welterweight title on two occasions, defended the belt a record seven times, and holds the...
vs. B.J. Penn, in the UFC
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the largest mixed martial arts promotion company in the world that hosts most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport...
, as well as Shinya Aoki
Shinya Aoki
is a Japanese mixed martial artist, grappler, and former police trainee who is noted for being the DREAM Lightweight Champion and former Shooto Middleweight Champion. Aoki holds a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Yuki Nakai, as well as a black belt in judo. He is one of the most prominent...
vs. Joachim Hansen in Dream
DREAM (mixed martial arts)
Dream is a mixed martial arts organization promoted by former PRIDE FC executives and K-1 promoter Fighting and Entertainment Group. DREAM replaced FEG's previous-run mixed martial arts fight series, Hero's. The series retains many of the stylistic flourishes and personnel from Pride FC...
.
A third game of a three-game series
Series (baseball)
A series in baseball terminology refers to two or more consecutive games played between the same two teams.Historically and currently, professional baseball season revolves around a schedule of series, each typically lasting three or four games...
is often referred as a rubber match when both teams have won one of the previous two games, and in the NCAA game, the second and fourth playoff weeks are best-of-three matches.
During the 2010-2011 NFL season, both AFC Divisional Playoff games were between two divisional opponents who had split their two divisional matches (Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional football franchise based in Baltimore, Maryland.The Baltimore Ravens are officially a quasi-expansion franchise, having originated in 1995 with the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy after Art Modell, then owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced his...
at Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
; New York Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
at New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
). Each game was referred to as a rubber match.