Five of the greatest boxing bouts in Las Vegas history

Sports-- Referee Richard Steele during the Tommy Hearns vs Marvin Hagler Super Middlleweight fight held at Caesars Palace April 15,1985. Steele announced his retirement from boxing Jan 21,2001. Las Vegas Review Journal Photo by Jim Laurie
The 136-pound catchweight clash in between lightweight standouts Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia was just the most recent megafight in Las Vegas.

With that in mind, here are the five most memorable matches to ever occur here.

5. George Foreman vs. Ron Lyle, Caesars Palace - - January 24, 1976

Foreman ended the 15-month layoff that followed his loss to Muhammad Ali with 5 relentless rounds against Lyle, who likewise lost to Ali and attempted that night to restore his place in the heavyweight division.

Both males traded heavy shots, staggering one another throughout the 14 minutes, 28 seconds - - and exchanging knockdowns in the 4th round prior to Lyle knocked Foreman down a second time in its final seconds.

Foreman overwhelmed and regrouped Lyle in the fifth, cornering him late for an unmitigated attack.

Lyle collapsed and could not beat the 10 count, offering Foreman a knockout triumph and the fans in presence an extraordinary finish.

4. Larry Holmes vs. Ken Norton, Caesars Palace - - June 9, 1978 Holmes' legendary reign atop the heavyweight division would start with a grueling 15-round split choice over Norton, briefly the WBC's champ who had a penchant for doling and sustaining out penalty.

He ate jabs and uppercuts prior to worsening in Holmes a biceps injury, reducing his effectiveness and seizing control in an effort to protect his heavyweight title.

Both fighters almost caught overwhelming tiredness, but Holmes summoned the last of his reserves to end the 15th round with a flurry that would secure for him a triumph and the frenzy of a capacity crowd.

He would rule as champ until Sept. 21, 1985, when Michael Spinks beat him by consentaneous decision at Riviera.

3. Diego Corrales vs. Jose Luis Castillo, Mandalay Bay Events Center - - May 7, 2005 The action-packed designs of Corrales and Castillo figured to make for a fan friendly fight, but what happened in their unified lightweight title bout exceeded even the wildest of expectations.

The 2 spent the first 9 rounds trading shots and momentum.

The 10th round happened.

Within the very first 30 seconds, Castillo dropped Corrales with a short left hook that he followed seconds later with another knockdown-inducing mix. Corrales spit out his mouth piece to get an extra couple of seconds to recuperate prior to pouncing on Castillo, whom he impossibly overwhelmed with mixes - - requiring referee Tony Weeks to stop the fight in what had ended up being a raucous arena.

2. Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns, Caesars Palace - - Sept. 16, 1981 Having developed dominance in the welterweight and light middleweight departments, Leonard went back to 147 pounds to defend his WBC title against Hearns - - a fellow pound-for-pound excellent with the WBA's iteration of the title.

The two would battle for 14 rounds, bringing the boxer out of Hearns and the puncher out in Leonard in one of the many matchups in between 2 of boxing's "Four Kings." Hearns controlled early and braved a rally from Leonard to seize a sizable edge on the scorecards. Leonard persevered through a swelled eye to floor Hearns in the 13th round and force a stoppage in the 14th after spectacular him with an overhand right and following with a brutal barrage to hand him his first professional loss.

1. Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas Hearns, Caesars Palace - - April 15, 1985 Known now as "The War," the duel between Hagler and Hearns featured perhaps the best preliminary in boxing history. Hagler pounced on Hearns in the opening seconds, consistently attacking with rights before eating return fire that would effectively cut his forehead.

The mad speed slowed in the 2nd round amid tiredness for both fighters, preceding the last and third round in which the cut on Hagler's head started to bleed a lot.

Dealing with the possibility of a medically induced stoppage, Hagler activated his aggression and pounced on Hearns the way he carried out in the preliminary - - shocking him with an overhand right and following with a blow to the chin to send him deal with initially into the canvas.

Try as he may, Hearns could not beat referee Richard Steele's 10-count - - strengthening Hagler's unified middleweight championship success.