Emanuel Augustus - Top 5 Televised Wins

Just a simple highlight vid showing what I believe to be Augustus' top 5 televised victories (reasoning described below).

#5 Courtney Burton II [2006] - a well overdue rematch for a fight in which Augustus was robbed in plain sight on national television two years prior. Both fighters had deteriorated a little since their first meeting (Burton in particular) and it was nowhere near Augustus' best showing, but winning by KO courtesy of a body shot was poetic considering he was disallowed a similar type of knockdown in their first fight after the referee wrongfully ruled the shot as a low blow. The win exorcised some demons surrounding the controversial loss and allowed Augustus to put one of his many injustices to rest.

#4 Jon Thaxton [1998] - in traveling to Norwich, Thaxton's hometown, Augustus was presented with a hostile crowd and a production that had him earmarked as a mere warm up for Thaxton. During the fight, the broadcast crew was insulted by Augustus' playful behaviour, and they continued to embellish Thaxton's abilities and boxing prowess despite Augustus consistently exposing the futility of Thaxton's style . The whole arena was in denial until round 7, where Augustus landed a series of hard punches that had Thaxton staggering, leading to a TKO. With the victory, Augustus netted the IBF and WBO Inter-Continental super lightweight titles.

#3 Alex Trujillo [2004] - having lost 4 of his last 5 with the fifth being a (controversial) draw, Augustus was not looking like a threatening opponent to anyone, especially the 23-1 Alex Trujillo. Having scored his share of first round knock outs, Trujillo came out aggressive using his powerful left hook but was largely ineffective against the slippery defence and counter punching of Augustus. After nullifying Trujillo's primary weapon, Augustus went on to pick apart Trujillo and take all the fight out of him. Trujillo had no answer and Augustus looked as versatile as ever - dominating the fight and mixing in some timely showboating, such as putting BOTH hands behind his back for an extended period of time. Augustus netted the IBA super lightweight title as a result.

#2 Carlos Wilfredo Vilches [2002] - Augustus came in on three days notice to fight the no.4 ranked Vilches after his original opponent, Vince Phillips, pulled out. Vilches had a stiff jab that kept Augustus at bay early, but Augustus piled on the pressure and began landing his right hand over the jab. A cut opened up near Vilches' left eye in round 3 and was tested through the middle rounds as Augustus continued to chase down Vilches. Vilches was winning rounds with clean punching, but Augustus had many effective spots. Proceedings came to a head in round 8 where Augustus landed a big right hand that momentarily staggered Vilches and had the blood trickling from the cut once more. A doctor stepped in to check it out and judged that the cut was too dangerous to continue fighting with, granting Augustus a TKO victory. This fight was one of only a handful where Augustus came in fully focused and showed his potential to mix it with top fighters despite it being on extremely short notice.

#1 Terrell Finger [1999] - a fight that a lot of people probably haven't seen. It was extremely tough to get my hands on, big thanks to classicfights.net for supplying it. Terrell Finger was undefeated at 21-0-1, Augustus was amidst a streak of form having won 9 of his last 11 with the two non-victories being controversial. It was a fast-paced fight with punches flying in both directions but Augustus began to gain ascendancy with his slick head movement and varied punch selection. Augustus worked in many body shots and had Finger on the ropes for many rounds, and while Finger was resilient Augustus never gave him a chance to get back into the fight as he continued to land solid combinations. Finger was broken down round after round and Augustus put an exclamation point on a "fantastic performance" with a KO in the final round. It was, what I believe to be, Augustus' best showing in regards to work rate, sharpness, and showmanship - his best victory.