Rivalries We Were Robbed Of!

[El Kabong]

After seeing all the Larry Holmes threads and the Aaron Pryor thread, I got to wondering, what rivalries were out there that the boxing fans didn't get to see blossom into their full potential. We got 3 BATTLES between Ali-Frazier and Bowe-Holyfield and those are some of the greatest fights not only because they are action packed but because eras were defined by the winners and losers of those fights.

Here's my list of rivalries we lost out on:

Larry Holmes-George Foreman: Sure George went crazy after his loss to Jimmy Young in 1977 and Holmes was just stepping up to the big time, but I'll be damned if that wouldn't have been a brawl!

George Foreman-Earnie Shavers: Same as above, but it would have been a different fight with 2 guys who could destroy boxers with their punching power.

Aaron Pryor-Ray Leonard/Roberto Duran/Tommy Hearns: Aaron Pryor lost out on the greatest generation of little men for various reasons but it is very interesting to think about.

Salvador Sanchez-Julio Cesar Chavez: I don't know how anyone couldn't think that a fight between these two would have been bad....it would have been like MAB-Morales but better!!!

Riddick Bowe-Lennox Lewis: Sure we know Lewis wrecked Bowe in the amateurs and Bowe was in horrid shape by the time Lennox came back from the McCall loss but as a boxing fan I feel cheated out of not having these guys fight as they were obviously the best of their eras....albeit Bowe had a very short time at the top.

Mike Tyson-Riddick Bowe: From the same neighborhood, totally different styles, attitudes, and careers. I just think as great as the Bowe-Holyfield fights were, Tyson would have made them better in some ways (not in others as I doubt Bowe would have lost to post-prison Tyson but still exciting none the less).

Please feel free to add some that I am sure I missed out on.

[Master]

Herol Graham v Nigel Benn
Herol Graham v Chris Eubanks
Herol Graham v Michael Watson
Roy Jones v Darius Michelzski
ODH v Tszyu
Mosley v Tszyu

[ElTerribleMorales]

Morales Vs Corrales (remember there was a huge buzz for this fight at one time)

[dee_z_r]

collins/calzaghe

[Britkid]

collins/calzaghe

Yes, but it so nearly came off, but we got Joe/Eubank instead.

Some I would of loved to of seen in my time:

Nelson/McGuigan

Benn/Nunn

Hodkinson/Fenech

Brown/Honeyghan

Leonard/Nunn

Bruno/Mason

Taylor/Whitaker

Tyson/Whitherspoon

Holyfield/Ruddock

Hearns/Moorer

Toney verses Benn and Eubank

Jones verses Benn and Eubank

Jones/Michalczweski

de la Hoya/Nelson

de la Hoya/Tszyu

Gomez/Jirov

Calzaghe/Ottke

And of course; Vitali/Wlad!

[Killa From Manila]

Morales-Marquez

[Spicoli]

Michael Carbajal vs. Ricardo Lopez....or Yuri Arbachakov
Benn vs.Jones
Khaosai Galaxy vs.Yuji Watanabe
Lewis vs. Bowe....digging the strap out of the garbage can like that,jeez
Foreman vs. Tyson fresh into comeback for George,I think Foreman would have beaten him
Jeff Chandler vs. Lupe Pintor
Orlando Canizales vs. Junior Jones..at best
Julio C. Chavez immediate rematch with Frankie Randall for 3rd fight...instead of waiting until both were tattered and just shadows.

[ElTerribleMorales]

MAB Vs Hamed II
Morales Vs Hamed
DLH Vs Trinidad II
DLH Vs Mosley III
Vitali Vs Lewis II

[El Kabong]

MAB Vs Hamed II
Morales Vs Hamed
DLH Vs Trinidad II
DLH Vs Mosley III
Vitali Vs Lewis II

While those are great and all, bar the Hamed-Morales fights we actually had at least 1 fight to sort of appease us, tide us over.

I'm talking about guys who SHOULD HAVE but never ended up fighting each other for whatever reasons. I could think of plenty of rematches I would want to see but it's kind of a different subject than I intended.

For example Ali-Stevenson and Tyson-Savon ..those would have been great but never happened because Cuba sucks a fat one.

[El Kabong]

Yeah Kostya kind of got skipped over by Mosley and ODH and he never tried going to 147 and testing the waters...he's kind of like Pryor in that way.

Diego Corrales' death robbed us of a lot of boxing...Hatton, Cotto, Margarito, Torres, Holt, etc...he wasn't the greatest and he wasn't my favorite fighter but he was exciting to watch!


Ricky Hatton-Miguel Cotto haven't fought yet and I doubt they ever will now. I thought that would be a great rivalry.

Ron Lyle-Ken Norton would have been a hell of a match up.Throw Frazier in the mix and it's even better!

Felix Trinidad-Shane Mosley would have been awesome IMO.

[Taeth]

Herol Graham v Nigel Benn
Herol Graham v Chris Eubanks
Herol Graham v Michael Watson
Roy Jones v Darius Michelzski
ODH v Tszyu
Mosley v Tszyu

Roy JOnes would have killed Dariusz, maybe Roy against McClellan or Calzaghe in his/their prime would have become a rivalry, or Roy Jones vs Hopkins the rivalry with 1 fight that happened way too early in their careers.

[rjj tszyu]

After seeing all the Larry Holmes threads and the Aaron Pryor thread, I got to wondering, what rivalries were out there that the boxing fans didn't get to see blossom into their full potential. We got 3 BATTLES between Ali-Frazier and Bowe-Holyfield and those are some of the greatest fights not only because they are action packed but because eras were defined by the winners and losers of those fights.

Here's my list of rivalries we lost out on:

Larry Holmes-George Foreman: Sure George went crazy after his loss to Jimmy Young in 1977 and Holmes was just stepping up to the big time, but I'll be damned if that wouldn't have been a brawl!

George Foreman-Earnie Shavers: Same as above, but it would have been a different fight with 2 guys who could destroy boxers with their punching power.

Aaron Pryor-Ray Leonard/Roberto Duran/Tommy Hearns: Aaron Pryor lost out on the greatest generation of little men for various reasons but it is very interesting to think about.

Salvador Sanchez-Julio Cesar Chavez: I don't know how anyone couldn't think that a fight between these two would have been bad....it would have been like MAB-Morales but better!!!

Riddick Bowe-Lennox Lewis: Sure we know Lewis wrecked Bowe in the amateurs and Bowe was in horrid shape by the time Lennox came back from the McCall loss but as a boxing fan I feel cheated out of not having these guys fight as they were obviously the best of their eras....albeit Bowe had a very short time at the top.

Mike Tyson-Riddick Bowe: From the same neighborhood, totally different styles, attitudes, and careers. I just think as great as the Bowe-Holyfield fights were, Tyson would have made them better in some ways (not in others as I doubt Bowe would have lost to post-prison Tyson but still exciting none the less).

Please feel free to add some that I am sure I missed out on.

Great call on Holmes - Foreman. Prime for prime I think Foreman kicks Holmes' ass but as you say at the time Foreman went crazy and that could have created some great fights between these two legends!

[porkypara]

After seeing all the Larry Holmes threads and the Aaron Pryor thread, I got to wondering, what rivalries were out there that the boxing fans didn't get to see blossom into their full potential. We got 3 BATTLES between Ali-Frazier and Bowe-Holyfield and those are some of the greatest fights not only because they are action packed but because eras were defined by the winners and losers of those fights.

Here's my list of rivalries we lost out on:

Larry Holmes-George Foreman: Sure George went crazy after his loss to Jimmy Young in 1977 and Holmes was just stepping up to the big time, but I'll be damned if that wouldn't have been a brawl!

George Foreman-Earnie Shavers: Same as above, but it would have been a different fight with 2 guys who could destroy boxers with their punching power.

Aaron Pryor-Ray Leonard/Roberto Duran/Tommy Hearns: Aaron Pryor lost out on the greatest generation of little men for various reasons but it is very interesting to think about.

Salvador Sanchez-Julio Cesar Chavez: I don't know how anyone couldn't think that a fight between these two would have been bad....it would have been like MAB-Morales but better!!!

Riddick Bowe-Lennox Lewis: Sure we know Lewis wrecked Bowe in the amateurs and Bowe was in horrid shape by the time Lennox came back from the McCall loss but as a boxing fan I feel cheated out of not having these guys fight as they were obviously the best of their eras....albeit Bowe had a very short time at the top.

Mike Tyson-Riddick Bowe: From the same neighborhood, totally different styles, attitudes, and careers. I just think as great as the Bowe-Holyfield fights were, Tyson would have made them better in some ways (not in others as I doubt Bowe would have lost to post-prison Tyson but still exciting none the less).

Please feel free to add some that I am sure I missed out on.

Lewis-Bowe is always the first fight I think of when this type of question is asked.
IMO its the worse example of a boxer been scared shittless.

Also dont agree with the Holmes-Foreman,LH would jab him to bits even if big george landed the odd hard punch.

Good topic

[El Kabong]

While I think Bowe was scared of Lewis, I also think Bowe was not right in the head after the fights with Holyfield.


I think if Foreman fought Holmes like he fought Ali the result would have been similar, but had he fought more like he fought vs Moorer he could have worn down Holmes late and maybe catch him with a big bomb, like Snipes, Shavers, or Witherspoon did.

[THE THIRD MAN]

While I think Bowe was scared of Lewis, I also think Bowe was not right in the head after the fights with Holyfield.


I think if Foreman fought Holmes like he fought Ali the result would have been similar, but had he fought more like he fought vs Moorer he could have worn down Holmes late and maybe catch him with a big bomb, like Snipes, Shavers, or Witherspoon did.

I think if Holmes had fought Foreman 3 times in a rivalry from 1979-80 then big George would certainly have won at least once.
It's been a good topic as some fights happened one time only but for whatever reason no rematch occurred, others did not eventuate due to weight class and boxing politics.