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

[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]

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.

[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.

[ElTerribleMorales]

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.

Trinidad Vs Terry Norris they always talked bout this fight, yet never happened

[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

[El Kabong]

Shane mosley vs floyd mayweather jr at 135. After floyd stopped hernandez and manfredy,he was ready,imagine these two guys at 135,speed would have been even,mosley has the power advantage,I usually am never short on giving an prediction but I just have no clue how this fight would have turned out,its a shame we never saw it,they could have fought three times as three different weight classes,maybe even four times by now

Throw a Prime De la Hoya and Tito Trinidad in there too and PBF probably wouldn't still have that 0 he's so fond of on the end of his record.

[THE THIRD MAN]

Foreman V Holmes
(Big George's premature retirement robbed us of this matchup)
Pryor V Leonard
(Leonard's eye injury and Pryor's habit's robbed us of this possible 2-3 fight rivalry)
Sanchez V Nelson
(We got one fight, surely there would have been another)
Sanchez V Chavez
(With Sanchez dying so young, he would have turned 30 in 1989 we would have seen these two go at it for sure)
Chavez V Whitaker
(With the controversial draw, a 2nd and possible 3rd fight seemed logical to me, WTFH?)
Camacho V Rosario
(The first fight was so close, so why no rematch?)
Fenech V Zaragoza
I'm pulling this one out of left field due to the fantastic fight they gave us the first and only time they fought, i was always itching for a rematch of that one)
Tszyu V DLH
Both were at 140lb in 1996 and Tszyu had a reputation by this time as a giant killer, he had already notched up several wins against former World Champions and was the IBF king at this time. Shrewd thinking by DLH on this one.
Lewis V Bowe
(WTF?)
DLH V Trinidad
(These two should have fought again and maybe even a 3rd time, WTF?)
Hamed V MAB V Morales
(If the Prince was a real man he would have fought these guys at least twice each) Toad!
Mosley V PBF
(I have always wondered how PBF would handle Mosley)
Jones Jr V Calzaghe
(If these two had met 6-7 years ago then we would have seen something special)
I'll throw in Kessler too, we should have seen a rematch there.
I think the 'Plaster Caster' controversy will deprive us of a rematch with Cotto and Williams, Margarito's name is mud now.

[jon09]

Quartey vs Trinidad

Mccallum vs Hearns, Hagler, Leonard and Duran

Tua vs Tyson

Bowe vs Lewis, Moorer, Tyson and Morrison

Jones vs Calzaghe at 168

Toney vs Hopkins

Vlad vs Lewis

[eagle]

I'd have liked to have seen Ike Quartey thrown in with some other big names.

Gatti-Corrales is another fight i would have liked ro have seen at 140