COMMENTARY | While we continue to hold out hope for a Mayweather-Pacquiao showdown, both fighters continue to make it clear that it will never happen. And if it does, it will be too late for anyone to care as much had these two fought when they ruled boxing. With Mayweather close to announcing his next opponent, he stated that it wouldn’t be against Manny Pacquiao. Meanwhile, Pacquiao continues to say that he wants the fight and it is Mayweather that has done everything in his power to keep it from happening. Who’s telling the truth about who is ducking who? Honestly, who cares?
Either way, this is horrible for fight fans. But it isn’t the first time we have been robbed of a fight that should have happened. And it definitely won’t be the last. So let’s reflect on five other fights that should have taken place, but for one reason or another, never did.
Riddick Bowe v. Lennox Lewis
It is a moment that will forever live in infamy. Riddick Bowe dumping the WBC belt in a trash can in protest to a proposed fight with Lennox Lewis. Bowe was fresh off of the remarkable first fight that would end up being the start of a trilogy with Evander Holyfield while Lewis had just annihilated Donovan “Razor” Ruddock in two rounds. It was all part of a mini-tournament to crown a champion but Bowe’s team put together an insulting offer to Lewis that would have given him only 10% of a $32 million purse. Obviously, Bowe didn’t want the fight. It was surprising considering Lewis stopped Bowe in the finals of 1988 Olympics. You would think Bowe would want to avenge his loss. He didn’t. And because of that we were robbed of what could have been a huge heavyweight fight.
Aaron Pryor v. Sugar Ray Leonard
This would have been huge fight between the exciting “star” Pryor and the “superstar” Leonard. However, Sugar Ray Leonard had retired due to his eye injury during Pryor’s rise and when was too busy cherry picking megafights when he decided to come back. Simply put, the risk was too big and Pryor wasn’t a big enough name to face Leonard at the time. Leonard could have fought Pryor between the Hearns fight in 1981 and the Hagler fight in 1987. But “Sugar Ray” wasn’t going to risk losing to Pryor and opted for tune up fights with Bruce Finch and Kevin Howard instead. It’s not that Leonard was ducking Pryor; rather, the timing was never right. But if it did happen, it could have been one of the most difficult fights of Leonard’s career that he could have very well lost.
Mike Tyson v. Evander Holyfield
Yeah, this fight happened. Twice. But let’s be honest with ourselves because it happened after Tyson had been incarnated and was well out of his prime years. That and, according to his book, he was too busy partying and partaking in recreational drugs to be remotely interested in training properly to beat Holyfield and take back the titles he lost to Douglas. When Tyson was rampaging through the heavyweight division, a fight with Holyfield was on the slate but was squashed once thanks to a Tyson injury and was shelved indefinitely while Tyson served three years in jail. Meanwhile, Holyfield engaged in an epic trilogy with Riddick Bowe. When the two finally met, Holyfield had a few losses under his belt and came into the fight a huge underdog. Obviously, Holyfield silenced the naysayers with a shocking knockout. However, had the Tyson-Holyfield fight taken place in 1991, it would have forever altered the careers of both fighters.
Mike McCallum v. Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, Ray Leonard Or Roberto Duran
“The Body Snatcher” is arguably the most underrated fighter of the past half century. In the era where Hagler, Hearns, Leonard and Duran became household names, McCallum was quietly busy racking up knockout victories and world titles. Unfortunately, none of those names wanted any part of McCallum. Sugar Ray Leonard was too busy deciding whether or not he wanted to fight, Marvin Hagler had called it a night by the time McCallum moved up to middleweight and Thomas Hearns vacated the 154 pound division and fought at middleweight a month before McCallum won his title in that division. As for Duran, the boxing Gods just didn’t find it in their hearts to make it happen. Any of those fights could have enhanced McCallum legacy as he very well could have beaten at least one of those four names. Instead, he’ll forever remain a boxing trivia question.
Juan Manuel Marquez v. Erik Morales
Lost in the era of Marquez, Barrera, Pacquiao and Morales is the fact that Marquez and Morales never stepped in the ring with one another. At the time, Marquez was struggling to be noticed as his fellow featherweights commanded the attention of the boxing world. It’s a shame because a showdown between Marquez and Morales would have been epic. Especially if it would have taken place between 2003 and 2005 when Morales was still in his prime before all of the wars finally took their toll and saw drop Morales four straight fights to Zahir Raheem, Manny Pacquiao (twice) and David Diaz. Is there any doubt that this would have been a marvelous affair with Morales’ warrior mentality paired with Marquez ability to box and go to war? Nope. There’s no doubt. Too bad it didn’t happen.
Other fights that should have happened but didn’t?
Floyd Mayweather v. Paul Williams (Mayweather “retired”)
Felix Trinidad v. Terry Norris (Norris pulled out of the fight)
George Foreman v. Larry Holmes (Foreman retired before Holmes became champion)
Bernard Hopkins v. James Toney (Toney couldn’t make 160 anymore)
Jake LaMotta v. Rocky Graziano (A rumored friendship or bad timing, pick one)
Salvador Sanchez v. Julio Cesar Chavez (Sanchez passed away before the fight could happen)
Let us know who you think would have won these fights and what fights do you believe are missing from this list.
