Mayweather and Pacquiao wouldn’t be the first fight to fail
It’s probably fair to say that if the Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao mega-fight doesn’t take place it will go down as the greatest bout never to happen.
Boxing has never been a straightforward sport in the way it goes about its business and this is not the first time a big fight has failed to materialise.
So while people tear their hair out and furiously argue the merits of what is still a fantasy fight, it might be worth looking at some of the other lost-classics and would be thrillers that never made it to the ring.
This wouldn’t be the first “what if?” for Mayweather. In fairness every fighter with an unblemished record is going to get the “he didn’t fight... (Insert name here)” accusations levelled at them, but in truth there are one or two “Money” could and should have taken on. Miguel Cotto is one of them. The Puerto Rican has a very anti-Mayweather style and it would have been fantastic to see how he dealt with Cotto’s all-out bullish attack, it would have also served as a great precursor to the Pacquiao fight. Elsewhere a younger Shane Mosley would have been interesting, Mayweather fought the 38-year-old version last month without much fuss, but take that fight back six or seven years ago and we are talking a very different animal.
Historically speaking one of the first that springs to mind is Sonny Liston v Rocky Marciano. Now looked upon as gods of the sport, the pair never faced off as a result of Marciano retiring at the relatively young age of 33. Liston tried to coerce the unbeaten Marciano out of retirement, had he done so it would have surely gone down as one of the greatest match-ups of all time. It would have been incredible to see how “The Brockton Blockbuster” dealt with the skilful Liston with his long reach and excellent left jab, but alas we will never know.
Similarly George Foreman and Larry Holmes are two heavyweight greats who never went toe-to-toe. How they avoided each other nobody knows as between them their careers racked up well over 50 years. It would have been an interesting clash; of course Holmes has the pedigree with a victory over an all-be-it past his prime Muhammad Ali, where as Foreman lost “The Rumble in Jungle” to the real deal version of Ali. Yet you couldn’t imagine Holmes would have had the footwork, the power or the rope-a-dope skills to beat “Big George”.
Two other conquerors of Ali didn’t meet for different reasons. Ken Norton and Joe Frazier were good friends and didn’t want to fight for that reason alone, and they say there is no love in boxing? Equally you will never see brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko fight because their mum wouldn’t know who to support.
The 1980s were all about the four kings, Marvellous Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns, “Sugar” Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran. Despite their many fights you can look back and wish there had been a few more. Leonard and Hagler should have had a rematch after their controversial battle, while Hearns and Leonard could have gone a third time as well. There may be some argument for a rematch of “The Hitman’s” war with Marvellous Marvin, but it’s not like they could have improved on the original.
Also while these four dominated a couple of fighters didn’t get a chance to face them as they were all too busy with each other. Aaron Pryor is the obvious name here, regarded as one of the best ever he never got a crack at any of them, although he did beat Hearns in an amateur bout when they were 17. As an all-out action fighter the prospect of him v Duran would have been mouth-watering in a brutal sense.
For very different reasons Tony Ayala Jnr didn’t get a crack at any of them either. The aggressive Ayala was an animal in the ring but sadly out of it as well. Locked up by the time he was 19 he missed the whole period but could have gone down as one of the greats, again Duran would have had a war with him but instead Ayala wasted his career and life.
Salvador Sanchez never fulfilled his potential as he was tragically killed in a car crash. The Mexican featherweight died at the age of 23 having already accumulated figures of 44-32-1-1 and for a lot of boxing fans as far as “Chava” is concerned Alexis Aguello is the name they wish they could have seen him fight. It looked like it was on the cards before Sanchez’s untimely demise and the contrasting styles of Sanchez fast handed counter-punching against Aguello’s closing down and heavy-hands still has fight fans arguing to this day.
When it comes to not fighting Mike Tyson you can’t blame anyone for that. However “Iron Mike" has some names levelled at him as well, even in his pomp. The Evander Holyfield fight should have happened earlier, while Riddick Bowe in his prime with that jab could have presented stern opposition. Also a lot of fight fans have said they would have liked to have seen him against David Tua when the New Zealander was in full bloom.
Like Mayweather, Joe Calzaghe is another to get the ducking claims thrown his way. The Welshman left it a bit late to face Roy Jones Jnr, the razzmatazz of Jones Jnr 10 years before would have been a much more exciting contest. The same could be said of Bernard Hopkins v Calzaghe and the at-least-15-years-too-late Hopkins Jones Jnr rematch.
Speaking of British fighters, Prince Naseem Hamed never fought as high a calibre as he could have done and who wouldn’t have liked to have seen how he would have got on against a young Juan Manuel Marquez. If only we could jump in the DeLorean and head back to the late 1990s.
Also a lot of people would have liked to have seen a Ricky Hatton v Junior Witter match-up as well, as the two started to have a real hatred between each other. This would have not only been a fantastic domestic fight but one for an international audience as these two would have put on quite a show and its always more enjoyable if there is genuine resentment between two fighters.
Witter will always claim Hatton ducked him and whether he did or not some guys are just avoided and ducked their entire careers. Step forward Mr Paul Williams, whose opponents want to avoid him so much they throw themselves out the ring, well in Kermit Cintron's case they do anyway. Defensive master Winky Wright had similar issues as did Glenn Johnson and Felix Trinidad to some extent.
So if Pacquiao and Mayweather doesn’t come to pass it will join these other great imaginary fights in the annuals of what if?
If nothing else it will at least give boxing fans around the world something to argue about for the rest of their lives.
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