Of all the fights that did not come off that you wish had seen,which five would you most like to have had a ringside seat for? You can include rematches where fighters had met but, at least one of the individuals was not prime ,or was past his prime. No cherry picking from decades apart, they have to be fights that could have happened. eg. McGuigan v Nelson or Sanchez v Pedroza Johnson v Langford Lewis v Tyson Dempsey v Wills Robinson v Burley Johnson v Jeffries
All-time: Moore/Robinson, which came close enough to getting made. Then, coming to mind are: Tyson/Holy, 88-89, soon after Holy's move up, within a few fights. McCallum/Hearns, at... 154...? 160? Mosley/Trinidad, at 147. Most recently: Pacquiao/Mayweather, 2009-2010, at welterweight. I'm not even one of either man's bigger fans, but it would've been a fight to settle the biggest bout of both casual and hardcore boxing fans' arguments of the past decade. ...Or ended in a horrific and obscene controversial decision that causes it to be the biggest bout of arguments of this decade too. ...Maybe it's just as well. Forget I mentioned them and replace this one with Jose Sulaiman VS Sergio Martinez.
Off the top of me head Dempsey-Wills early 20's Robinson-Maxim Ricardo Lopez- Gonzales/Carbajal Lennox Lewis- Riddock Bowe mid '90's Henry Armstrong- Charley Burley 1939 Honorable mention: Tyson-Douglas II
Am I missing something with that one? Armstrong/Burley was more flash in the pan as Burley was operating at 154/160 and Armstrong was still battling it out at 135.
Ike Ibeabuchi vs. Evander Holyfield Mike Tyson vs. David Tua Aaron Pryor vs. Roberto Duran Oscar De La Hoya vs. Kostya Tszyu Shane Mosley vs. Felix Trinidad
Five I really would of wanted to see during my time I followed the sport seriously (1985-2000): Tua/Tyson post Tyson/HolyfieldII Williams/Moorer Jones/McClellan Fenech/Galaxy Carbajal/Lopez
Dempsey vs Wills- Just so I would never have to listen to another reduntant thread on why they did not fight, and the ramifications of it. Burley vs SRR Joltin' Jeff Chandler vs Lupe Pintor Meldrick Taylor vs Sweet Pea Riddick Bowe vs Lennox Lewis
Eder Jofre v Jesus Pimental Ernesto Marcel v Ruben Olivares Barry McGuigan v Azumah Nelson Roberto Duran v Rodolfo Gonzalez John Stracey v Armando Muniz Rodrigo Valdez v Marvin Hagler Victor Galindez v John Conteh Ken Norton v Oscar Bonavena George Foreman v Jerry Quarry Sorry, I know you said 5 but I kept going. BTW, at one point just about all of these fights had entered some form of negotiation.
I am so glad this fight never came off...It could only enhance Greb's stellar resume and maybe shift the majority of P4P votes from SRR to himself. If he won he would be a near unanamous #1 P4P....if he lost it would not hurt his standing at all IMHO... If Dempsey wins, some would credit it a solid win, but most especially his most ardent detractors would claim it was a blown up MW that he beat and count for nothing....If God forbid he loses....My how that would tarnish, his increasingly tarnished reputation... It is a fight that I also would have loved to witness, but historically I see more negative outcomes to the fight than positive ones.
Cassius Clay * Eddie Machen............1962 thru 1964 * Cleveland Williams.......1962 or 1963 * Ingemar Johansson......1962 or 1963 * Robert Cleroux............1962 * Harold Johnson...........1962