What is the most hyped fight that you can remember?

Chavez -Whitaker
Toney-Jones

 

Holmes vs Cooney in 1982.....
All for the wrong reasons....
Got more hype than some of the greatest fights in history that happened in the 80's....

 

See my avatar

 

For me either Tapia-Romero, or Trinidad-Vargas.

 

I was very young but aware enough to know about the FOTC. I can’t imagine anyone in the U.S. at least not being aware of it.

Basically for as far as the general public alive at that time ever knew or could remember, there was always only one heavyweight champion. And circumstances created a situation where there were two men with legit claims, both high-profile and dominant.

They also had opposite personas and personalities.

After that, I’d go Holmes-Cooney and Leonard-Hearns. I was in high school at the time and there wasn’t anyone who didn’t know who these guys were — and everybody seemed to have a rooting interest one way or the other.

 

Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather. The event was cool and I got a t-shirt but the fight was lame.

 

Hagler-Leonard

 

Holmes-Cooney

Tyson-Spinks of course ended up being a blowout, but there was a ton of Hoopla in the lead-up to that fight.

I was very young at the time, but the first Pryor-Arguello fight seemed one of the more hyped fights I can remember, although that may have had something to do with it taking place in the Miami Orange Bowl, which was local for me. Not sure how that fight compared to other big fights from that era in terms of hype, like Leonard-Hearns, Leonard-Hagler, etc..but all the local press made it seem like a really big deal...

 

Hagler v Leonard
Under that Tyson v Spinks was very big.

 

Vargas vs de la Hoya: Oscar:" I will teach him the meaning of respect" and he proceeded to do so with great effectiveness!

 

In my lifetime, Floyd vs Manny, Tyson vs Spinks, Hagler vs Leonard and Lewis vs Tyson.

 

On our shores, Benn Vs Eubank.

Tyson Vs Holyfield
RJJ Vs Toney
FMJ Vs Pac
Lewis Vs Tyson
Tyson Vs Bruno

 

In the UK the fight that really gripped the nation was Benn v Eubank 1

 

FOTC--not even close!!

That fight became a social and political referendum of the times. Much like today, the country was very divided--and both fighters became symbols of the left and right--(Ali willingly, Frazier more or less by proxy.) 300 million people watched that fight--roughly 9% of the WORLD's population at that time!! It was a greater TV audience than the historic moon landing 2 years earlier!!

I'll never forget the hype leading up to it! EVERYONE talked about it--even folks who knew nothing about the sport had a serious interest in this fight. And that was because it morphed into something much bigger than a boxing match--it became a battle of ideologies with the fighters representing both sides of the political and social spectrum during a tumultuous time both in the USA and abroad.

You also had two exceptionally talented undefeated fighters going head to head. Frazier was at his peak--Ali, while not quite the same fighter as he was pre-exile was still a VERY formidable opponent--(as he demonstrated clearly in this fight.)

Nothing in my lifetime to this day has approximated the intensity of the hype and buildup for this fight. And honestly, no other SPORTING event has equaled the hype for this event. It was truly larger than life! (If you were alive back when all this was happening you know what I'm talking about!!)