Fights absolutely no-one wanted to see, but that actually turned out to be brilliant fights

Erik Morales vs Marcos Maidana comes to mind. Everyone thought Morales had nothing left and would get stopped brutally by Maidana but ended up having one last great performance despite coming up short.

 

Holmes-Weaver - Weaver was viewed as a largely unheralded journeyman, yet shockingly pushed Holmes to the brink in 1 of the greatest slugfests in hw history IMO.

Holyfield-Cooper - Cooper was a sub for Damiani, who in turn was a sub for Tyson. Not much was expected from Cooper, but he provided the biggest scare of Holy's career to that point & withstood probably 1 of the worst beatings ever dished out in hw history.

Salvador Sanchez - Azumah Nelson - In retrospect, this was a classic crossroads meeting between 2 future hofers/ATGs, but @ the time, Nelson was a complete unknown w/ only a handful of fights under his belt, + took the fight on short notice.

 

The Pacquiao-Bradley Trilogy

 

Foreman V Lyle
George had lost to Ali, whilst Lyle had lost to Jimmy Young.
Not sure many expected it to turn into one of the most exciting heavy battles.
Ali V Norton 1
Expected to be a run of the mill fight and a win for Ali..

 

Davey Moore was a KO machine Jr middleweight champ destined for dominance. What was even the point of feeding him the washed -up corpse of a great fighter in the form of Duran, if not for a cheap shot at enhancing his legacy? Moore himself thought he might end Duran early. His plan worked out brilliantly:

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Not quite brilliant, but Hector Camacho vs Howard Davis Jr was much more interesting and entertaining than it looked on paper.

Yvon Durelle was a legit contender but I gather people weren’t clamoring to see him fight Archie Moore. But we should all be grateful that he did.

And of course no one wanted to see Mike Tyson defend vs Buster Douglas and we got a fight that is still must-see to this day.

 

Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder III

 

Conor Benn vs Chris Eubank Jr 1

 

Good shout.
Nobody was expecting a great fight.

Tyson had become a lazy, pampered headhunter just looking for an easy paycheck and Buster was supposed to be just another tomato can.

 

Deontay Wilder vs Derrick Chisora

 

Tommy Morrison vs Razor Ruddock

 

I don't recall anyone really demanding a Foreman/Moorer fight. He was a 4-1 underdog. Turned out he made history.

No one was clamoring for a Mercer vs Cooper fight. If they missed it, they really missed out. It was an all out brawl.

 

Literally going to say this and then conversely, most people I know wanted to see the rematch but I had zero interest in it and predicted that the weight drain would get to him.

I really think that Conor, in any era, with elite fighters doesn't make it past holding a European title, maybe even not past a British.

 

yes! i expected a snoozefest. instead is was one of the better old man battles to occur. i don't know why they don't run it back. it was competitive; either guy could win; do it in the UK and Chisora fills the stadium, Wilder brings along some extra American viewers. Between Chisora's UK selling ability and Wilder's (much more limited but definitely not nonzero) American selling ability, there's probably enough in there for each guy to make a few mil. Why not?