It's got to be Ali-Frazier I. That you had two undefeated fighters who each had a legitimate claim to the heavyweight throne is something you just don't see under those circumstances. Add in the political climate surrounding the fight, and I'm hard-pressed to see a stronger argument elsewhere.
cooney-holmes i think needs a mention...for the wrong reasons but yeah biggest payday of it's time and first time a contender earned as much as the champ...
build up wise probably Ali-Frazier 1 and 3. I was barely 9 but couldnt get away from the talk which I knew nothing of and had no interest in. It takes a special athlete to gain my notice. Notice I said ATHLETE, not celebrity. Of utmost importance it was Hagler-Hearns. I would say Leonard-Hagler but that fight was way past due. Hagler-Hearns was the right fight at the right time. Hype wise it didnt get special attention but it was because going into the summer of 84, and later throughout the fall, interest intensified. By early spring '85, the outcome of this fight was on the minds of every man, woman, and child in the United States, so intriguing was this rare matchup. Surely the most anticipated fight ever and the most electrifying.
FOTC is arguably the biggest sporting event of all time. So that wins. It gets followed by Louis vs Schemling II, then Dempsey vs Tunney then Johnson vs Jeffries.
"Tyson-Holy 2" from 1997 was INSANE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Still, on a much lesser note, I was drooling for "Foreman-Holy" or "Foreman-Moorer" much more so....... :bbb:deal MR.BILL
in my lifetime of 26 years, tyson v lewis and holyfield were probably the biggest fights for world wide coverage. lewis v holyfield 1 was nat far behind been v eubank 1 & 2 brought britain to a standstill. mayweather v hatton was another that had this effect in britain
I disagree about Benn/EubankI; not enough people knew of Chris at the time. Benn/EubankII was helped ln that the Bomber and Lennox were fighting in virtually the same week, and thus we had our last great boxing hurrah in this country.
dont remember the first fight but i remember the rematch. i thought the first fight was massive. remember seeing a video of the two signing for the fight on bbc
Dempsey vs Carpientier sprung to my mind, Dempsey was raking in 1 million dollar gates in the 20s, how much is that worth now? Also Johnson vs Jeffries was huge probably my pick for this, there was even an air baloon used to take pictures from above but it went wrong and ended up killing the driver and destroying the camera film.