If every champion from Sullivan onward had gotten a contract clause where they're guaranteed a rematch in the event of a loss, what would the lineal champion lineup look like? Would you expect any big changes?
A big one is that if Holyfield had a rematch clause for Moorer, Foreman likely would have never regained the title. I think the 30's pre Joe Louis would have a good few changes, but probably doesn't make that big a difference to the overall picture, though I suspect Floyd Patterson wouldn't have been the first to regain the title. Of course, as the Fury Wlad fight shows, a rematch clause doesn't garuntee a rematch.
I am sure some one would of regain the title before Patterson did. I give Corbett a great chance of being the first man to regain the title from Fitz. On a shorter fight, Johnson may regain the title from Willard. Charles beats Louis again if we count retirements. Foreman Ali II?? I give George a good chance in regaining the title from a more shot Ali depended on his demons. Tyson gets in shape to beat Douglas???
I think generally they all did (if not literally, then unwritten), just some did not take up the offer, or did later. I do not see history changing that much. Maybe Douglas struggles for motivation in a Tyson rematch; but that is about it.
Going down the list... - Sullivan probably doesn't exercise his rematch clause against Corbett. If he does, he loses again. - Corbett definitely exercises his rematch clause against Fitzsimmons. Likely loses again. He scored his successes in the first fight by blowing through more stamina than Fitz. - Jeffries fought Fitz twice in real life. Same result. - Hart might actually beat Burns in the rematch. Which would change history by giving Johnson a much tougher champ to face who'd beaten him before. But assuming Hart loses... - Burns may not even insist on rematch Johnson, considering the humiliating slaughter from fight 1. - Johnson would definitely insist on a rematch. Probably loses fight 2, since Willard is now champion so has even greater leverage to insist on fighting in extreme heat for a million rounds. - Willard might give a better account of himself if he trains for the second Dempsry fight, considering he did OK in his comeback. But really, this isn't going to change much. - Dempsey got his two shots. - Tunney doesn't need no stinking rematch clause. - Neither Schmeling nor Sharkey was champion when they fought for the vacant belt. - Schmeling may well beat Sharkey in a rubber match, leaving their score basically as indeterminate as it was in real life. But if Schmeling loses... - Sharkey might beat Carnera if given a shot. - Carnera probably gets flattened again by Baer. - Baer may well beat Braddock in a rematch. - Assuming Braddock wins the rematch with Baer, Braddock might be willing to go in for a second payday against Louis. But he loses. - Depending on whom you consider the challenger, Louis rematches Charles and makes more money for his IRS bills. But loses again. - Charles would lose a rematch to Walcott - Walcott would (did) lose a rematch as well to Marciano. - Floyd vs Moore was for a vacant title, so no rematch clause. - We saw what happened historically with Floyd, Ingo, Liston, and Ali rematches. - Ali-Frazier, assuming you insist Ali is the lineal champ, still probably ends like FOTC part deux. It'll have a more diligent ref than the real life Ali Frazier 2. - Foreman beats Frazier again. - Foreman probably still loses the Ali rematch, although Ali is on the decline and may not fight somewhere like Zaire again. - Ali probably wins the Spinks rubber match. Gets destroyed in a second Holmes fight, though. - Holmes lost his Michael Spinks rematch. - Spinks gets slaughtered a second time by Tyson - Tyson takes out Douglas in an immediate rematch, and wins the trilogy. If not, Holyfield wins the Douglas duology. - We saw Holyfield/Bowe 1-3. - Holyfield comes out on top in Moorer trilogy. - Moorer probably beats Old Foreman twice more. - Foreman gets robbed again by Briggs. - Briggs gets defeated twice by Lewis. - Interregnum. - Wlad is unlikely to do better against Fury a second time. I'm probably missing some people, but overall, it would have made a difference if older champions insisted on rematch clauses like the current crop do.
The key points of contention as I see them: Corbett would have a very good chance of beating Fitzsimmons in a rematch. Hart would have a good chance of beating Burns. Johnson would have a fair chance of beating Willard. Schmeling would probably beat Sharkey in a rubber match. My guess is that Carnera probably wins a rematch against Sharkey, but it is not a given. Baer would probably win a rematch against Braddock, if his right hand held out. Ali might well have won a rematch against Frazier, before Foreman got to him, and then perhaps Foreman never holds the title. Tyson would probably have beaten Douglas, if his rematch clause had been honored. I would give Moorer a good chance of winning the title back from Foreman, but Holyfield would probably have got to him before Foreman anyway. I think that Wlad would have done batter in a rematch with Fury, and I picked him when I though that the fight was actually going to happen.
An interesting point. With a rematch clause, Dempsey probably wouldn't have had the eliminator with Jack Sharkey, which might have meant Sharkey would get a shot at Tunney. I'd favor Tunney, but Sharkey could have beaten him I think
There is no Sharkey Eliminator, so Dempsey gets Tunney in the rematch, probably sooner and with a different referee. I know I'm sticking my neck out here but, IMHO, Dempsey has a good chance at regaining the title in this scenario, at least a better chance than he had in the real "rematch." Lightning doesn't have to strike twice in round seven in that case. (Maybe Dempsey only had one and a half lightning strikes coming after Dempsey vs. Tunney 1.) Then would there have been a Tunney vs. Dempsey three, or would Tunney have needed to beat Sharkey first?
In real life, I don't know. In this scenario, every loss by a champion is followed by a rematch for that champion. So if Tunney loses Fight 2, the following happens: Tunney gets a rematch, and Dempsey is guaranteed Tunney/Dempsey 4 will happen if Tunney beats Dempsey in Fight 3.