The greatest fantasy boxing matches that could have happened

Picking Robinson is understandable but no-one kayoed Burley. If anyone could, it would be Robinson but I wouldn’t expect it to happen.

 

Carlos Palomino v Pipino Cuevas, undisputed welterweight championship, 1978

Why didn’t it happen?
For no good reason other than old fashioned boxing politics - the WBC and WBA wanted to keep their own champions and keep the money for themselves. Two Mexican world champions in the same weight class - the fight was a no brainer but unsurprisingly, the WBC and WBA showed less brains than that. Even a non-title fight like Zarate and Zamora had would have been something but it wasn’t to be.

Who would have won?
Cuevas was arguably the hardest p4p puncher of his time, Palomino was known for his iron chin and solid fundamentals. Cuevas would have been the aggressor, Palomino the counterpuncher. I see Cuevas hurting and dropping Palomino in the early going and coming close to stopping him but he was a tough fighter and he’d ride out the storm to turn the tables late on, bringing the ref to intervene in a come-from-behind TKO around the 14th round.

What impact would it have had?
Had Palomino won, his place in welterweight history would have benefitted hugely. Cuevas would likely have found it hard to recover.

 

Julio Cesar Chavez v Azumah Nelson, WBC super featherweight title, 1987

Why didn’t it happen?
Chavez moved up to lightweight in late 1987 challenging Edwin Rosario for the title but had he stuck around for a few more months, a challenge from WBC featherweight champ Nelson would have been a natural - they were two of the best champions in the game. Perhaps it was only when Chavez beat Rosario, though, that he started to get genuine name recognition.

Who would have won?
Nelson would go on to be one of the most celebrated super featherweights in history, but Chavez was a weight class bigger. Nelson was very strong though in his own right. Both had more than one string to their bow - they could box, brawl and were very tough but I would favour Chavez to grind out a tough points decision to retain his title, maybe dropping Nelson along the way.

What impact would it have had?
Chavez would have gone up a level with a win over Nelson and it would have established him as perhaps the best super featherweight up to that point in history.

Nelson would have moved up as planned and gone on to establish his super featherweight legacy as he did in reality, but Chavez would always been seen as superior.

 

Felix Trinidad v Ike Quartey, IBF/WBA welterweight titles, 1995

Why didn’t it happen?
Both fighters would hold onto their versions of the title for a number of years: Trinidad became champion in 1993 and would eventually partially unify against Oscar De La Hoya in 1999; Quartey would also face De La Hoya earlier that year after holding his WBA strap between 1994 and 1997. In short, they had a window of 3 years to make the fight but never did - contractual differences between Trinidad and his promoter Don King being one of the reasons. If it had gone ahead, 1995 would have been the perfect year to do it.

I don’t remember this at the time, but @ChrisJS says that it was agreed for 1998 as a Main Events HBO promotion but De La Hoya scuppered the plans by saying he’d fight Quartey and Quartey unsurprisingly changed his mind and fought DLH instead.

Who would have won?
Given his track record, it hardly seems a stretch to predict that Trinidad would get knocked down and knocked down early. In Quartey he’d be facing the physically strongest welter he’d met and one with a better chin and better jab than him. But Trinidad was never stronger than when he was hurt and he would battle his way back into the fight, hitting Quartey (who was no Pernell Whitaker defensively) with the proverbial kitchen sink and grinding him down over the second half of the fight, possibly scoring a KD himself.

A rousing finish would see both men trading but Trinidad’s momentum would see him to a close but clear points victory in a battle for the ages.

What impact would it have had?
This had the potential to be the best high profile welterweight battle since Sugar Ray Leonard beat Tommy Hearns - it’d be what we hoped De La Hoya-Trinidad would have looked like. With the combination of power and aggression brought by both fighters, this would likely have been a great fight.

A win for Tito, coupled with his controversial win over De La Hoya would put him among some of the best welterweights in history, certainly within the top 20 all-time of that historically stacked division and maybe even higher, particularly if the fight had lived up to its promise.