At heavy I would say a toss up between Johnson-Jeffies, Louis-Schmeling II and Ali-Frazier I. At 175 perhaps Spinks-Qawi (not that the end result warranted the hype). 160 could yield perhaps Greb-Walker, Monzon-Valdez, Hagler-Hearns, Hagler-Leonard. At 147 I would say either Leonard-Duran I or Leonard-Hearns I. At 140 I don't think anything was anticipated as much as Pryor-Arguello I, but Chavez-Taylor got a lot of deserving hype. I'll have to think of some more but at 126 Sanchez-Gomez was really hot going in, although the Pep-Saddler fights had to have drawn some attention back in the day. And at Lt. Fly I would imagine Carbajal-Gonzalez I would be a lock. I hopped around here, I'll have to think of some of the other weights. Scartissue
A couple of more for you. At 118 the battle of the Z-boys Zamora and Zarate (Pity they made it a 10 rounder) and at 154 I would say either Hearns-Duran or Hearns-Leonard II. Perhaps at 130 one could say Nelson-Fenech II due to the controversial draw the first time around. Scartissue
Wasn't Hearns-Leonard II at 168? At 154, Mayweather-De La Hoya is a great shout. At Heavy, Its Ali-Fraizer 1 no doubt.
Heavyweight: LOUIS - SCHMELING Lt. Heavyweight: ? Middleweight: HAGLER - HEARNS Welterweight: DURAN - LEONARD I Lightweight: GANS-NELSON Featherweight: PEP - SADDLER Batamweight: JOFRE-HARADA
You are correct, Leonard-Hearns was at 168, so I think I'll stick with Hearns-Duran at 154, although Mayweather-DeLaHoya was big. Scartissue
154 also had Hearns-Benitez. & Benitez-Duran. huge fights. Cruiser. probably Holyfield- De Leon. or Holyfield - Qawi.
Re-thinking my middleweight picks I think I would have to say the hype and anticipation for the 3rd Zale-Graziano fight must have been electric, especially with their first two wars garnering fight of the year each time. I wonder what the attendance was in Newark? Scartissue