Boxing history if all controvertial decisions went as you think they should

Delahoya - loses to Whitaker then challenges IBF champ Quartey and loses again (or maybe he'd rematch an older Whitaker), wouldn't be a big star and may have to take fights not on his terms against champs in their prime. Whitaker-Tito may have happened earlier, would Whitaker have been as shot if he was still champ and didnt take time out, if not he may beat Tito

Delahoya would beat Trinidad but not as easily and the fight may take place at 154 (with Delahoya not being as much of a draw due to those 2 losses and him never making it a P4P fight) so he wouldn't even be a Welter Champ in that universe.

 

Meldrick Taylor holds on and wins over Chavez. Meldrick is not the same fighter. In a rematch against a motivated Chavez, Taylor takes a horrific beating & is finished in boxing.

Larry Holmes defeats Michael Spinks 15 rd dec. Spinks goes back down and eventually fights A young Evander Holyfield. Defeating him in a great fight to claim the Cruiserweight crown.

 

de la hoya beats mayweather. Mayweather doesn't retire and rematches de la hoya instead of the hatton fight. Hatton is still undefeated and reigning supreme at light welter.

 

Jimmy Young - Top 10 Heavyweight Of All Time!

 

Emmanuel Augustus - World Champ!

 

What if Quartey had gotten the nod over DeLaHoya?

Perhaps a rematch? Assuming DeLaHoya wants one (he's never really pursued an immediate rematch any other time).

Probably, Hoya either moves up to 154 or hand-picks Mosley coming up in weight as a "rebound" fight, and loses there too.

But the real interesting part is that Quartey might actually stay active in the division, and it would be he and not DeLaHoya that goes on to the "superfight" with Tito. And if Quartey wins that, what happens there? If Quartey beats Tito then, does Tito still go on to do all the things he did after beating DLH? Or does he become discouraged and retire already?

 

By what standards?


Marginal decisions over Ken Norton and and a shot Ali wouldn't do it for me.

 

Or at least an elite contender, anyway, and with under 15 losses.

 

Whitaker-DLH ends up a draw. Whitaker doesn't get depressed and end up in rehab, and they have a rematch later in 1997, or early 1998. DLH wins this one more handily, and loses to Quartey in February 1999. Quartey fights Tito and gets stopped. DLH fights Tito, and wins a close decision. He eventually loses to Mosley.

 

Larry Holmes wins the rematch with Michael Spinks, and loses in 1987 (rather than 1988) to Mike Tyson. Holmes is a 2-time HW champ, Tyson has more lineal title defenses, but little else changes.

Earnie Shavers could at least be considered a one-time HW champ, after winning 9 rounds against Ali but losing the fight.

Leonard-Hagler is a draw. Do they have a rematch?

Bernard Hopkins stays the MW champ for longer after the draw with Jermain Taylor in the first fight. Let's say they rematch and it goes like it did in December 2005, which I had Hopkins narrowly ahead. B-Hop then fights Winky and wins a decision, making it 23 straight defenses. Hopkins might've been having some problems at the weight though. Does someone get to him before #25? Who?

 

Hopkins may go to 168 fight Calzaghe and wins a close decision. In this scenario Roy Jones stays at heavyweight & never loses to Tarver, unifies with Chris Byrd by winning a controversial decision. He then maybe wins a match with the faded Holyfield. Hopkins wants to fight Jones at heavyweight, but Jones retires ?

 

He beat Ron Lyle twice.

He went 1-1 with Earnie Shavers, dominating him once and only losing when a green novice.

Ali wasn't "shot". He was chubby and underestimated Young.

Wins over Ken Norton, Ali and George Foreman would in all honesty make him a top 20 heavyweight of all time, in my opinion.

 

Young didn't "dominate" the second Shavers fight. He was in serious trouble early, down and hurt in the fourth, and rallied in the second half to earn the points victory in the eyes of the vast majority of observers.

I think there is a very good argument that Ali was outright shot or close to it post-Manila, when he fought Young. At the least, he was no longer capable of consistently beating contenders decisively- the fact that he also went to disputed decisions against the likes of Norton and Shavers in close proximity of this fight devalues the accomplishment in arguably deserving the win, in my view.

That said, if Young were a linear world heavyweight champion with wins over Ali, Foreman, Norton, Lyle and Shavers, I think he would absolutely be ranked in the top 20, maybe even top 15 or top 10 on some lists.