Different results of mythical match ups (if they’d never actually fought)

I'm not that old, I don't have too much personal history with Boxing, my age belies my knowledge, truth be told. But damn it if there haven't been some doozies since I've started getting into the sport.

I thought Wilder would attack Fury with total abandon and knock him out quickly in the rematch, and not be a punching back like in the first fight. Fury beating him down like he was a kid is still crazy.

Lomachenko vs Lopez was insane to me. Loma was most people's P4P number 1, and was argued by many to be the next big great, some even called him the most skilled fighter ever. I was still relatively new to the sport, having really only learned about the mainstream greats at that point and some slightly lesser known guys here and there, so I was looking forward to seeing Loma for the first time. Then he goes ahead and loses the fight against this green 23 year old by doing nothing for half the fight. I was even starting to root for Teo midway through. My view of Loma plummeted down straight to tartarus. The rest of his career since hasn't helped improve it.

Joshua vs Ruiz is another obvious one. Didn't even know who Ruiz was, just thought of him as just another fat and mediocre Heavyweight, but I had learned some things about Joshua, and how he was supposedly destined to become the next great Heavyweight, and I had seen his war with Wlad. Then this fat dude who looks like a certain Greek Hip Hop artist beats him up. Thank God I wasn't invested in Joshua the way I was with Loma.

Kambosos vs Teo is probably the most insane one. Teo had defeated Lomachenko, nothing stood in his way, I just had this feeling that he would be the true next great. I actually knew of Kambosos before the fight, he is of Greek descent, so being a Greek myself, I did manage to learn some stuff about him prior to the announcement of the fight. But I knew he wasn't anything too special, he was just a tough and semi skilled guy who wanted to win, but nothing more, he had struggled with mundane fighters. Him beating Teo is my equivalent of Tyson vs Douglas.

 

I never thought Marquez would knock Pacquiao spark out.

 

Had Ali and Patterson not fought twice, I feel like my inner contrarian would've led me to picking Floyd over Ali.

Floyd's hands were just as fast

His chin wasn't great, but Ali wasn't a great puncher

He was a great front foot Bob and weave fighter, with fast combinations to the head and body

And he had a tremendous left hook, which Ali was always vulnerable to.

 

I think many people would have favored GGG heavily over Canelo in a mythical match up had those 2 never fought.

Same with Julio Cesar Chavez against Pernell Whitaker and Mike Tyson against Evander Holyfield.

 

Rumble in the Jungle.

I was too young to be properly cognisant of that fight.

Had I been of an age to properly appreciate and process it before the fight, I think I too would’ve probably fallen prey to Foreman’s aura but also to the very real facts of his power and utter destruction of common opponents Chuvalo, and later, Frazier and Norton.

It would’ve been stunning to see that fight in real time, watching how it unfolded and ultimately finished.

After that, Ali really did stamp himself as a literal miracle man - but, unfortunately for some, that blind faith in him carried all the way through to the Holmes fight - when all logic otherwise dictated that there was no way Ali could beat Holmes at that well deteriorated point in Ali’s career/life.

 

While some (x number of whom didn’t see it go down in real time) call in all possible, pre fight negative factors and influences on Tyson (before fighting Douglas) to reason away the complexion and outcome in some measure - I believe that even if those same fans were around at time, privy to all details and accepting of Mike not being 100% - they still would’ve calculated Mike to have demolished Buster.

Just for the fact that Mike simply lost played no mean part in the belief that Mike, by default, must have been woefully below par - which is, of course, a perfect example of circular reasoning.

 

I must admit I thought that Qawi would do the same to Spinks as he did to Muhammad.

 

While some (probably not many) might have given Marco Antonio Barrera a chance vs. Naz, they’d have probably figured him coming out on top in an attrition fight with his head on Naz’s chest … but I can’t see anyone predicting MAB would absolutely school Naz on fundamentals by outboxing him in a textbook demonstration of the Sweet Science.

So yes, most would have favored Naz, but it is the method by which he completely outclassed him that was the real surprise.