What are some historical fights, that if hadn't occurred, would have been debated forever? I think it's a pleasant miracle that Ali fought Liston. That would have been hard to call without hindsight. Foreman vs. Frazier is a great one. What else?
Tyson vs Holyfield, 1st and second Dempsey vs Tuney, 1st and second Marciano vs Loius, even though Louis was shot he was still #1 contender Foreman vs Moorer Haggler vs Ray Leonard, even though it was a bad decision Mayweather vs Pac
Ezzard Charles vs. Archie Moore (any and all of them), Harry Greb vs. Mickey Walker, Gene Tunney vs. Tommy Loughran, SRL vs. Tommy Hearns I,
Ali Foreman. If that hadn't happened, I don't think anyone would pick him to win at that age in a dream fight. It's so great that we got that match up.
The Patterson-Liston fights. If they had not happened, there would be many people saying that Liston was a slow plodder who could not have coped with Patterson's blinding speed. Marciano - LaStarza II. LaStarza arguably beat Rocky in their first fight. I can imagine 'LaStarza only got better while Marciano was on the decline'.
Sanchez--Gomez was big. And it would have been very easy in the world of multiple belts to avoid each other. Another big one was Zarate--Zamora. That was goosepimples all the way and impossible to go the distance. Another interesting one like above was McClellan--Jackson #1. They could have avoided each other and there was no way that the fight would last long. Saad--Qawi 1. I knew Dwight was a heckuva fighter and there was lots miles on the Saad odometer. But he'd been getting by with that mileage and still getting the ko's. Eubank--Benn 2. 2 guys that did not like each other and what an easy fight to sell. And both with a style that did not exactly suit the other. Some job by Benn considering the ko defeat the first time. Hide--Vitali. Vitali being the road warrior and 2 ko guys in there. No jabs or feeling out in this one. And Klitschko fought more of a gunslinger style back then. No way it was going 5 rounds. And it didn't.
If Frazier - Foreman hadn't happened, everybody would've said Foreman was to slow to deal with Frazier.
That "not much" might include a meaningful result, given that Langford is alleged to have carried Ketchel.
Floyd patterson vs sonny liston . michael spinks vs mike tyson Holyfield vs tyson( if they never fought everybody would pick tyson)