Fight of The Century?

Difficult one this.
Jeffries-Johnson was at that time a mega event but was tainted by the racial conflict. This started off the search for the"Great White Hope that made it's way into the 70's and 80's
Louis-Schmelling was important cause off the setting off WW2. A win for Louis would be a blow for nazi Germany
Simply boxingwise i choose Ali-Frazier. 2 undefeated champions matched their wills against each other. And boy, did they deliver

 

1. Jeffries v Johnson
2. Frazier v Ali I
3. Louis v Schmeling II

All of them are important in a historical sense, regarding boxing and social attention. Louis/Schmeling has the issue of Nazi Germany and the impending World War that keeps it consciously important - but Louis beating Schmeling, isn't a huge accomplishment in the history of the sport, as Louis clearly out classes Max.

Frazier/Ali I had the issue of Ali and Vietnam, to make it a national event. But plenty of people didn't care about the fight, because they didn't care about boxing and the 70's HW era hadn't really heated up to the point it's so easily remembered for being now. You could say that Foreman/Ali was as big as the first of the trilogy fights - although you still had two legendary boxers in the ring.

Jeffries/Johnson, though, was as relevant to American society as Jackie Robinson playing for the Dodgers. In early 1900's America, race was a sensational issue. Johnson, for all intent and purpose, was the most famous American athlete around the world - because he was HW champ and because he was black.

Jeffries was already a boxing legend, so to have two of the greatest HW champions ever facing off, under the scrutiny of race and sport, was unprecedented. Also, unlike Ali/Frazier, for Americans, boxing was almost as big as baseball - and the other professional sport leagues that garner greater amounts of attention amongst sports fans opposite boxing nowadays, didn't exist.

Riots broke out all over the country, because of the Jeffries/Johnson fight. The face of the sport was changed forever, because of this fight. If there was solid film footage available of it, it would stand out even more. The fact that it exists for most people, in the simple text of black and white yet remains viably important, only shows how big it was.

 

Sayers-Heenan

 

Compared to the other two fights, yes. It's more socially important than Ali-Frazier, but in the context of the history of boxing, it's easily 3rd. Schmeling may be underrated, but this is the only thing he's really remembered for. If he doesn't have the upset over Louis in the first fight, how much time would anybody spend discussing his career?

That's because of the supposed Nazi affluence on Schmeling. They wouldn't have let Louis eat at the lunch counter or give up their seat on a bus for him, but many white americans were rooting Louis on out of patriotic cooperation.

Whereas with Johnson, even blacks were split on whether they should applaud his success or rue him for making their lives even more difficult.

 

The attendance (gate) and admission fees collected over a million dollars and set indoor boxing records. Closed-circuit television allowed another half million viewers, and viewers in foreign countries also tuned in for a total audience of about 300 million viewers. The fighters each received 2.5 million dollars for the bout. On the night of the fight, there were riots in many United States cities, including Chicago, where a whole theater was almost torn apart by angry attendees who had just learned they would not be able to watch the fight on closed-circuit TV.

 

Frazier-Ali I was bigger.

 

Louis V Schmeling Ii

 

I think history will show in the end Louis/SchmellingII was.

 

Johnson Jeff hands down. It was bigger than what it was. And that it grow at that POINT in time, the largest crowd ever for a fight, in some small no known town must make the fight pretty important. Fraizer Ali 1 and Louis Schmling had the help of New York for the crowd built, No trains leaded to a small town here. Also the after math of the Johnson Jeff fight STILL affects America to this day.

 

Frazier-Ali I was both historically significant, and a great fight, one that measured up to the hype, and surpassed what reasonably could have been expected, given Ali's lackluster performance against Bonavena. It could not have reasonably been anticipated that Ali would produce as dynamic a showing as he did, or that Frazier would be more than equal to such a suddenly competitive challenge as Ali provided.

In terms of impact, while I generally disagree with the opinions expressed in Sports Illustrated, I do agree with them that the watershed sporting event of the Twentieth Century was Dempsey-Willard. While not even a sell-out (as was also true for Super Bowl I), it triggered the golden age of sports, and ushered in the modern era of mass marketed sports promotion. Check out your local library's newspaper microfilm. The sensationally sudden nature of Dempsey's dethroning of Willard laid the foundation for what followed.

Moreso than Louis-Schmeling II, or Johnson-Jeffries, what happened in Toledo, Ohio, on July 4, 1919, captured the public imagination and inspiration for all that followed.

Anywho, my two cents.

 

Dempsey Willard had a pretty low turn out. I would not put that as a fotc. It was not expected to be much of a fight any way. Most people felt at the time Willard would have blown Dempsey out in 3 or 4 rounds at the most. The fight became big for the beat down Dempsey lay on Willard. Small crowd, but it became a big event AFTER the fight.

 

Easy. Frazier vs Ali I

Jeffries came back from retirement - he had no business in the ring at that time. Schmelling fight occured during his twilight. Frazier v Ali was evenly matched up - two UNDISUPTED, UNDEFEATED Champions facing each other. That was a legitimate fight - the first two were not.