Fights That Could Have Happened That Were All Wrong For One Fighter

He was an option as far as Eddie and AJ were concerned - and they were so worried about the "boogeyman" that they were willing to take him as a late replacement.

Luis Ortiz didn't think so... He turned it down to fight Wilder again, for a fraction of the paycheck.

Read into it what you will, but confident and superior fighters don't duck - especially not when career high paydays are on offer.

Ortiz would've lost, badly - levels.

 

Foreman beats any version of Mike Tyson.

 

Troll dream thread! Kirkland from the Tapia fight dishes out a turbo Maidana on Floyd!

 

Yup ... this came to my mind, as well as Hatton v Witter. I was a huge Naz fan growing up and sometimes feel he gets a bit underrated today - he achieved a lot but I agree he was declining by the time of his biggest fight against MAB. And JMM would always have been a bit of a nightmare for him. But when he was ON, Naz was terrific ... a bit of a shooting star \ firework type who flared out at the highest level fairly quickly due to his style and dislike for training.

 

Absolutely, and hands of glass coupled with a massive punch meant his career was always likely to be short.

He was too indisciplined to not go up the weights, but the loss of speed and flexibility would've hurt him badly too.

Barrera 2-3 years earlier would've been a pickem IMHO... But JMM would always have dominated Hamed.

 

One of the biggest myths around was that Pacquiao was very hittable. He gave out way more damage than he received for every fight of his prime except for the 1st Morales fight.

 

Not sure it counts as "all wrong" but it's certainly a lot riskier than many would've admitted - especially before the Usyk bout when Fury's hype was at its height.

It's definitely one that could go either way if you ask me - if nothing else, Fury definitely wouldn't have underestimated Haye... But as you say, the ingredients are certainly there to explain a Haye win as a realistic possibility.

Mostly though... It depends exactly when this happens.

Around 2010-2012? Fury hasn't quite got as far as Cunningham and is 3-5 years from his definitive performance against Wlad... At the same moment in time, Haye has beaten Valuev and is about to destroy Chisora.
At this point Haye wins and without too much trouble.

In early 2016?
Fury has just ground out a stinkin' good win against Wlad.
Haye has been inactive for 3.5 years and is about to return against Mark De Mori - who he blasts out in 1, despite the rust... But is much heavier and also much slower.
At this point, Fury wins a pit-pat decision.

Around 2013 when it looked like they might fight?
I'd have backed Haye strongly at the time - in hindsight, he might've had more difficulty than I'd have expected... But there's a good chance he'd have got the job done.

 

The problem is would Haye go all out for the win ? or would he put in a pitiful effort like he did vs Wladimir ?

The two giants Haye fought in Valuev, Wladimir, he fought overly cautious against them and I don't think that's the way to beat Fury honestly.

But if Haye was going to beat Fury then a green Fury which Haye was going to fight would've been the perfect time to do it.

 

He was a masterboxer back in the day ! but Hagler would have beaten him , me thinks.

 

He was hittable and more one dimensional back then and that's dangerous against a genuine 1 punch KO artist like Hamed. The way to beat Hamed is out boxing him not trading punches with him in a war.

 

Foreman was on the David Letterman show and stated the reason he came back was to fight Mike Tyson....after ko'ing Cooney He said,"I promise you I'll do the same thing to Tyson, no more than one or two rounds" It was Mikey who wanted nothing to do with George