Interesting Fights That Were All Set, Then Someone Lost a Tuneup

All but the Ali-Tate matchup would have been epic. Bowe was invincible in the 90s, but Mercer would prove EXTREMELY difficult. Bowe was not used to people backing off, not something Mercer would be doing.

 

It may not have been interesting, but Jose Napoles was set to defend his title against Austria's Johann Orsolics. A signed and sealed contract. So what do Orsolics' people do? They decide on a tuneup before the title bout. Who do they choose? Get ready for this. Eddie Perkins. Oh, man, what were they thinking? Perkins knocks him kicking in 4 rounds and its bye-bye title shot.

 

Tommy Morrison was set for a big money fight against Lennox Lewis, if he only got past Michael Bentt!

 

Ruby Goldstein was being talked about as a future world champ, was lionized by the Jewish fight fraternity, talk of him winning multiple titles, another Leonard, beautiful fighter, all the moves, KO power, in either hand.
His management ( cant think why ) matched him up with no less than the " Nebraska Wildcat " none other than Ace Hudkins WHAT.
Ruby was on something like a 24 bout win streak at the time, dear oh dear , many a young prospect was pounced upon by the Wildcat, and lots were not the same fighter afterwards, Ace was a snarling, spitting, ferocious fighter of whom William Mouldon said " he has no place in today's rings, he is far too primitive " went on to wreck havoc on the Light, Welter, Middle, and LH fighters for 15 years or so, Mickey Walker who was no mean body-puncher himself said, he felt Aces body punches for days afterwards, pale skinned, with no muscles to speak of, he didn't look intimidating, but once the bell rang, it was hell on earth, keeping him at bay.

 

Does Pacquiao - Marquez IV count?

Pacquiao gets KOed in a completely unnecessary fight, leading up to the Mayweather fight and take a ton of luster from a mega fight that had already lost plenty of luster.

 

ROFLMAO No Bowe was the one doing the backing out. He ran scared from Lennox Lewis without a doubt. Sadly for Bowe when he blatantly renaged on Lennox when he saw what Lennox did to Ruddock, he lost the only chance of ever beating him. I had a spat with Rock Newman in Dallas when he & Bowe were guests at a black tie affair. He said to me' " Why dont you go get the World Heavyweight Champions autograph" Couldnt resist it I said Bowe is NOT the Champ until he beats Lennox Lewis why didnt he fight him as agrreed? Rock laughed & said " Why risk it all against Lewis when the fans bought Dokes & Ferguson with minimal risk" " I just said " Well he's not the real champ is he then & shouldnt be charging $10 for his autograph" They both just walked away

 

Not sure what you mean here, William. If Bowe wasn't used to people backing off, and Mercer wouldn't back off, isn't that in Bowe's favour? I think an in shape and motivated Mercer is a hard night's work for Riddick but, in the 1993 timeframe, I think he'd have coped. But I wouldn't bet my house on it, that's for sure. I think I'm agreeing with you.

 

I didn't mean Bowe would lose to Mercer, I merely meant that since they were both forward-moving fighters, fans would have been in for an all-out war

 

I think that this one comes to mind, Donald Curry vs Lloyd Honeyghan in Sept 1986, televised by Showtime. If Donald had won, a potential Middleweight title match against champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler was in the works, but Lloyd destroyed that possible match by stopping Curry.

 

One of the most obvious ones is Holyfield-Tyson, 1990 (it's great that we got it eventually, but a few years earlier would have been better!). A June 18th fight was pencilled in and pretty much in place, hence Holyfield sitting ringside for Douglas-Tyson in February. We all know what happened next.

Terry Norris might be a decent example, too. As relations between HBO and Showtime started to thaw a little in the late 1990s, Norris was all set for a big-money fight against De La Hoya in 1998 by all accounts, hence he was put on De La Hoya-Rivera undercard in December 1997 to build up the anticipation for the fight. But he dropped his birthday cake by getting stopped by Keith Mullings, who was supposed to have been a totally safe bet who Norris was guaranteed to look good against. Never got back to the top level again.

 

Ron Lyle and Larry Holmes were supposed to meet in 1979, but Lyle was knocked out by Lynn Ball.

 

No 1 MW contender Herol grahams fight with sumbu kalambay in 1987 was a tune up ..no one knew how good sumbu was....and the world title fight against the beatable Iran barkley than a payday vs tony sibson all evaporated

Worse was Barry McGuigans epic loss to Steve Cruz...the Azumah Nelson fight was lost