Is there a book involving fantasy matchups?

Thanks for the tip off ! I'll look for it.

 

Closest thing i know of is some Ring Magazine special issue that was all about fantasy match-ups, it wasn't round by round analysis but it broke down the stylistic aspects of the fights quite well

 

Yeah i have it still, i kept a few of my old Ring Magazines, but i cut a load of photos out of it years ago to make a collage and because of that i'm missing some text. But of it i still have yeah, it's quite a good read.

 

i have that mag too!

but you know what i like even better? the incite from the classic forum. i think that even better then any fantasy match up book because of the overall knowledge of all the posters here.

 

I have a book (kind of like one of those big a coffee table books) called "The Boxing Companion - An Illustrated Guide To The Sweet Science" by a Richard O'Brien (published by Friedman Group) - quite a nice book actually and great pics in itand that has a section in it called 'Ring Of Dreams:5 great fantasy fights' (which gives long detailed run downs of the round by round action and how the fights go - here they are and the results he predicted

Muhammad Ali Vs Jack Johnson (Ali winning on points)

Joe Louis Vs Jack Dempsey (Dempsey winning by 2nd round KO)

Sugar Ray Leonard Vs Sugar Ray Robinson (Robinson winning a unanimous decision)

Benny Leonard Vs Roberto Duran (Duran KO'd Leonard in 13th)

Rocky Marciano Vs Joe Frazier (Rocky winning by 4th round KO)

Of interest it also has a "The Ten Greatest Fighters Section" and here they are:

1. Muhammad Ali
2. Sugar Ray Robinson
3. Roberto Duran
4. Benny Leonard
5. Sam Langford
6. Mickey Walker
7. Joe Gans
8. Henry Armstrong
9. Jack Dempsey
10. Stanley Ketchel

Honourable mention: Greb, J Johnson, Ray Leonard, Louis, Archie Moore, Pep

Most Underrated: 1. Ez Charles 2. Gene Tunney 3. Carlos Monzon 4. Larry Holmes 5. Bob Foster

And also there's a 10 greatest fights bit too

1. Dempsey-Firpo
2. Pryor-Arguello
3. Ali-Frazier III
4. Hagler-Hearns
5. Walcott-Marciano I
6. Ketchel-J O'Brien
7. Gans-Nelson I
8. Louis-Conn I
9. B Leonard-L Tendler
10. Zale-Graziano I

 

Yeah it's great here, that's why i've posted so many times and am addicted to the place! But that mag was very good, there's a lot of reading in there that would get nods here, they break it down well for me, i disagree with a few but still a nice analysis imo

 

You might look up some old back issues of "Big Book of Boxing" magazine. Back in the 80's they would run a monthly feature called (I think) "Dream Fight." You looked forward to the matchups they'd run, and they spared no expense.....they did more than pick a winner, they went round by round with very, very detailed descriptions of the "action."

Like, "Monzon moves away as Hagler reaches for the body. Hagler lands two right hooks but Monzon moves away and peppers him with jabs as the bell rings.

Monzon's round, 10-9"

......That kind of thing, but each round's action took a good couple paragraphs of space.

Let's see, I remember Holmes-Frazier, '75 Ali-Cooney, Louis-Ali, Monzon-Hagler, Monzon-Zale, Leonard-Napoles, Robinson-Leonard, Buchanan-Mancini, Duran-Pryor, Duran-Arguello, Pep-Pedroza, Liston-Foreman, Foreman-Holmes..........I'm sure I'm missing a couple.

 

I think that one of the Jeffries biographies lists some.

 

Still have some of those mags. Didn't always agree, but great stuff nonetheless.................................I think we've lost something as far as mythical matchups with guys like Arcel, Freddie Brown, Eddie Futch passing. Nothing like firsthand knowledge.

 

I'd never seen Monzon or Napoles when those specific issues came out. I couldn't conceive of Monzon hanging with Hagler and Napoles hanging with Leonard. Funny how your perspective changes with time and a little film study!

 

It really does. Being a young boxing fan now is so much easier than it was then, at least in that regard. Youtube and internet DVD buying and trading have made things accessible now to anyone, and that's great. Back then, all I knew about Sanchez was what I'd read about in magazines and see in photos. Never saw him fight until I bought some cassette tapes of him off Ebay when I got my first computer. All those years of being a fan without ever having seen him fight. Very odd.......but that's how it was; results came only a month after the fights happened, in the "Worldwide Results" column in the magazines. And the greats of years before that........well, you just had to imagine what they looked like.