I was reading the Bowe thread, and my initial thoughts go back a couple of years ago regarding a thread. The discussion was with respect to Bowe never having fought Lewis. And I said just think, if Bowe had fought, and beat Lewis, he'd be regarded as the best of 4 having also beaten Holyfield. (Of course, the four being Tyson, Holyfield, Lewis and Bowe). Then I thought of Lewis, but for two punches he may have gone undefeated in his career. Thought it might be fun to throw this out there and see what names come up and what impact a a win or two might have had on a boxers career and perhaps even their all time ranking.
Meldrick taylor came within an inch of beating Julio Cesar Chavez. That fight would have given him huge legacy points given that Chavez was undefeated and in his prime. Tim Witherspoon lost a controversial decision to Holmes while being in only his 16th pro bout. Mike McCallum could have benefited from getting at least one of those Toney decisions and maybe beating Kalambay the first time. There are many other examples but those are three off the top of my head.
Excellent reply, any idea what the legacy impacts would have been on these three fighters? For example, had Spoon won what would (I know it's speculation) the impact have been on is legacy? Considering he won the WBC a couple of fights later against Greg Page and lost it against Thomas, I wouldn't think it would be all that much, but it would have been a very nice win from a historical point of view and I'm sure it would have greatly enhanced his marketing power, and it would also have likely resulted in a rematch.
Norton getting a decision over Ali would have had a pretty huge impact on the sport and on both their legacies.
Holmes getting the decision in the first Spinks fight, ultimately tying Marciano's record. (He broke Marciano's record in my book).
You can do that with anyone though.... What if Louis had kod Schmelling twice and never lost to Charles and knocked out Marciano! Imagine that!
Well I think they have to be plausible. For example you can't say imagine if Hearns would have beaten Hagler because that wasn't going to happen. But Duran beating Hagler by decision, wasn't far off from happening. Split or bad decisions, or a punch a fighter got caught with while winning the fight, or an extremely important hypothetic match up that never took place is sort of what I'm trying to getting at without getting too far out there.
Ok so Octavio Meyran counts Douglas out in the 8th round and Tyson wins the title with a vicious uppercut on the brink of defeat. That win would probably have gone down in history like Matcianos 13th round ko of Walcott. Then we get to see Tyson Holyfield ... In 1991 :yep
