Suppose some controversial decisions were reversed..............

........how differently,or similarly would boxing history have panned out? For example,suppose that Jersey Joe Walcott had been given the nod in his first bout with Joe Louis? Louis may well have become the first man to have regained the Heavyweight title. I will make a short list of fights that had a lot of people questioning the decisions and you are all invited to write out a revised history. Some of these may drastically change boxing history while others may only cause a ripple.


Joe Louis WD Jersey Joe Walcott 1947
Muhammad Ali WD Jimmy Young 1976
Muhammad Ali WD Ken Norton 1976
Michael Spinks WD Larry Holmes 1986
Sugar Ray Leonard WD Marvin Hagler 1987
Sugar Ray Leonard DRAW Thomas Hearns 1989
Julio Caesar Chavez DRAW Pernell Whitaker 1993 ~
Evander Holyfield DRAW Lennox Lewis 1999 (first fight)

Have fun. You may have some others to add to this.

 

All questionable,Fergy. I'd actually forgotten the one that REALLY......REALLY annoyed me. Mate Parlov - John Conteh. A hometown decision and a half!!! Even though it was n't John at his best,he won it clearly in my opinion. If the fight had been anywhere but Parlov's own country,Conteh would have gone down on record as regaining his WBC crown.

 

1947 Joe Louis would get an immediate rematch with JJW and win back the title. Probably in the eleventh just as he did in their real time rematch. Only a minor difference results is made in boxing history. Louis steals Floyd Patterson's thunder as being the first man in history to regain the HW title. Joe goes on to lose to Ezzard Charles and Rocky Marciano as in original reality.

1976 Richard Dunn and Ken Norton get generous step aside money so Muhammad Ali has his rematch with Jimmy Young. A slimmer and more focused Ali evens the score with Young by close decision. Ali goes on to fight Ken Norton and gets a close but controversial decision.

1976 Champion Ken Norton could go two ways. Giving Ali an immediate rematch or fighting George Foreman. Muhammad Ali is torn here. In one way he wants to fight Ken first as a pride thing but he's confident that George would beat Ken again and that he'd have a far easier time fighting Foreman again then he would a fourth match with Norton. Money talks loudest though so Norton-Ali IV goes ahead in early 1977. Ali gets a close scrappy decision over Norton and eventually loses the title again in late 1977 or '78 then retires. He still goes down in history as arguably the greatest heavyweight ever.

I will do my other ones later.

 

After winning back the IBF belt against Michael Spinks,Larry Holmes is in no hurry to defend it. He considers his options and retirement is one of them. Along comes Don King with millions of dollars to tempt Larry into defending his crown against Don's new kid on the block,Mike Tyson. The fight goes ahead in November of that year and for a while advantage seesaws between the two combatants. Eventually Tyson's youth and strength tell and he stops an exhausted Holmes with an explosive combination in the eighth round.

Holmes announces his retirement straight afterwards and comes back three years later. Tyson unifies belts.


I will do my remaining ones later.

 

I think differently. Muhammad never saw George as being as much a problem as Ken or Joe Frazier was. All about style mesh. Foreman would blitz Frazier and Norton out any day of the week. Both Joe and Ken would fight life and death with Ali but Muhammad would always be George's worst nightmare.

 

1987 Hagler retains his title against Leonard by a split decision. A lot of people feel Ray was robbed. Eventually terms are agreed for a rematch. Hagler fights more aggressively this time round and wins via decision again - another close one but with slightly less debate this time. Marvin retires while Ray returns eighteen months later.

Will do my others tomorrow.