What was the biggest fight never seen in boxing ?

Pryor won his title in August 1980, against Antonio Cervantes, the same night Tommy Hearns beat Pipino Cuevas for his first title. He was paid like $50k for winning the title against Cervantes. He was offered a fight with Leonard a few months later and turned it down because he wanted more money. It took a few title defenses on network TV against the likes of Blackmoore, Kameda, Kim, etc..to get a big fight.

Spinks, Leonard, Hearns, Duran, Benitez, Hagler, Holmes, etc..were all considerably bigger names than Pryor.

Pryor is still relatively obscure to the point where people don't know **** about him other than the half-truths and myths from Legendary Nights.

Leonard-Pryor would've been a nice matchup between the top 147 lb. fighter and top 140 lb. fighter, but we're talking about the BIGGEST fights ever. Megafights that capture the attention of casual fans and generate the most revenue.

This is not one of them.

Tyson-Foreman would've been the hugest money fight in history. Not only was it all over the boxing magazines, and the mainstream public would've bought it up. Foreman had become a huge star by the early 90s with the mainstream because he marketed himself so well.

 

This. Too bad it will never happen. Vitali would win though.

 

You are thinking fantasy fights. A Foreman bout with Tyson was never taken seriously, In fact I remember Holyfield getting riddiculed for taking the fight.

 

What's exactly the cutoff point between a fantasy fight and being "taken seriously"?

Foreman was offered a contract to fight Tyson, but was no dummy, and didn't trust King. King most likely would demand options. Foreman was also in the contract for the Holyfield-Tyson fight which was originally scheduled for November 1991. The winner was supposed to fight Foreman.

A matchup between the two got a lot of hype among boxing magazines and news articles, but most figured the King/Arum, SHO/HBO rivalries would kill the bout.

Holyfield being criticized for taking the fight didn't stop it from being a big event and money-maker. Whatever criticism Tyson would've received, it would've still been a huge fight that got casual sports fans interested.

Which is what I tend of think of when I think of the "biggest fights". Fights not just for us boxing hardcore fans, but that also attract casual sports fans.

 

liston was 10-1 when Marciano retired and went to jail the year after for hitting an officer. He came back in 58 and then quickly became a force, with wins over cleveland williams, Nino Valdes in 59 and williams again, harris, folley and Machen in 60. the first 3 he ko'd in 3,1 and 2. That's when Liston was seen as an unbeatable force of nature. But Johanson and Patterson were happy to fight a 3-year taken trillogy. That's why Liston had to wait till 62 for his shot.

 

Oh man that was going to to push one of those two guys so high into the ATG rankings it is not even funny. Moreover the fighter and the great human being they were, they were going to make the fight happen in a hearth beat no ducking no ego outside of the ring. ATG match up. My other favorite is Pryor-SRL

 

this

 

The biggest in terms of revenue and a superfight would have been Tyson Holyfield in November 1991 or March 1992. Personally, I am sorry that Michael Spinks didn't fight Tony Tucker and Riddick Bowe didn't fight Lennox Lewis and either Toney or Jones never fought Benn or Eubank.

 

:deal

 

Vitali Klitschko - Lewis 2
Jones jr. - Bhop 2
Ali vs Macariano
Tyson vs Lewis (prime)
Bhop vs Tooney
Nigel Benn vs Jones Jr.
Morales vs Floyd
JMM vs Floyd
MAB vs Floyd
Tsyzu vs Mayweather, Mosley, Sweet pea, Pac, JMM, MAB, Morales and Naseem
Hamed vs Morales, JMM, Floyd and Pac
Williams vs Pac / May
Pernell Whittaker vs DLH 2
Cotto vs. Floyd
Cotto vs Hatton
Martinez vs Mayweather

 

50-50 fight. For one Lang, was basically a bigger stonger version of Balboa, who made the mistake of punching himself out in their second fight. Balboa refused to give Lang the rubbermatch.