Floyd Mayweather has given one of the strongest indications that a superfight with Manny Pacquiao may finally take place in the summer of 2015. And it could be the last chance for the bout to be relevant.
As a boxing fan, it’s unbelievably frustrating to see years of talking with so little action around a fight of the magnitude of this.
I’m sure there’ll be a few raised eyebrows when I say that the picking of fights is a delicate process, but it is.
The essential objective of the sport is to have two fighters, who are both at the peak of their powers, meet each other to see who is the more skilled competitor.
It is that clause “the peak of their powers” that is the important one.
In recent decades, too many stellar fights between peaking fighters have fallen through the matchmaking cracks for a number of reasons; be it lack of fighters’ ability to agree on the fight purse, camps’ unwilling to fight on the home turf of the other fighter or fear of damaging one’s legacy.
We are in serious danger of having Floyd Mayweather Jr v Manny Pacquiao turn into one of the following five fights if the welterweights cannot get it done in 2015.
Here are SportsJOE’S top five fights that never happened…
1. “Sugar” Ray Leonard vs Aaron Pryor
“Sugar” Ray Leonard will undeniably go down as one of the greatest of all time and Aaron Pryor is a name that is less familiar to casual fight fans but that could have been a different case entirely if this fight had gone down in the 1980s.
Leonard was renowned for his elusiveness and speed in the ring but many pugilism pundits believe that Pryor’s punching power and tendency to barrel forward could have been the perfect antidote for Leonard’s movement.
This is not to conform to the rumour that Leonard’s camp was ducking a meeting with Pryor as Leonard’s list of past opponents is much more illustrious than that of “The Hawk” but it’s certainly worth considering the theory that Leonard wasn’t itching to get into the ring with Pryor.
This potential fight may have fallen victim to the fact that Aaron Pryor was just reaching his prime in 1982 after beating Alexis Arguello when Leonard had just retired from the sport for the first time to deal with an eye injury but if this bout had been slated for that year, and Leonard was healthy, then we’re not confident in picking either man to win in this classic clash of boxing styles.
2. Roy Jones Jr vs Nigel Benn
The only blemish on Roy Jones Jr’s legacy is the fact that, in his prime, he never took on Europe’s elite fighters; one of the best of which was Nigel Benn in the mid 90’s .
The outcome of the fight would have completely depended on which Nigel Benn turned up. If “The Dark Destroyer” tried to box with Roy then his lesser technique would, without question, be found out and he’d likely be stopped. On the other hand if Benn, the brawler, came out and tested the chin of Jones Jr (which was proven to be questionable late in his career) then the middleweight division could have been turned on its head.
The fight would have had absolutely everything – the pre-fight trash talk, the clash of styles and the underlying storyline of Jones Jr getting revenge for his close friend Gerald McClellan who was left with a blood clot in his brain after being knocked out by Benn in February of 1995. But it was never made.
3. Roberto Duran vs Alexis Arguello
This is one of those fights that would have been amazing if it had taken place but, for some bizarre reason, nobody was pushing for it in the late 70s.
Arguello had just gone up in weight to lightweight and had edged a decision victory over virtually unknown Vilomar Fernandez, the same man who had been knocked out by Roberto Duran eight months previously.
The difference between Duran’s dominant victory and Arguello’s struggle against Fernandez could have ended up as the decisive factor that, in the minds of the powers that be, had separated the pair in terms of potential at 135 lbs.
In my opinion, Arguello wasn’t ready for the step-up in weight class in 1978 and I think he figured as much as he returned to fight in the super featherweight division for a few more years before giving the lightweight division a proper go.
The fight between Duran and Arguello would have been an interesting one as the fighters had similar, heavy-handed styles in the ring but away from boxing, Argello was always timid in terms of how he carried himself while Duran was notoriously outspoken and brash. The perfect matchup that was never matched up.
4. Oscar De La Hoya vs Kostya Tszyu
The hope for this fight to take place was always an overly optimistic one as the time frame for it was so small.
Oscar De La Hoya passed the light welterweight division by in a matter of three fights between 1996 and 1997 on his way to the 147lb weight class. Early ’97 would have been the ideal time slot for this fight to occur as Tszyu had just defended his 140lb title five times on the spin.
The rascals even got everyone’s hopes up after Tsyzu fought on the undercard of De La Hoya vs Gonzalez that year, leading the fight world to anticipate a meeting between the duo, but it wasn’t to be.
Oscar De La Hoya was a force to be reckoned with at 140lb – he had size, speed and power to go along with almost flawless technique.
Tszyu arguably had the timing to deal with De La Hoya’s skills, or at least to have made it a competitive fight but De La Hoya would more than likely have had more in the later rounds and taken a decision.
5. Lennox Lewis vs Riddick Bowe
Alright, this one is kind of cheating because Lewis and Bowe actually did meet when they fought for the gold medal at the 1988 Olympics and Lewis finished his opponent in the second round.
This would have been a stunning affair if it had been made in the professional arena in the summer of ’93. Both fighters were in their prime after Bowe had just easily defended his WBC belt and “The Lion” had knocked top contender Razor Ruddock off his perch.
It may not have been the most technical bout with both men showing less than perfect boxing but the pair’s punching power would have made this a heavyweight fight for the ages.
Sometimes it’s hard to place the blame on one party in particular for the fight falling by the wayside but not in this case as we can point the finger at Bowe’s manager Rock Newman for asking for too much in the way of purse discrepancy between the fighters. Curse you Newman.
