[Chatty]

Sugar Ray Robinson v Tony Zale - They were fighting at different weights round near the end of Zales career but Robinson had been happy to fight middleweights such as LaMotta and Levine and a few others around that time. It wasn't a fight that had to happen or necessarily had any right being made but it was possible for them to match up.

Sugar Ray Leonard v Pipino Cuevas - This was the big fight to be made at one point but Leonard lost to Duran which forced the rematch and then Cuevas lost to Hearns in spectacular fashion switching the super-fight in the Leonard-Hearns direction. Would have been an exciting fight, Cuevas went on a 13 fight world title KO run, Leonard was the star of the division and held the other 50% of the title.

Juan Manuel Marquez v Prince Naseem Hamed - A fight that could and should have happened, Marquez was the number one contender for a number of years and apparently was given step aside money on two occasions. Marquez wasn't the big name he is now of course and was very much under the radar at the time so it was probably classed as a big risk, no reward type fight at the time, looking back though it could have been a huge win for Naz (if he had won of course). Marquez would have been a good bet to cause an upset as well.

Jake LaMotta v Charley Burley - They make a big deal out of the Burley/Robinson fight but here's another that could easily have been made. Both were campaigning in the middleweight division at the same time, neither were getting a title shot (for a fair while) and LaMotta had been willing to fight the murderers row lot as seen in fights with Marshall and Williams.

 

[GazOC]

Camacho-Chavez at 130 lbs. We got to see this fight when it was way past its best. A few years earlier when Camacho was a streaking super-feather champ and Chavez was the undefeated number 1 contender would have been a much more interesting fight.

Leonard-Pryor. Theres enough been written about this fight. Bottom line is though, IMHO, Pryor didn't leave 140 before Leonard had retired.

Saad Muhammad-Mike Spinks. Saad was the established WBC when Spinks first won the WBA title. A fight then would have matched a seasoned pro, albeit probably showing signs of wear and tear, against the 17 fight former Olympic champ.

 

[Chatty]

Roberto Duran v Antonio Cervantes is another one

 

[Teeto]

great thread this

 

[Teeto]

What about Toney-Hopkins? It was on the front of ring magazine about nine years ago as though it was gunna happen, it could have happened even in the previous era!

Arguello-Duran was meant to be happening before Arguello incurred a defeat which sadly derailed that one.

And we have Dempsey-Wills too.

 

[Libertarian]

Morales vs Hamed
Hearns vs McCallum
Casamayor vs Pacquiao
Watson vs Kalambay
Eubank vs Jackson

 

[GazOC]

Hatton-Witter.:hey

 

[Chatty]

Mayweather-Pacquaio
Mayweather-Margarito
Mayweather -Cotto (non-destroyed version)
Mayweather-Tszyu
Mayweather-Mosley (non-ancient version)


:hey

 

[Noonaldinho]

←

 

[Michael]

Morales vs Hamed
Hearns vs McCallum
Casamayor vs Pacquiao
Watson vs Kalambay
Eubank vs Jackson

This one is the most intriguing you've listed imo. It would be a cracking war of attrition for both men, and virtually 50-50. Eubank may have been iron chinned and iron willed, but he could he have taken punches from a hitter like Jackson? If I was to bet on anything, id have Eubank via late stoppage.

 

[D-MAC]

Would have liked to have seen Ricardo Lopez move up and tangle with Humberto Gonzalez and/or Michael Carbajal

 

[McGrain]

LaMotta was approached about a Burley fight. The quote he is attributed by Alan Rosenbloom is "what do I need Burley for when I have Zivic?"

 

[bask]

Sugar Ray Robinson v Tony Zale - They were fighting at different weights round near the end of Zales career but Robinson had been happy to fight middleweights such as LaMotta and Levine and a few others around that time. It wasn't a fight that had to happen or necessarily had any right being made but it was possible for them to match up.

Definitely not a match-up you hear about very often in these type of threads, so it got my attention.

Looking at the time;

1948-09-21 - Tony Zale vs. Marcel Cerdan
1948-09-23 - Ray Robinson vs. Kid Gavilan

So I split the difference and threw them in together.

1948-09-22 : Tony Zale 159 lbs drew with Sugar Ray Robinson 154 lbs over 15 rounds

• Location: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York, USA
• Referee: Paul Cavalier 8-6
• Judge: Charles Draycott 7-7
• Judge: Jim McManus 9-6

World Middleweight Title

• Robinson suffers cut under right eye in 4th.
• Robinson eye checked by doctor in round 10.
• Robinson knocks Zale down for a count of 4 in round 12.
• Zale cut above right eye in 14th.
• Zale eye checked by doctor twice in round 14.

 

[bask]

After a close first fight, (personal scorecard read 8-6 to Zale) the rematch is immediately scheduled.

As Zale never fought again after the date of his Cerdan bout, I used Robinson's record as reference.

1948-11-15 - Bobby Lee
1949-02-10 - Young Gene Buffalo

Considering the amount of damage both boxers suffered, I think a three-to-four month interval between the original and the rematch is realistic.

1949-01-07 : Tony Zale 160 lbs lost to Sugar Ray Robinson 155 lbs by KO in round 8 of 15

• Location: Municipal Stadium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
• Referee: Charlie Daggert

World Middleweight Title

• Robinson knocks Zale down twice in round 5.
• Zale knocks Robinson down twice in round 7.
• Zale cut above right eye in 8th.
• Zale eye checked by doctor twice in round 8.
• Robinson knocks Zale down four times in round 8.

The aftermath?

Zale retires as he did after the Cerdan defeat, while Robinson jumps straight into the Middleweight crown - history would certainly of been different regarding Robinson's career path.

 

[GazOC]

The timing is the strike against Zale in this fight, he was on the slide after the war.

 

[bask]

The timing is the strike against Zale in this fight, he was on the slide after the war.

Agreed, he missed almost four years of competitive boxing due to WWII.

He would of been 34 in the fictitious contest. I looked at the first contest as Zale's last great performance, while in the second the wear and tear of his career, plus his age, finally caught up with him.

 

[Tin_Ribs]

Sahaprom v Austin (or latterly Marquez). Sahaprom was the best of the splinter titleists at bantamweight during that time imo where Austin and Marquez were overrated by the western media, but it was never going to happen.

I was going to say Lora v Orlando Canizales, but there wasn't much of a time frame with Lora losing the WBC title roughly at the time Canizales landed the IBF. Lora was struggling to make the weight by that point anyway, but Canizales v Jibaro Perez would've been great. A lot of people pushed for it at the time.

Jofre was going to move up in weight to challenge Saldivar in '65 but rather ill-advisedly drained himself to remain at bantam for one last defence against Harada. Didn't really work out for him in hindsight, I suppose, did it? Still, he smashed Saldivar years later when the latter was ready for the knackers yard.....

Raul Macias and Joe Becerra retiring out the blue in their early to mid twenties most likely scuppered some interesting transition era fights with the likes of Caldwell, the young Jofre and the gradually peaking Medel. Medel and Becerra fought 3 times when the former was a whippersnapper, but information on those fights is hard to come by.

Laguna was due for a shot at the great Sugar Ramos' featherweight crown circa '64 but was ambushed by the then unknown Saldivar. Before that, he'd also been the number one contender at bantamweight when Jofre was champion if I remember rightly, but jumped up to featherweight without ever waiting for a shot. His most famous work was obviously done at lightweight, but his record from bantam up to super feather is impressive in it's own right and very underrated imo.

And how great would Sanchez v Pedroza have been?

 

[adamcanavan]

cant be bothered to analyse the fights but:
bowe vs lewis is probably the most obvious one
foreman vs tyson
Roy Jones Jr vs Europe (benn, eubank, collins etc)
JMM vs Morales, would of been a no brainer in mexico, not sure why it never happened.
werent toney and eubank both supermiddleweight champions at the same time? that could have been a good fight
de la hoya vs tzsyu, cant remember how long de la hoya stayed at light welter but i'm sure this could have been made
this ones slightly less interesting than all the rest but haye could of fought adamek to unify all the cruiserweight belts

 

[scribbs]

Article from MaxBoxing - Like Mayweather vs. Pacquiao - Big Boxing Matches that Never Happened

Link

 

[Flea Man]

@Tin_Ribs fantastic post.