Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. and 5 Other Fights That Should Have Been
If Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. never meet in the ring, it will represent one of the all-time great "what ifs" for boxing fans. Ever since Pacman chopped down Oscar de la Hoya like a tree in December of 2008 there's been a steadily growing drumbeat for Money and Manny to finally get it on.
They are the two highest profile boxers of their generation, and the two with the best arguments for inclusion on all-time "pound for pound" lists. Mayweather is scheduled to finally return to the ring against Victor Ortiz in September, so it's still possible we might see this fight happen after all. But with Pacquiao's burgeoning political career, it had probably better happen soon.
Thinking about the ridiculous impasse that Pacquiao-Mayweather somehow managed to become got me thinking about some other great fights that never were. None of these fights were clamored for the way Manny-Floyd has been, but any of the five would have had the potential to be all-time classics.
George Foreman vs. Larry Holmes
1 of 5
Okay, so this first fight takes place in an alternate universe, one where George Foreman did not undergo a spiritual crisis in the late 1970s, lose to Jimmy Young and then retire for 10 years.
No, in this alternate universe George Foreman was not psychologically broken from losing in the jungle to Ali and he regrouped from it to once again become the dominant force in the weight class by the end of the decade. And right around 1979 or 1980, the Easton Assassin, Larry Holmes, would have been coming into his prime, ready to see if he could use that elite jab to keep Big George off him.
This fight could have been the one that would have elevated Larry Holmes to the next level when heavyweight champions are broken down and analyzed for consideration on the all-time list. Nobody gives him any special credit for having brutalized an over-the-hill Ali (rightfully so), but if he had notched a hard-fought win against a 30-year-old, 100 percent healthy George Foreman, he would likely rank higher all-time.
That's a very big if, though. If in this alternate universe we are imagining that George Foreman would have continued to develop and fight at a high level throughout the 1970s, we have to assume that by 1980 or so, he would have matured into one ferocious heavyweight—still physically able to do what he could do at 24, but with an older and more experienced mind.
Think about how mentally tough Foreman was as an over-40 fighter and imagine if he had become that way when he was still in his physical prime. I don't think Larry Holmes beats that man, though I think he would have made it interesting.
One thing I know for sure: If that fight had occurred all those years ago, in 1980, it would exist now in my memory as a mythic event, one of my earliest great sporting events. I remember getting all jacked up for Holmes-Cooney, and that would have been nothing compared to this.
Salvador Sanchez vs. Alexis Arguello
2 of 5
You can't have a list of boxing "what ifs" without including Salvador Sanchez, the most tragic "what if" of them all. Many of his contemporaries believed that had he not died so young, he might have gone down as one of the very best pound-for-pound fighters of all time.
In late summer of 1982 Sanchez was a 23-year-old man on the top of the world. The Mexican fighter was 44-1-1 as a professional and had just TKO'd Azumah Nelson in his 10th consecutive successful defense of the featherweight championship. Then in August, while in training camp for a rematch with Juan Laporte, Sanchez crashed his Porche 928, dying instantly.
Sanchez had already beaten Laporte almost two years earlier, and few people expected a different outcome the second time around. Sanchez had cleaned out the division. However, a potential super fight was looming with the man who had cleaned out the next weight class up.
Alexis Arguello was the former featherweight king, who had retired his 126-pound strap to move up in weight. After beating everybody around at 135, he had moved up again to junior welterweight and in November of 1982 had the first of his legendary fights against Aaron Pryor.
Arguello's rematch with Pryor would have had to occur either way, but it's hard to imagine the Explosive Thin Man passing on an exciting, high-profile fighter like Sanchez. Sanchez was a rising star in the sport and a superstar in his native Mexico.
Sanchez beat plenty of top-level fighters in his short career, but moving up to take on Arguello would have represented a definitive trip to the next level. It's the kind of fight fans imagine for Sanchez when they wonder "what if."
At 5'10", Arguello had a three-inch height advantage on Sanchez. While Sanchez was the more physically gifted athlete, Arguello was an experienced veteran who never lost in championship fights at below 140.
It's not hard to imagine Arguello using guile to push Sanchez to his limit. It's also not hard to imagine that they would have ended up fighting more than once. The early 80s are remembered as a Golden Age of boxing and fights like the Arguello-Pryor series contributed to that mystique. A set of matches between Arguello and Sanchez would have been one more gem to treasure.
Lennox Lewis vs. Riddick Bowe
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While the fight in the last slide was prevented by tragedy, this one was prevented by farce. That farce came in the form of a December 1992 press conference, in which the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, Riddick Bowe, tossed the WBC version of the championship belt into a trash can, thereby breaking up the heavyweight championship for the first time since Mike Tyson had united it in 1987.
His life since has become a kind of sad punchline, so it's easy to forget that in 1992 Riddick Bowe had the look of a potential all-time great. He was a very big, athletic fighter with good foot movement and speed. His November 1992 victory over Evander Holyfield had been an active, exciting fight; Round 10 still stands out as among the best in heavyweight history.
Although Lennox Lewis had knocked him out in the 1988 Olympics, most fans viewed Bowe as the greater potential pro, at least on this side of the Atlantic. But by trashing the WBC belt, Bowe was refusing to meet Lewis, the obvious No. 1 contender. It was a theatrical gesture that would end up permanently crippling his legacy.
At the time it seemed like mere posturing. Bowe's manager, Rock Newman, had proposed an absurd 90-10 purse split for a fight with Lewis, an offer that would clearly be refused. But Lewis-Bowe had seemed like it would have to happen eventually, no matter what. In 1992 that fight just seemed inevitable.
Alas, it was not. Bowe would show up out of shape for his next fight with Holyfield and drop the two-thirds of the title he still retained. He went on to win the title back from Holyfield in a third fight, but after winning two straight circus-like fights by DQ with the mentally unhinged Andrew Golata, Bowe retired at 29.
Bowe proceeded to join the Marines, but only lasted 11 days at Paris Island. He has had a string of legal and domestic problems over the years. Between 2006 and 2008 he staged a comeback of sorts, fighting and winning three times against obscure opponents.
Lennox Lewis went on to become the dominant heavyweight of his era. In 1992 that had seemed like a title Riddick Bowe might earn.
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Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Aaron Pryor
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In the early 1980s, Sugar Ray Leonard was the welterweight champion of the world and was widely regarded as the pound-for-pound king. Meanwhile, the next division down, Aaron Pryor was beating people up so badly he could barely find opponents willing to fight him. Nobody was even making it to the bell against him. In his first 30 professional fights, nobody got past Round 10 with the Hawk.
This fight is particularly intriguing because Pryor is one of the few all-time greats of that era who Leonard did not fight. To this day, you will hear whispers and insinuation on boxing chat boards that Leonard was afraid to test himself against Pryor.
But this fight would have occurred after Leonard had already fought Wilfred Benitez, Roberto Duran (twice) and Thomas Hearns. It strikes me as ludicrous to even use the words "scared" and "Sugar Ray Leonard" in the same sentence.
More than likely this fight would have happened if Leonard had not gone into his first retirement to protect his injured eye. Sugar Ray would have been the perfect opponent for Pryor after his two wars against Alexis Arguello.
I have Leonard winning this fight at least seven times out of 10. Arguello gave Pryor nearly all the problems he could handle and Leonard was a bigger, faster and more versatile fighter than the Thin Man.
Still, the Hawk had a relentless attacking style with great head movement and level changes. If you are a Pacquiao fan go to YouTube and check out Pryor. The only fighter I'd rate higher than Pryor when it comes to that "whirling dervish" style of fighting is the great Hurricane Henry Armstrong himself.
Pryor's lead uppercut was a potentially fight-changing punch every time he threw it. If he had connected with it in a hypothetical fight against Sugar Ray Leonard, the way fans view that era might have been entirely changed.
Marvin Hagler vs. Michael McCallum
5 of 5
It was the 1980s and frankly, a lot of things sucked. Music. Television. The President. The Red Sox and Patriots, most of the time.
But boxing was still good. Very, very good. And in the still-very-good Kingdom of Boxing, it really didn't get any better than at 154 pounds, where the Body Snatcher, Michael McCallum, ruled the division with two iron fists. By 1987 he had reeled off 10 straight knockout victories while defending his world junior middleweight crown.
Well, maybe it did get a little bit better than Michael McCallum. One class up at 160, Marvelous Marvin Hagler was enjoying one of the greatest middleweight title reigns of all time. Growing up a boxing fan in the 1980s, it was impossible for me to even imagine that Marvin Hagler might lose.
McCallum would have had the tools to push Hagler. McCallum was a brilliant technical fighter and the Body Snatcher nickname was well earned—he attacked the body as well as any fighter who ever lived. Although he would have been moving up in weight, I doubt Hagler would have been able to really push McCallum around.
If that fight had been made in 1987 I would have pictured my hero Marvin Hagler shooting it out with, and eventually pounding down, Thomas Hearns and I would have given no chance for McCallum to win. But McCallum wouldn't have fought that fight. Looking back now, I think about the gritty 15-round performance Roberto Duran turned in against Hagler and I just don't know.
McCallum would have been younger, faster, bigger and stronger than Duran, and skill-wise, at least close to being on a par. He would have been a tough opponent for any man who ever fought at that weight.
It's a shame the match never got made. When reviewing the Boxrec.com archives, I can't see any other fight that would have made more sense for Hagler at the time, if Ray Leonard hadn't decided to come out of retirement and call Hagler out. Even after his much-disputed, split-decision loss to Leonard, the clash with McCallum would still have been viewed as a super fight.
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