TOP TEN MOST ANTICIPATED FIGHTS!

With a great deal of anticipation for the de la Hoya – Pacquiao fight brewing, I am pondering the most anticipated fights in our history. My affinity for history makes me choose to begin with the fight on December 26, 1908 when, for the first time a black man fought in the world heavyweight championship bout. The battle between Jack Johnson and Tommy Burns was primed by Johnson’s following of Burns from fight to fight watching him at ringside and taunting the champ at every turn. With a crowd of 20,000 onlookers, Johnson dethroned the Canadian Burns after a vicious 14 round war.

Almost 20 years later in 1927, another match comes to mind when Jack Dempsey sought to regain his title from Gene Tunney to whom he lost only 364 days earlier. The rematch between Dempsey and Tunney in Chicago on September 22 brought about a 2 million dollar purse, at the time a record. In the 7^th round after knocking Tunney down, Dempsey was again defeated allowing Tunney to retain his crown.

In 1938 the rematch between Joe Louis and Germany’s Max Schmelling is believed to be one of the most anticipated events of the time.  After being knocked out by Schmelling in round 12 two years prior, the previously undefeated Louis stepped into the ring once more with Schmelling at Yankee Stadium on June 22, 1938, eventually handing Schmelling a crushing defeat and the free world a morale boosting victory over “Nazi supremacy”.  A few years later, the match between Sugar Ray Robinson and former champ Fritzie Zivic in 1941 brought out the largest crowd at Madison Square Gardens at that time. Over 20,000 fans packed the Gardens that night to watch Robinson defeat Zivic after 10 rounds and a fierce battle.

Rocky Marciano evokes thoughts of the most incredible fights in our history. In the famed bout between Rocky and Jersey Joe Walcott in 1952, the boxing world seemed convinced that Walcott was, at 38 years old, far too old to go toe to toe with the much younger Marciano. Despite being knocked to the mat in round one of their match Marciano came back in round 13 to knock Walcott out and claim his crown.

Now, one cannot talk about highly anticipated boxing matches without talking about Muhammad Ali. In 1964 Ali took on Sonny Liston who was then believed unbeatable. After a spat between Ali and Liston at a Las Vegas casino most could not wait to see this battle. After Round 6 Liston slumped down onto the stool in his corner and never made it back into the ring handing the championship to Ali.  Ali then went on to defeat Joe Frazier in 1975 in the “Thrilla from Manila” This fight was fierce, likely fueled by Ali’s personal attacks on Frazier.

Approaching more recent times, the fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler in 1987 reminds me of the excitement leading up to that match and the more anticipated rematch between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield in 1997, ending in the loss of a chunk of Holyfield’s ear.  On a final note, the match in early 2007 between de la Hoya and Mayweather was one of the most anticipated of the recent bouts. I was enjoying the match at a house party for the fight in San Antonio with many others until its anti climatic end.

Written by Scott M Darrah