Rivalries

Evening Lads,

Finally finished uni so should have a right bit more time to post on here than I have in the last year (cue the celebrations). But after the weekend and the inevitable talk of Froch, leading onto the usual JC talk I've been thinking about rivalries where neither of the boxers have actually fought each other. This is particularly evident in the modern era when we have Manny and Floyd in a constant game of oneupmanship with actually fighting. So off the top of my head we have Froch/Calzaghe and Manny/PBF with a fight between any of these not appearing likely.

So has there even been a more drawn out saga in boxing? Hagler vs SRL?

And what is the biggest rivalry without a fight occurring?

Cheers

Hatton and witter

Price and Fury.

Lewis and Bowe.

Good shout sean!

Sure that's only a hype job versus a novice az

Hatton Witter is an excellent shout Sean (good to see you back BTW) now people who moan about how long some of the debates on here drag on should have got into a Hatton Witter debate, could go on for literally days, happy days.

From a few years ago Dempsey Wills is worth a shout, obviously reasons that have been done to death but Wills was Dempsey's number one contender pretty much throughout Jack's title reign and despite being close on a couple of occasions that one never came to pass.

Lewis/Bowe is a great shout. Still talked about.

azania wrote:Lewis/Bowe is a great shout. Still talked about.

I can still see Bowe yelling "you wanna knock me out now."

I wish he did.

Forman v Holmes.

Larry still talks about this fight that never took place but I think Forman would have destroyed him.

Sorry Rowley that's a bit too old and is therefore excluded Great shout. Any idea was there a lot of animosity between the 2 or was it just more a case that Wills was pursuing the fight and Dempsey/Kearns wouldn't give it to him?

rowley wrote:Hatton Witter is an excellent shout Sean (good to see you back BTW) now people who moan about how long some of the debates on here drag on should have got into a Hatton Witter debate, could go on for literally days, happy days.

From a few years ago Dempsey Wills is worth a shout, obviously reasons that have been done to death but Wills was Dempsey's number one contender pretty much throughout Jack's title reign and despite being close on a couple of occasions that one never came to pass.

Ha. Reading yours, tina's and uc's musings have added a bit of humour to a tough winter.

Read a question on dougies mailbag last week or so about Valero v pacquiao. Hypothetical but.......

At what time could that have happened onetwo? I'm no expert into the reasons of Foremans sabbatical.

Robinson v Burly.

Many state that Robbo duck Burly but with his record I seriously doubt it. There must have been other factors that occured back then to not make it happen. Maybe the MOB.

Mike McCallum v take your pick

Don't think there was any great animosity on Jack's part, in his defence he did sign for the fight when the pressure got too much off the public but Rickard refused to get involved promoting it and so the guy who was meant to be putting it together, Floyd Fitzsimmons failed to come up with the money and it fell to bits. Am not too sure of Wills feelings although you would have to guess six or seven years as number one contender without getting a shot would be enough to make anyone a bit tetchy.

I wouldnt really classify Froch/Calzaghe as the same kind of thing as Pacquiao/Mayweather. Their careers never really overlapped at the top level.

Ottke/Calzaghe might have been one more likely or even Roy Jones/Michaelswecki.

I don't but that Dempsey ducked Willis. Dempsey trained regular with black sparring partners so to suggest there was any fear is laughable.

Cheers lads.

Yeah I couldn't really remember a big lot about the details of the saga there.

Onw fighter with a lot of animosity towards Sugar Ray Leonard has to be Aaron Pryor. And Pryor would usually have been such a level headed fella too.

alma wrote:

azania wrote:Lewis/Bowe is a great shout. Still talked about.

technically they did fight

Very true. I'll get my coat.

Manos I see what you mean but its very similair in my eyes. Its very rarely ya read a story about one of them without the others name mentioned. The fans of Froch and Calzaghe can be quite loyal and dismissive of the other fighter at times.

ONETWOFOREVER wrote:I don't but that Dempsey ducked Willis. Dempsey trained regular with black sparring partners so to suggest there was any fear is laughable.

He definately ducked him. Whether he personally afraid of him or not is a different issue ( I doubt it). But his management drew the colour line and for one reason or another Wills was frozen out.

Not really too sure what relevance having the black sparring partners are though unless one of them was actually Harry Wills.

The Boss wrote:Manos I see what you mean but its very similair in my eyes. Its very rarely ya read a story about one of them without the others name mentioned. The fans of Froch and Calzaghe can be quite loyal and dismissive of the other fighter at times.

Agreed but Froch poured the fuel on to the fire in the first place by constantly slating Joe and calling him out after he had retired. Also accusing Welsh people of trashing his car didnt help. They apparently sorted out their differences and now Froch has started up his nonsense again. It doesnt matter to me whatever Froch does in the ring the fact that he is such a loathable slimey repulsive nasty piece of work outside of it will all hel ever be to me

The Boss wrote:Manos I see what you mean but its very similair in my eyes. Its very rarely ya read a story about one of them without the others name mentioned. The fans of Froch and Calzaghe can be quite loyal and dismissive of the other fighter at times.

They have a rivalry for sure, but I dont think a fight between the two of them was ever really all that feasible given how their careers were. Whereas Hatton/Witter and Mayweather/Pacquiao definately had a real opportunity to meet in the ring.

1 of them was feared Canadian boxer George Godfrey.

His management ducked Wills not Dempsey himself.

I place the blame solely at Pryors door for not making the Leonard fight happen, he should have stepped up in weight just like Duran did and beat a few ranked contenders instead of resting on his laurels expecting it to happen.

Bramble vs Camacho
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Back home around 85/86 this was brewing into a multi-million dollar unification showdown with the hype in overdrive....

Both taunting eachother at their fights..visiting eachothers press conferences and trading insults...

We all wondered If Bramble was going to get his voodoo Doctor out again (a la Mancini ) and put a hex on the macho man..

The hype machine was in serious overdrive too at the "PREAMBLE TO BRAMBLE"...

However Livingstone forgot that he still had Rosario to sort out!!!

Shame Bramble-Mancini would've been a quality matchup and a big fight!!!

Manos I'd agree with you. I thought Carl had turned the corner and had heard the 2 of them had sorted out their differences but it seems Carl can't let it lie. I suppose Froch wasn't a name fight for Joe at the time Joe was earning the big money and Carl didn't do himself any favours in how he went about abusing JC. As much as I respect Froch as a boxer he makes a c*** of himself when he talks!oe could possibly have come out of retirement a few years ago but I don't know personally that he even saw Froch as a threat at the time. j

Had no idea on that one Truss, cheers. What's that about Mancini but?

I meant Camacho mate...sorry.

The Boss wrote:Manos I'd agree with you. I thought Carl had turned the corner and had heard the 2 of them had sorted out their differences but it seems Carl can't let it lie. I suppose Froch wasn't a name fight for Joe at the time Joe was earning the big money and Carl didn't do himself any favours in how he went about abusing JC. As much as I respect Froch as a boxer he makes a c*** of himself when he talks!oe could possibly have come out of retirement a few years ago but I don't know personally that he even saw Froch as a threat at the time. j

That was me who posted that not Manos. Glad you agree though

As likeable as he may be in the ring outside it the guy is a total loathable douchebag

ONETWOFOREVER wrote:1 of them was feared Canadian boxer George Godfrey.

Yes true, but I dont really follow what your point is though? Why does having black sparring partners mean he didnt duck Wills?

That's what I thought Truss I was just a bit ignorant on the 80s bar SRL, Hagler, Hearns, Duran.

Foreman and Holmes tried to promote a fight between each other OneTwo but they were both around 50 at the time. No one was interested though,quite right, who wants to see two old men pushing each other round the ring? not me for one.

manos de piedra wrote:

ONETWOFOREVER wrote:1 of them was feared Canadian boxer George Godfrey.

Yes true, but I dont really follow what your point is though? Why does having black sparring partners mean he didnt duck Wills?

Pointing out that it wasn't an issue Dempsey personally had but rather his management.

Slight wildcard would be Marciano and Valdes, seen as the biggest threat to the rocks unbeaten record but had a habit of losing every time he got himself right back into contention.

Steffan, sorry mate. Its late, long day working and training and my room is like a sauna. That's the excuse anyway but basically Carl seems to have a bit of foot in mouth syndrome.

Pinky Thomas and Holmes had a war of words going on in some of the magazines before Spinks turned Holmes over!!!

Could Thomas' career have followed a whole different trajectory if it was he who beat Holmes instead of Spinks?

He had his demons I'm afraid plus Tyson was coming on to the scene..

Major shock Clever Trevor beating him though.. even If he made Bruno look like Usain Bolt that night!!!

Didn't consider that. Suppose any fighters trying to take over Holmes' mantle were on a hiding to nothing with Tyson about to make a bit of a ripple on the heavyweight scene.

Nelson vs Mcguigan
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Would've been a rarity a feather superfight.....Mcguigan was big in America....Nelson was considered a class act.....

Shame this one fell by the way-side....

As much as I've time for Barry and am generally patriotic when us Irish do well on the big stage did anyone give Barry much of a hope?

Enough to make it a superfight.....

Beat Taylor who was highly regarded...

Only for that boll**** Cruz haha. Maybe Barry does tend to get a hard time on account of his induction to the HOF.

How about Naz v Gatti?

I remember Gatti never cared much for Naz and would label him a clown. Good for Gatti that fight did not take place as he would have been koed silly.

mcguigan nelson is a good shout truss... think barry has admitted he'd have had his work cut out there, but at the time when barry was on a role it was certainly the fight we and nelson (with his mcwiggle comments etc) were hoping for.

Don't worry about being ignorant of the 80's boss. I was ignorant in the 80's

Steffan wrote:
It doesnt matter to me whatever Froch does in the ring the fact that he is such a loathable slimey repulsive nasty piece of work outside of it will all hel ever be to me

Did he shag your missus or something?

Milky the 80s is all I'm going admit to be ignorant of but that doesn't mean its all I am ignorant of. I've no excuse to be ignorant of the 00s but!

Group Cpt Lionel Mandrake wrote:

Steffan wrote:
It doesnt matter to me whatever Froch does in the ring the fact that he is such a loathable slimey repulsive nasty piece of work outside of it will all hel ever be to me

Did he shag your missus or something?

Nah she likes modest men and always said abnormally big noses are a turn off for her