Absurd (yet possible) Matchups

[BoxBuzz]

pretty sure the word was out on him that he was dangerous ground for anyone....I think that's why folks are pretty sure he'd clean Ali's clock at age 17.

[sweetviolenturge]

Another such match up that I'm almost surprised didn't happen was Leon Spinks vs Chuck Wepner sometime in 1977.
Of course at that point Spinks would have carved him up with his volume punching & stopped in on cuts in about the same time that it took Duane Bobick the previous year.
In fact, that's another possible match up that never occurred but very well could have as their careers overlapped for three or four years & that's Leon vs Bobick. An interesting fight that could have been competitive. One on hand Spinks may have gotten Bobick out of there in the same way that he did to Evangelista, Kevin Isaac & Bernardo Mercado. While on the other hand Bobick despite his flaws was an experienced guy with enough power to knock out the usually very durable Scott Ledoux so if he could get Spinks shaken up like Evangelista did in the second round of their fight he may have gotten him out of there.

Come to think of it, we never got to see a lot of heavyweight bouts that could have happened.But they fall more under the category of intriguing rather than absurd such as Jerry Quarry vs Chuck Wepner, Wepner vs Earnie Shavers, Shavers vs Ledoux, Ledoux vs jimmy Young, Young vs Holmes, Holmes vs Oscar Bonavena, Bonavena vs Quarry, Quarry vs Liston, Liston vs Chuvalo, Chuvalo vs Shavers, Shavers vs Floyd Patterson, Patterson vs Ken Norton & so on.

[Tony1244]

Another such match up that I'm almost surprised didn't happen was Leon Spinks vs Chuck Wepner sometime in 1977.
Of course at that point Spinks would have carved him up with his volume punching & stopped in on cuts in about the same time that it took Duane Bobick the previous year.
In fact, that's another possible match up that never occurred but very well could have as their careers overlapped for three or four years & that's Leon vs Bobick. An interesting fight that could have been competitive. One on hand Spinks may have gotten Bobick out of there in the same way that he did to Evangelista, Kevin Isaac & Bernardo Mercado. While on the other hand Bobick despite his flaws was an experienced guy with enough power to knock out the usually very durable Scott Ledoux so if he could get Spinks shaken up like Evangelista did in the second round of their fight he may have gotten him out of there.

Come to think of it, we never got to see a lot of heavyweight bouts that could have happened.But they fall more under the category of intriguing rather than absurd such as Jerry Quarry vs Chuck Wepner, Wepner vs Earnie Shavers, Shavers vs Ledoux, Ledoux vs jimmy Young, Young vs Holmes, Holmes vs Oscar Bonavena, Bonavena vs Quarry, Quarry vs Liston, Liston vs Chuvalo, Chuvalo vs Shavers, Shavers vs Floyd Patterson, Patterson vs Ken Norton & so on.

LeDoux vs Jimmy Young was signed and sealed but not delivered. LeDoux got injured and it was Young vs Jeff Simms instead. Young won a decision.

[Ambling Alp II]

Actually that era had more matchups between top fighters than any. There was just so many good to great heavyweights that they could not all fight each other.

[sweetviolenturge]

Another such match up that I'm almost surprised didn't happen was Leon Spinks vs Chuck Wepner sometime in 1977.
Of course at that point Spinks would have carved him up with his volume punching & stopped in on cuts in about the same time that it took Duane Bobick the previous year.
In fact, that's another possible match up that never occurred but very well could have as their careers overlapped for three or four years & that's Leon vs Bobick. An interesting fight that could have been competitive. One on hand Spinks may have gotten Bobick out of there in the same way that he did to Evangelista, Kevin Isaac & Bernardo Mercado. While on the other hand Bobick despite his flaws was an experienced guy with enough power to knock out the usually very durable Scott Ledoux so if he could get Spinks shaken up like Evangelista did in the second round of their fight he may have gotten him out of there.

Come to think of it, we never got to see a lot of heavyweight bouts that could have happened.But they fall more under the category of intriguing rather than absurd such as Jerry Quarry vs Chuck Wepner, Wepner vs Earnie Shavers, Shavers vs Ledoux, Ledoux vs jimmy Young, Young vs Holmes, Holmes vs Oscar Bonavena, Bonavena vs Quarry, Quarry vs Liston, Liston vs Chuvalo, Chuvalo vs Shavers, Shavers vs Floyd Patterson, Patterson vs Ken Norton & so on.

LeDoux vs Jimmy Young was signed and sealed but not delivered. LeDoux got injured and it was Young vs Jeff Simms instead. Young won a decision.

Very interesting Tony. I never knew that. Thank you for pointing that out.
I love hearing about fights that were signed but for whatever reasons never actually occurred. Especially heavyweight fights.

[BoxBuzz]

Saad Muhammad vs Eddie Mustafa II

It was signed...sealed....but never delivered.


But that's getting away from the absurd....lol.

[sweetviolenturge]

Michael Spinks vs Mustapha Muhammad was another rematch that was taken from us.

[Tony1244]

Another such match up that I'm almost surprised didn't happen was Leon Spinks vs Chuck Wepner sometime in 1977.
Of course at that point Spinks would have carved him up with his volume punching & stopped in on cuts in about the same time that it took Duane Bobick the previous year.
In fact, that's another possible match up that never occurred but very well could have as their careers overlapped for three or four years & that's Leon vs Bobick. An interesting fight that could have been competitive. One on hand Spinks may have gotten Bobick out of there in the same way that he did to Evangelista, Kevin Isaac & Bernardo Mercado. While on the other hand Bobick despite his flaws was an experienced guy with enough power to knock out the usually very durable Scott Ledoux so if he could get Spinks shaken up like Evangelista did in the second round of their fight he may have gotten him out of there.

Come to think of it, we never got to see a lot of heavyweight bouts that could have happened.But they fall more under the category of intriguing rather than absurd such as Jerry Quarry vs Chuck Wepner, Wepner vs Earnie Shavers, Shavers vs Ledoux, Ledoux vs jimmy Young, Young vs Holmes, Holmes vs Oscar Bonavena, Bonavena vs Quarry, Quarry vs Liston, Liston vs Chuvalo, Chuvalo vs Shavers, Shavers vs Floyd Patterson, Patterson vs Ken Norton & so on.

LeDoux vs Jimmy Young was signed and sealed but not delivered. LeDoux got injured and it was Young vs Jeff Simms instead. Young won a decision.

Very interesting Tony. I never knew that. Thank you for pointing that out.
I love hearing about fights that were signed but for whatever reasons never actually occurred. Especially heavyweight fights.

I may have another one for you. Shavers and Cooney I believe was signed and Cooney got "injured," and it was Cobb vs Shavers instead. I'm not 100% sure but I think so. I put injured in quotes because maybe Rappaport and Jones didn't want to deal w/ Shavers' power.

[APerno]

Michael Spinks vs Mustapha Muhammad was another rematch that was taken from us.

Is that the fight that Spinks walked away from (right before the fight) because the opponent refused to shed the necessary weight?

[Tony1244]

Michael Spinks vs Mustapha Muhammad was another rematch that was taken from us.

Is that the fight that Spinks walked away from (right before the fight) because the opponent refused to shed the necessary weight?

I remember it as Eddie M. Muhammad, formerly the flame Gregory weighed over the limit stating the scale was wrong and he refused to shed because he knows his body.

[Nile4000]

Eddie was foolish. I think he was scared of Michael. My pick would be Marvin Hagler vs Emille Griffith circa 1976. Or Zamora vs Gomez in 1977.

[bwu]

Let's get back to absurdity. How about newbie Tomasz Adamek v. ancient Roberto Duran at light heavyweight in 1999?

[bwu]

Panama Al Brown vs. Willie Pep and/or Sugar Ray Robinson in 1940.

Okay, I'll stop for awhile.

[Nile4000]

Renaldo Snipes vs Joe Frazier, 1981.
Victor Galindez vs Carlos DeLeon, circa 1980.
Tony Ayala vs Bennie Briscoe, circa 1981.

[BoxBuzz]

I'll take the Snipes vs Frazier in 81.


I think that would be about a draw with an ever so slight edge to Snipes....about like the Cummings Frazier fight....which was not all that different than the Snipes Cumming fight.

[bwu]

Actually, I don't find Nile4000's match-ups absurd. I think they are interesting. Snipes over Frazier. DeLeon over Galindez. Briscoe over Ayala...maybe. That one is the toughest in my book.

I said I would stop for awhile, but here's another truly absurd possibility: In '51, at featherweight, future light heavyweight champion, the then-teenaged Willie Pastrano, versus former bantamweight champion Manuel Ortiz.