Are these the most obscure heavyweight title fights ever?

[Riddick Bowie]

If it's a heavyweight title fight and it happened between 1897 and 2000 I've watched it. The lone exception is Francesco Damiani vs Daniel Neto for the WBO heavyweight title, which I missed at the time and will hopefully never see.

Since 2000 things have got out of hand with heavyweight titles and even a hardcore like myself checked out and stopped paying attention. Are the following contests the most obscure, forgotten and irrelevant heavyweight title fights ever? Has anyone seen any of them? Does anyone want to see any of them? Were any of them not as utterly crap as they sound? Some of these men I literally cannot believe were permitted to fight for a belt even in a no talent / splintered title era.

Nikolay Valuev vs Owen Beck
Oleg Maskaev vs Peter Okhello
Sultan Ibragimov vs Evander Holyfield (45 yrs old)
Sultan ibragimov vs Shannon Briggs
Shannon Briggs vs Sergei Lyakovich
Alex Povetkin vs Cedric Boswell
Alex Povetkin vs Andrzej Wawrzyk
Ruslan Chagaev vs Carl Davis Drumond
Ruslan Chagaev vs Fres Oquendo
Ruslan Chagaev vs Francesco Pianeta
Ruslan Chagaev vs Lucas Browne
Joseph Parker vs Razvan Cojanu
Charles Martin vs Vyacheslav Glazkov
Bermaine Stiverne vs Chris Arreola II

[gilgamesh]

If it's a heavyweight title fight and it happened between 1897 and 2000 I've watched it. The lone exception is Francesco Damiani vs Daniel Neto for the WBO heavyweight title, which I missed at the time and will hopefully never see.

Since 2000 things have got out of hand with heavyweight titles and even a hardcore like myself checked out and stopped paying attention. Are the following contests the most obscure, forgotten and irrelevant heavyweight title fights ever? Has anyone seen any of them? Does anyone want to see any of them? Were any of them not as utterly crap as they sound? Some of these men I literally cannot believe were permitted to fight for a belt even in a no talent / splintered title era.

Nikolay Valuev vs Owen Beck
Oleg Maskaev vs Peter Okhello
Sultan Ibragimov vs Evander Holyfield (45 yrs old)
Sultan ibragimov vs Shannon Briggs
Shannon Briggs vs Sergei Lyakovich
Alex Povetkin vs Cedric Boswell
Alex Povetkin vs Andrzej Wawrzyk
Ruslan Chagaev vs Carl Davis Drumond
Ruslan Chagaev vs Fres Oquendo
Ruslan Chagaev vs Francesco Pianeta
Ruslan Chagaev vs Lucas Browne
Joseph Parker vs Razvan Cojanu
Charles Martin vs Vyacheslav Glazkov
Bermaine Stiverne vs Chris Arreola II

I saw 2 of those. Stiverne vs Arreola 2 and Briggs vs Liakhovich.

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

I watched almost all of these. In fact maybe all of them

Briggs vs liakhivich has a lot of dramaat the end but was overall dreary

Every other fight sucked

[Riddick Bowie]

Perhaps on reflection including the fights involving Shannon Briggs should not have been included on this list. I can't imagine they have much replay value tho

[margaret thatcher]

browne vs chagaev was actually a good fight believe it or not, both guys down, big comeback in enemy territory (chechen warlord president was there in person supporting chagaev)

[Riddick Bowie]

I think it's safe to preemptively add the coming Murat Gassiev versus.... Kadiru (??) bout to this list. Seriously, who are these guys? Why would any sanctioning body think enthroning them reflects well on their brand?

[Expug]

Man, there was a time when I’d follow every fight I could. Bought all the magazines, watched all the fights I could find , had some fights myself, couldn’t get enough of hanging at the gym. My friends were fighters, family members all boxed. It was really a big deal.
Now, I barely know who any of these people are.
Holyfield and Fred Oquendo who was from Chicago, I’ve seen fight. The others I don’t think so. Fury ya.
So , yes I think those fights fit the bill.

[Ambling Alp II]

It is pretty lame, isn't it? Keep thinking that this can't last much longer, but I dunno.

Hard to believe sometimes that this used to be a major sport instead of a fringe esport.
Guess there are a lot reasons how things got this bad. The one that always springs to mind is that these guys aren't developing when they are prospects. Top young fighters don't fight each other. Contenders don't fight each other. It's all about keeping the pretty record while biding your time for a one of the titles.
You get better by being challenged, by being tested. This isn't happening.

[margaret thatcher]

I watched almost all of these. In fact maybe all of them

Briggs vs liakhivich has a lot of dramaat the end but was overall dreary

Every other fight sucked

chagaev-browne was very entertaining and is defo the standout from that list. had mutual knockdowns, big shifts in momentum, and a dramatic comeback knockout ending. not the highest quality of course, but was defo enjoyable scrap. chagaev mostly was not fun at all to watch in his career, but this fight was an exception

stiverne-arreola 2 wasnt bad either. arreola was fighting a lot better in the rematch and i thought was probably winning until till getting caught and taken out.

but yes, i have watched them all as well and would agree that pretty much all others the sucked. razvan cojanu might be the worst heavyweight title challenger in history, i am really stumped to find a guy clearly worse

[Expug]

It is pretty lame, isn't it? Keep thinking that this can't last much longer, but I dunno.

Hard to believe sometimes that this used to be a major sport instead of a fringe esport.
Guess there are a lot reasons how things got this bad. The one that always springs to mind is that these guys aren't developing when they are prospects. Top young fighters don't fight each other. Contenders don't fight each other. It's all about keeping the pretty record while biding your time for a one of the titles.
You get better by being challenged, by being tested. This isn't happening.

You’re right. And it seems that the sport was a lot healthier back when a loss here and there didn’t mean the end of the world. You took an L and just got right back in there. Undefeated records as we all know can be very misleading. It often means a guy hasn’t fought anybody and as you mentioned, hasn’t developed.

[Caractacus]

Everyone knows about Ali vrs Wepner.(But) and this is a "Big But", was this
the 'real" inspiration for Slyvester Stallone's ROCKY ?
( if only Ron Stander had "gone the distance)
-1972-

[Expug]

According to Chuck it was.
He filed a lawsuit and it was settled out of court.

[Ambling Alp II]

Yeah, I had always heard that it was Wepner-Ali. Never of it being Frazier-Stander.

By coincidence, Stander fought in the very first fight I can remember. He lost to Norton about as badly as he lost to Frazier. But he did score a win over Earnie Shavers.

Just look at these guy's careers.

Before ever fighting the title, Frazier fought Bonavena, Machen, Jones, Chuvalo etc.

Wepner fought Liston, Foreman, Buster Mathis, Bugner, Terrell, and of course Ali.

Shavers was a pro for 8 years before he ever got a title shot. But look at some of the names that he fought in that time: Quarry, Ellis, Young 2x, Lyle, Henry Clark 2x, Roy Williams,

There were always interesting fights going on. All year long, year after year.