Significant or Memorable "Exhibition Bouts"

[gilgamesh]

With all the talk of potential Exhibition bouts coming up.

I was wondering what if any Exhibition bouts have ever taken place that were actually interesting or memorable.

George Foreman vs The Montreal 5 would probably be one of the most memorable right?

I'm sure some of you Historians know a thing or two about this.

[Caractacus]

Joe Louis must have woke up on the wrong side of bed for this Exhibition in 1949.

I seem to remember this aired live on ABC Wide World of Sports from the Concord Hotel November 1975..
it was for a fund raiser for the 1976 Olympic Boxing Team.
that was no exhibition that was a massacre.
I think maybe Jody Ballard thought that Foreman would go kind of easy since they both were from Houston Texas.

[bwu]

February 1931, Kingfish Levinsky in a four rounder against Jack Dempsey. The ex-champ was thumped so badly by Levinsky it ended all thoughts of a likely Dempsey comeback.

[f read]

The most comical thing about the farce in Montreal with George was Muhammad Alis commentary. It was hilarious. Lay on the ropes like i did he was yelling. He really knew how to mentally get under someones skin. He was an expert in psychology and irritating people. The Ali-Inoki fight was another ill advised decision. It did Ali more harm than good in the long run. He was never the same and his legs took a beating.

[sweetsci]

I wouldn't be surprised if Larry Holmes' exhibitions against Quick Tillis and Bernardo Mercado in March 1990 convinced him that he still had enough left to be a competitive heavyweight.

The six-round Muhammad Ali - Doug Jones "rematch" in October 1966 erased all doubt that Ali was the superior boxer. Of course Jones was on the downside of his career, anyway. Because it was only an exhibition, it's a mostly forgotten part of Ali's legacy.

The 1961 Ingemar Johansson - Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay at that time) exhibition / sparring session still debate from time to time.

Joe Louis fought many exhibitions against contenders of the day. I kind of wish they were added to his BoxRec record, in the proper context of course so as not to affect his total win-loss numbers.

Gerry Cooney and Boone Kirkman laced 'em up in the early 1980's. From what I recall, Cooney play nice like it was an exhibition and after a round or two Kirkman quit, probably thinking, "THIS is not what I signed up for."

A minor point - the Foreman vs. Five happened in Toronto, not Montreal. That day was not good for Foreman's reputation, but it sure made for great, if somewhat uncomfortable, television.

[Caractacus]

April.16.1977-ABC TV cancels the planned Larry Holmes vrs Stan Ward bout that was to air live that afternoon
( due to a tournament scandal)
and instead show live,Muhammad Ali do an exhibition with Jody Ballard and a 19(and half) year old Michael Dokes.
who had turned pro just after his 18th birthday)

[Caractacus]

[gilgamesh]

I wouldn't be surprised if Larry Holmes' exhibitions against Quick Tillis and Bernardo Mercado in March 1990 convinced him that he still had enough left to be a competitive heavyweight.

The six-round Muhammad Ali - Doug Jones "rematch" in October 1966 erased all doubt that Ali was the superior boxer. Of course Jones was on the downside of his career, anyway. Because it was only an exhibition, it's a mostly forgotten part of Ali's legacy.

The 1961 Ingemar Johansson - Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay at that time) exhibition / sparring session still debate from time to time.

Joe Louis fought many exhibitions against contenders of the day. I kind of wish they were added to his BoxRec record, in the proper context of course so as not to affect his total win-loss numbers.

Gerry Cooney and Boone Kirkman laced 'em up in the early 1980's. From what I recall, Cooney play nice like it was an exhibition and after a round or two Kirkman quit, probably thinking, "THIS is not what I signed up for."

A minor point - the Foreman vs. Five happened in Toronto, not Montreal. That day was not good for Foreman's reputation, but it sure made for great, if somewhat uncomfortable, television.

You'd think as many Exhibition bouts as Ali has been involved in that some of them would've been during his exile from the sport.

[Onamastus]

Mike Tyson's 1988 "rematch" exhibition with Quick Tillis was a good one. Significant and memorable because it's bonus prime Tyson in the ring footage.

[oogiebe]

I seem to remember Joe Frazier raising money 'boxing' a mayor and tripping into the ropes.

[Caractacus]

Here is some video footage of a memorable exhibition.
Sugar Ray Leonard was sailing on the Queen Elizabeth II in the Fall of 1982
and he was asked to due an impromtu exhibition with a ships stewerd in the Ballroom who was an experenced amateur Light-Heavyweight(190 lbs).
anyway Leonard agreed (even tho it was just a few months after his eye surgery)
at one point the dude lands a hard punch on his healing eye and all so the sudden a deranged look comes over Leonard's face and it's a serious contest.
BTW he admitted in his autobiography he was a fool to have agreed to do it,and had became a cocaine addict by this time.

[Alguiffer]

Here is a clip of the Foreman exhibition with five heavyweights from Toronto. There was a lot of inside and outside the ring antics - fighting after the bell, Ali taunting and pestering Forman from ringside. The crowd was loving Ali and it seemed to get Foremen more and more worked up and meaner. I remember one of the fighters tried to kiss Formen at the glove touch. The press gave this event a bad write up but it was a fun event to watch live. I think Terry Daniels just recently passed.

[margaret thatcher]

Cosell mocking him the whole time lol

[evrenb]

I would have liked to have seen Joe Fraziers exhibition against Cleve Williams...

[Caractacus]

a 45 year old Jack Dempsey comes out of retirement to fight a 34 year old pro wrestler..

[Boxing Prospect]

This one stands out


Also Koki Kameda Vs Hiroki Ioka /Pongsaklek Wonjongkam/Tenshin Nasukawa (Koki Kameda was in quite a few exhibitions)

Naoya Inoue Vs Akira Yaegashi was a pretty cool one a few years ago as well

[littlepug]

Seen a few on YouTube, Hearns v Ali, Eubank v Pyatt , Benn v Dave Radford, Calzaghe v Robbie Regan and some others I can’t remember at the minute

[Caractacus]

Sonny Liston and Ernie Terrell (November 1961)

[Caractacus]

from 1976,dang,check out the look in Andre the Giants eyes, sort of reminds me of Dr. David ' Bruce" Banner about to change into The Incredible HULK,(The Big Man gets angry right after the sneak solar-plexus punch at 5 :58)

[Caractacus]