Boxing fights we always wanted to see, but never happened.

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Boxing fights we always wanted to see, but never happened. Add Spencer-Crawford to the list?
Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford were on the verge of a deal for an undisputed welterweight championship fight in November, but with talks stalled, and Crawford agreeing to a fight against David Avanesyan on Dec. 10, it's unclear if they'll ever meet in a ring, let alone next.

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Mike Tyson vs. George Foreman
A moneymaking bonanza for the ages. A bout between two of the greatest -- and most popular -- heavyweights of all time was actually in play in 1990.

After Tyson was knocked out by James "Buster" Douglas in the biggest upset in boxing history, he shared a doubleheader with George Foreman. Both men were on the comeback trail, with Tyson looking to rebuild from his first career loss, and Foreman attempting a second heavyweight title run in his 40s. Tyson scored a first-round KO of Henry Tillman in his first fight after the loss to Douglas, while Foreman stopped Gerry Cooney in the second round in January 1990 in Atlantic City.

 

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Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder
This one will hopefully still happen, but even if it does, it will never be as big as it could have been. When it was first being discussed in 2018, Joshua was perhaps the biggest star in global boxing. He held three titles and Fury was still retired at the time. Joshua had also an argument to be perhaps the second-most-imposing puncher in all of boxing. No. 1 was and remains -- Deontay Wilder. If Joshua-Wilder is revisited, it's still a superfight, but it will never match up to the allure of what once was.

 

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[u[Erik Morales vs. Juan Manuel Marquez[/u]​

Of all the matchups on this list, the failure to make Morales-Marquez might be the most surprising.

After all, Morales, Marquez, Marco Antonio Barrera and Manny Pacquiao combined to fight each other 13 times. Somehow, they all faced one another in the ring with the exception of Morales and Marquez, two legendary Mexican fighters who could box, slug and found their best success at featherweight.

There was ample time to manifest this matchup, with both boxers hovering around each other's weight for years. Morales and Marquez both climbed all the way to 147 pounds and were still top-notch fighters at advanced ages.

A deal for a 140-pound fight in 2011 seemed close, but we were left wondering "what if" instead. At least we have the memories of each man's epic fight with Pacquiao, along with Morales' all-time trilogy with Barrera.

 

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Canelo Alvarez vs. Andre Ward​

Before Alvarez decided to jump up to 175 pounds for a title fight with Sergey Kovalev in November 2019, DAZN explored a fight between the Mexican star and Ward, a two-division undefeated champion who was two years into retirement but still just 35.

The bout would have pitted the sport's pound-for-pound king, Alvarez, against the former No. 1 P4P fighter who held the light heavyweight throne for years before retirement in Ward. And it would have been a fascinating, coin-flip matchup.

Ward was the naturally bigger man and with his defensive excellence and ring smarts, could have all the tools to neutralize Alvarez's offense just like Floyd Mayweather did, but in a different manner.

 

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Sergey Kovalev vs. Adonis Stevenson​

Two ferocious light heavyweight punchers in a title unification? The fight appeared to be a no-brainer, but as usual, boxing politics had other ideas.

Stevenson scored a first-round KO of Chad Dawson in 2013 to win the WBC and lineal light heavyweight championship. Two months later, Kovalev won the WBO title with a fourth-round TKO of Nathan Cleverly. Suddenly, the calls for a summit meeting at 175 pounds began.

There was still time to "marinate" the matchup and make it even bigger, and that's exactly what happened as both Kovalev and Stevenson went on to score a plethora of punishing knockouts.

 

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Riddick Bowe vs. Lennox Lewis​

With Tyson in prison, Riddick Bowe took over the heavyweight division in the early 1990s. He outpointed Holyfield in November 1992 to win the undisputed heavyweight championship, but there was one can't-miss opponent for Bowe who remained: Lennox Lewis.

Lewis wasn't yet a star when he was named the WBC's mandatory challenger to Bowe, but they already had history together. Lewis defeated Bowe in the Olympic gold medal match in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea, and was well on his way to taking over the pros, too.

Rather than face Lewis next, "Big Daddy" Bowe threw the WBC title in the trash at a news conference in December 1992. He still held the WBA and IBF belts (the WBO wasn't recognized then) before the WBC formally stripped him one month later.

 

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Floyd Mayweather vs. Antonio Margarito​

Before he was known as "Money" Mayweather, the all-time great was simply "Pretty Boy" Floyd, a virtuoso boxer at the peak of his powers.

Mayweather made his move to welterweight in 2006 with a decision victory over Zab Judah to claim a title in a fourth weight class, which led to calls for a fight with Antonio Margarito. A 5-foot-11 147-pounder who often threw upward of 1,000 punches per fight, Margarito appeared to present a stylistic challenge for Mayweather.

Surely, Margarito wouldn't have been favored to defeat Mayweather -- who was? -- but he would have likely made for a fun action fight. Top Rank promoted both Mayweather and Margarito, and with boxing's large Mexican fan base, the company looked to capitalize by matching them together later in '06.

 

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