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Muhammad Ali vs George Foreman - The Rumble in the Jungle - was an incredibly huge fight and historically as big as any fight in history.
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Louis-Schmeling II
Johnson-Jeffries
Ali-Frazier I
Dempsey-Carpentier
Holmes-CooneyComment
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Taking fights purely in a historical context Sullivan v Corbett warrants consideration IMO.
Personally given the age I will miss that out as I don't think it would have had the impact in the public eye that others following it had.
Think you need to look on the HW's that dominated their era in and out the ring so for me that leaves Johnson,Dempey, Louis, Marciano, Ali, Holmes and Tyson
Starting with Johnson we are left with the Burns fight where finally a coloured fighter got his chance or Jeffries. I'm going to plump with Jeffries as I think in the public eye Burns was holding the title until the next dominant HW came along. The Jeffries fight established Johnson as the lineal champion was a huge fight in it's day with reprecussions that lasted for decades and proved to the more short sighted members of the public that a black man could compete with a white man.
Moving onto Dempsey we have to consider the Willard, Carpentier and Tunney fights.
As important as the Willard and Tunney fights were I have to plump for the first million dollar gate and build up of war hero v slacker that heralded the Carpentier fight.
Louis I think you can't look beyond the second Schmelling fight, not only the significance with regard to the coming war but also the fact that maybe for the first time the American public supported their fighter and took pride in the fighter in spite of his colour.
It is unfortunate to have to mention the colour aspect of both Johnson and Louis but tragically as seen by the careers of Jackson, Langford, Wills etc it was a huge and unfortunate factor in pre WW2 boxing.
Much as it pains me whilst you could consider a couple of Marciano fights I think the other 2 choices have to be Ali's. One has to be the first Frazier fight, THE fight of the century, the first time 2 undefeated HW champions fought for the title. The fact that the fight lived up to the hype was a bonus. Then I have to consider between his fights against Foreman, Spinks 2, Liston and for my money the greatest HW fight Frazier 3.
I'm going to plump for Liston 1 purely because it was such a huge shock and that it heralded the coming of "The Greatest" and the explosion of money and mainstream publicity that came with Ali. So:
Johnson v Jeffries
Dempsey Carpentier
Louis v Schmelling 2
Clay v Liston
Ali v Frazier
It does hurt to overlook the Rock, Holmes and Tyson as some of their fights were huge but I'm limited to 5 by the thread.Comment
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My list off the top of my head:
1: Ali-Frazier I
2: Johnson-Jeffries
3: Louis-Schmeling II
4: Ali-Foreman
5: Tyson-Spinks.Comment
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I had a copy of Ring Magazine's 1990 issue, 10 significant fights in heavyweight history, now I'd choose at least 7 of them, because I cant decide which other two I'll left out on the list.
Johnson-Jeffries - historically significant
Tunney-Dempsey II - because of the "long count"
Louis-Schemling II - not only did Louis avenge his loss but to all those who opposed hitler.
Clay-Liston I - great upset
Frazier-Ali I - this was, as always the Superfight
Ali-Foreman - the Greatest fought the second coming of Liston
Spinks-Holmes - larry was going to tie Marciano's record.
excluded were Marciano's title-winning effort against Walcott, Patterson becoming the first HW to regain his title, and Douglas upset of Mike Tyson.
I feel Tyson-Spinks had more historical sense than Iron Mike losing his title to Douglas on the upset of the century.Comment
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