Over the years, the pugilistic art has given us some big, high expectation bouts that are dubbed ‘super fights’. Although there’s no real clear definition of what constitutes a super fight, generally something on a magnitude that transcends the sport and spills into the mainstream consciousness is given the hallowed title. In the 70’s a large number of high profile bouts took place, among them were the more popular (and most referenced) fights like Ali v Frazier (all three contests were excellent, but the third in particular became a monstrously huge fight publicity-wise and more than delivered on the action front). Ali v Foreman’s historic meeting in Zaire was undoubtedly massive and also lived up to all the expectations. These fights were big on hype and delivered all the action, drama and satisfaction that the fans had hoped for. All went down in the history books as classics to be talked about and re-watched for years to come. In the 80’s you had another rich line of classics and the more popular (and hugely publicised) matches we remember include Ray Leonard v Duran, Ray Leaonard v Hearns, Hagler v Hearns and so on. Again, all classics that more than delivered on all the hype surrounding them. All superb examples of how good boxing can be and all a pleasure to re-watch all these years later. Of course the late 80’s was the Mike Tyson era, and nigh on all his fights (up until his first upset loss) were hugely publicised and, although all one-sided, delivered plenty of excitement due to his fierce and ferocious punching power. Into the 90’s and we had another list of massive bouts that delivered on the action front, including Chavez v Taylor, Holyfield v Bowe, Tyson v Holyfield and more. Around the turn of the century however, the so-called super fights began a pattern that has more or less stayed the same since. Bearing in mind I’m not talking about huge matchups for BOXING FANS (we’ve had plenty of those) but more the kind of massive events that mainstream media catch hold of and have the casual fans tuning in. De La Hoya v Trinidad was hyped as the “Fight of The Millenium” with two undefeated and highly exciting warriors squaring off in what – on paper - was sure to be a classic. The fight was a disappointment, and whilst a lot better than some of the other letdowns I’ll go on to mention, didn’t deliver on the stratospheric hype surrounding it. Lewis v Tyson was a hugely anticipated bout that had been fantasized for years, yet by the time they met, Tyson was way past it and suffered a one sided, unexciting beating. De La Hoya v Mayweather was another match that caught the attention of many fans not normally interested in the sport, and probably served to switch them off. A boring fight of huge magnitude that had Oscar chasing Mayweather for the whole fight and hardly any good, two way action. Read more: http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=28530&more=1
