"Few enterprises of great labor or hazard would be undertaken if we had not the power of magnifying the advantages we expect from them." --Samuel Johnson
As we count down the hours until Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao finally meet in the ring, anticipation has reached a point where people can hardly control themselves. Fight fever has consumed us again, and one can only hope some good will come of it. The most anticipated fights usually generate a lot of money but have a spotty record when it comes to action inside the ring, ranging from spellbinding to "why did I bother to watch?" Each tells us almost as much about the state of the game and its consumers as it does the fights and fighters.
The following is a series of 10 of the most anticipated fights of all time. It's a mixed bag, subjectively selected and arranged in chronological order because there's no accurate way to measure them against one another. Each in its time and in its own way was an enormous event. As we wait impatiently for the opening bell of Mayweather-Pacquiao, let's look back at other fights of great expectations and what they wrought.
July 4, 1910: Jack Johnson KO15 James J. Jeffries
The Setup
Most white Americans hated Johnson, not just because he was the first black heavyweight champion and not even because he laughed at his white opponents and cavorted with white women. What they hated most was that he had destroyed the myth of white supremacy. After five white challengers failed to reclaim the title, author Jack London (a racist and anti-Semite) spearheaded a popular campaign to lure undefeated former champ Jefferies out of retirement. He hadn't fought since 1904 and was reluctant at first, but a purse of more than $100,000 eventually changed his mind. Johnson's haters couldn't have been happier. A piece of doggerel, published by the Nevada State Journal on the day of the fight, which took place in Reno, illustrates the unabashed bigotry that surrounded the event.
Uncle Sam will shave his whiskers
Columbia will lose her figure
The eagle will fly from the stars and stripes
If Jeffries don't lick that n-----
The Fight
Jeffries was thoroughly outclassed. As a capacity crowd of mainly white spectators looked on in horror, Jefferies, slathered in his own blood, went down three times in the 15th round, and the fight was stopped.
The Takeaway
The majority of white folk didn't take it well. There were race riots in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, St. Louis, New Orleans, Houston and Washington D.C., as well as dozens of other locations throughout the country. In Uvalda, Georgia, black railway workers and white locals shot it out in a blazing gunfight. Lots of folks were hurt, and some died.
June 22, 1938: Joe Louis KO1 Max Schmeling
The Setup
Due to an accident of birth, Louis' ascent roughly paralleled the rise of Nazi Germany, and it was only by coincidence that the only man to beat Joe at the time was German. Louis' second match with Schmeling was no longer just about boxing or even vengeance. It was Uncle Sam versus Hitler in a morality play that foreshadowed the deadliest armed conflict in history. Heavy stuff to be sure.
Schmeling was Hitler's Arian superman, the boxing Ubermensch who had knocked Louis out in 1936, before Joe won the heavyweight title. It wasn't a role Schmeling particularly relished, but that didn't matter much. He was the designated bad guy, and Louis, a black sharecropper's son from Alabama, was America's dark knight in shining armor.
Symbolically, there was a lot more at stake than a championship belt.
The Fight
Fighting at Yankee Stadium, Louis administered one of the most savage beatings ever witnessed in a boxing ring, as he knocked Schmeling down three times before the massacre was stopped after just 2 minutes, 4 seconds.
The Takeaway
Never before or since has a fight transcended boxing to such an extent. Not only did this fight augur the carnage to come, but it was also the catalyst for a slow but significant change of heart. How could you celebrate Joe's rout of the "Black Uhlan of the Rhine" one minute and hate him the next because of the color of his skin?
March 8, 1971: Joe Frazier UD15 Muhammad Ali
The Setup
The storyline was worthy of Shakespeare: The exiled king returns to reclaim his rightful crown and engages in a fight for the ages with his usurper. Add partisan politics and a sizable chunk of '70s funk, and you have Frazier-Ali I, a magical event that was bigger than boxing yet all about boxing at the same time.
Like Louis-Schmeling, there were serious sociopolitical implications heaped on top of what was an excellent match. The Vietnam War had divided the nation, and in the cultural turmoil of the times, the fight and fighters became surrogates for those who opposed and those who supported the war.
Even more than Schmeling, Frazier was a square peg hammered into a round hole by the public and media's disdain for nuance. But for every hero, there has to be a villain, and Ali's refusal to join the military automatically made him the champion of the antiwar side. Frazier had nowhere else to go.
The Fight
It was magnificent. It was brutal. In the end, Frazier's celebrated left hook swept Ali off his feet in the 15th round, which settled matters beyond any doubt. Both men covered themselves in glory. Both ended up in the hospital.
The Takeaway
"Smokin' Joe" won the fight, but history was on Ali's side.
Sept. 25, 1962: Sonny Liston KO1 Floyd Patterson
The Setup
The only Liston biography written while he was still alive was "The Champion Nobody Wanted" by A. S. Young. If it had been written a few years earlier, "The Contender Nobody Wanted" would have been equally apropos.
At times, it seemed like the only people who wanted Liston were mobsters. But that wasn't entirely true. Boxing fans wanted him or, more precisely, wanted him to get a shot at champion Floyd Patterson. Just like today, they wanted the best to fight the best.
Liston had been the No. 1 heavyweight contender for two years and probably the best heavyweight in the world for considerably longer.
Patterson's manager, Cus D'Amato, knew his guy couldn't win and used Sonny's association with underworld figures as an excuse to duck him. Cus wasn't the only one. The NAACP feared Liston would hurt its cause, and according to Patterson, President John F. Kennedy was against it too.
In the end, Patterson, a brave and honorable man, went against D'Amato's wishes and accepted Liston's challenge.
The Fight
It was all over 2 minutes, 6 seconds into the first round. You just knew Patterson wasn't going to get up after Liston clubbed him with a concussive left hook. Two fights later, Sonny was also an ex-champ.
The Takeaway
Despite his shameful performances in both Muhammad Ali fights, antihero Liston has attracted a cult following (he was on the cover of The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" album), and interest in him remains strong decades after his mysterious death.
April 6, 1987: Ray Leonard SD 12 Marvin Hagler
The Setup
Sugar Ray was boxing royalty, one who came and went as he pleased during the latter part of his career, a gifted gadfly who picked his spots with the cunning of a riverboat gambler. Hagler, despite his terrifying fighting ability and long reign as middleweight champion, was a still a blue-collar fighter. He'd earned his star status by being really good for a really long time, and people loved him for it.
There was concern for Leonard's health when he decided to return following two eye surgeries and a three-year layoff, especially against a fighter as formidable as Hagler. Some questioned his sanity; others said his ego had finally gotten the better of him.
The public, however, was thrilled at the prospect of arguably the two best fighters of the era facing each other. The promotion was a guaranteed success.
The Fight
It was a very good fight -- closely contested at a high skill level -- but not a great one. There were no knockdowns and no particularly memorable highlights. If it hadn't been Hagler and Leonard in the ring, it would have been just another decent fight. No big deal. But it was Leonard and Hagler, and the split decision in Ray's favor is fiercely debated to this day.
The Takeaway
A golden era was waning.
Sept. 10, 1993: Pernell Whitaker MD12 Julio Cesar Chavez
The Setup
The match of future Hall of Famers built steadily over the three-and-a-half years the pair were rated the two best pound-for-pound fighters in the world. The fact that they were both around the same weight, which doesn't happen nearly as often as you might think in pound-for-pound ratings, made the situation even more intriguing. Demand for the match grew until it became the biggest fight that could be made outside the heavyweight division -- a petulant defensive genius versus the quintessential Mexican warrior.
The Fight
The huge crowd inside the Alamodome in San Antonio was comprised mainly of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, but even some of them booed when the shameful draw was announced. Judge Jack Woodruff's 115-113 for Whitaker was too close, but at least he got the right man. The twin scores of 115-115 by Mickey Vann and Franz Marti were inexcusable.
The Takeaway
Even the most anticipated fights can and often do go wrong, and never underestimate the fallibility of fight judges.
Aug. 19, 1995: Mike Tyson DQ1 Peter McNeeley
The Setup
There was (and is) a great romance between Tyson and his millions of fans. Sure, it has had more than its share of heartache, but the attraction was so potent that it wasn't long after he went to prison for sexual assault that people started counting the days before he would walk free. When he did, excitement levels were off the charts.
Don King and Showtime calculated that after waiting more than three year for Tyson's return, fans wouldn't really care whom he fought. Just having Tyson back and kicking butt again would be enough. McNeeley (the son of former heavyweight contender Tom McNeeley) was selected from a deep pool of mediocrity -- an Irish-American brawler with the gift of the gab. He was accompanied by a colorful, cigar-chomping character named Vinnie Vecchione, who trained and managed him. As comic relief, they were perfect.
The Fight
McNeeley charged out of his corner like a kamikaze pilot, apparently eager to get things over with as quickly as possible. A hulking man with a squishy baby face, he looked unhinged and began winging wild punches born of desperation. When Tyson dropped him for the second time, Vecchione entered the ring, which triggered an automatic disqualification. It was over just 1 minute, 29 seconds after it began. Seldom have so many paid so much for so little.
The Takeaway
The fight grossed $96 million worldwide, thanks to a then-record 1.52 million pay-per-view buys. Somewhere, the ghost of P.T. Barnum was chuckling almost as loudly as Don King.
June 8, 2002: Lennox Lewis KO8 Mike Tyson
The Setup
Despite all evidence to the contrary, in 2002 there were millions of deluded folks who believed Tyson was still the baddest man on the planet. Some even assumed he was still the champ! It was this lingering fantasy that helped make the fight such a massive attraction.
It took months of negotiation and plenty of compromise, but rivals Showtime and HBO finally reached an agreement to work together and give the masses what everybody wanted: a bout between Iron Mike and reigning heavyweight champion Lewis. When Tyson bit Lewis on the leg during a press conference brawl, it only heightened the anticipation.
The Fight
After a promising start, Tyson flamed out, and Lewis took over. He knocked Tyson down twice in the eighth, the second time with as sweet a right hand as you'll ever see. Tyson was on one knee struggling to get up when the count reached 10.
The Takeaway
The fight generated 1.9 million pay-per-view buys to the tune of approximately $112 million, which proved yet again that it pays to give consumers what they want.
May 5, 2007: Floyd Mayweather SD12 Oscar De La Hoya
The Setup
The match was a natural. De La Hoya was in decline, only one victory past his knockout loss to Bernard Hopkins, but he was still golden at the box office. Mayweather was peaking but needed a win over a star of Oscar's magnitude to lift him to the upper echelon of pay-per-view attractions. They were made for each other.
The Fight
Considering he was (unbeknownst to the general public) struggling with substance abuse, it's remarkable how well Oscar did in the first half of the fight. He didn't inflict much damage, but it's fair to say the fight was pretty much even through six rounds. De La Hoya, however, could not keep it up, and Mayweather pulled away. The split decision in Mayweather's favor should have been unanimous, but it wasn't a particularly good fight. The tension was there, but not the passion.
The Takeaway
The morning after, the same mainstream media that had labeled it the "Fight To Save Boxing" (an asinine proposition to begin with) declared boxing dead, an astonishingly ironic stance considering the fight shattered all existing records by selling 2.48 million pay-per-views and generating $136 million. It reminded me of that old joke about how they've buried boxing so often they've run out of shovels.
May 2, 2015: Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao
The Setup
One aspect of the fight that hasn't been discussed ad nauseam is the tremendous impact of social media. The nonstop Internet bickering between the fighters' fans kept the fight alive for years. The feud was rekindled every time either of them fought, with another round of partisan trash talk and wild allegations.
Some of Mayweather's more inflammatory posts suggested Pacquiao used performance-enhancing drugs, which led to a defamation lawsuit. That was eventually settled out of court, with Pacquiao receiving an apology and an undisclosed payment to drop the charges. Even the official announcement of the fight was made on a social media platform called Shots, in which Mayweather is an investor.
The Fight
The truth will be revealed May 2.
The Takeaway
Boxing is still very much alive and, at its best, is one of mankind's most primal and noble spectacles, a blood ritual that speaks to the predator within all of us -- whether we like it or not.
