Whenever a big fight comes around, it gets people talking about which fights they think are the best of all time. It’s an age-old debate and mostly it is based on what bouts people have actually witnessed in their own lifetime but some go down in history for a number of reasons. Sometimes you hear fights being billed as the biggest and best of all time, before they actually take place, and that’s where we’re going to begin.
The highest grossing boxing fight of all time took place last month between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor, with over $500 million generated in PPV sales alone. It was a contest which saw one of the greatest boxers of this generation take on a UFC star making his debut in the ring. It wasn’t a great fight as Mayweather just picked McGregor off to cruise to victory, but it was one thing though, extremely over hyped.
The best fights aren’t necessarily the top grossing bouts. One clash that every boxing fan will have heard of is the 1971 bout between two undefeated heavyweight champions, Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali. There was a huge amount of hype surrounding the fight but it definitely lived up to expectations with Frazier coming out on top in the 15 round match up after putting Ali on the canvas twice.
Source: The Fight City
Another iconic fight and again it saw Ali and Frazier in the ring in what is referred to as “The Thrilla in Manila” and this fight took place in 1975. This was the third meeting between the pair and many name this as the greatest fight of all time. It was a brutal affair as both fighters traded powerful blows, with both men looking to have been visibly hurt by each other. By the 15th, Frazier’s corner felt their fighter had suffered enough and they threw the towel in, but both men went to war that night, regardless of the result.
There were plenty of fights involving Ali that could labeled as one of the greats but another fight that really shocked the boxing world and will forever go down in history is when Mike Tyson destroyed Michael Spinks in 91 seconds back in 1988. Mike Tyson was looking to become the youngest heavyweight champion of all time and this period was one of the most gripping the sport has ever seen. He literally destroyed Spinks and Spinks was no fool. He was an Olympic gold medalist, he’d been the light heavyweight champion, was the first man to beat Larry Holmes and was also the lineal champion too.
Research conducted by Sportingbet seems to confirm that if there is a lot of hype or money surrounding a fight, it doesn’t necessarily make it one of the best of all time, as the Mayweather McGregor bout showed. Mayweather has been involved in some good fights over the years and most are extremely high grossing. For the best bouts though, you need look no further than Ali and his battles with Frazier and Foreman. These were truly remarkable fights where both men left it all in the ring and then some.