What Would You Do With A Boxing Time Machine?

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By Anthony “Zute” George

Boxing has a sensational history. During that history, many great fighters have laced up the boxing gloves, and have waged war for our viewing pleasure. In that time, the curriculum of the sweet science has also changed. These elements have been the cause of many great conversations.

Fantasy fights have dominated that conversation. Could Joe Louis beat Muhammad Ali? How would Floyd Mayweather, JR. do against Sugar Ray Robinson? What would have happened if Mike Tyson and Joe Frazier locked horns? Although I realize it is a widely popular conversation starter on social media, personally, I do not fancy participating in these conversations. I just do not get any stimulation from talking about fights that would never happen. Could never happen. And most fantasy fights involve fighters from vastly different eras.

If the fight had a chance of happening, but did not, such as Pipino Cuevas against Carlos Palomino, or, Salvador Sanchez taking on Eusebio Pedroza, I can warm up to such a fight a little bit. But I would much rather spend time talking about another boxing question with a fantasy element: If you could go back in time and have a ringside ticket to one fight, what would that fight be? I have seen this question all over social media, but I do not know who thought of it. I wish I did so I can give proper credit.

Indeed, it is an intriguing question. Choosing just one fight would be a conundrum for most boxing fans. The first fight that came to mind was the first battle between Matthew Saad Muhammad and Marvin Johnson because it is just about the best fight I have ever seen. But then I thought I would love to see Marvelous Marvin Hagler, my personal favorite, in either of the first two battles with Sugar Ray Seales or perhaps the Kevin Finnegan fights. Then, of course, there is the ambiguous fight between Ray Leonard and Randy Shields; a fight so shrouded in mystery; it gets a little creepy how nobody seems to talk about why this fight is impossible to locate.

When I think of those choices, I realize I just blew the opportunity to see Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Joe Gans at their best. Or seeing Rocky Marciano win the title is dramatic comeback fashion. Who would not want to have a ringside seat to the Fight of the Century?

To limit my time travels to just one fight is unbearable. So, I took the liberty to be able to advance my time machine once per decade. After all, if we are going to suspend belief by suggesting that time travel is even possible, why limit the fantasy to just one trip? Also, allow me to flip the script a touch and change the question to; If you could go back in time and cover one fight from press row, what would it be? After all, covering boxing matches is a great passion of mine, so why not dream about scribing some classics?

Here are my choices of fights I would choose.

1900-1909: Joe Gans WDQ 42 Oscar “Battling” Nelson, September 3rd, 1906.
1910-1919: Harry Wills W20 Sam Langford, January 3rd, 1916.
1920-1929: Gene Tunney W10 Jack Dempsey II, September 22nd, 1927.
1930-1939: Holman Williams W15 Charley Burley, December 1st, 1939.
1940-1949: Marcel Cerdan RTD11 Tony Zale, September 21st, 1948.
1950-1959: Rocky Marciano KO13 Joe Walcott II, September 23rd, 1952.
1960-1969: Jose Napoles RTD13 Curtis Cokes I, April 18th, 1969.
1970-1979: Matthew Saad Muhammad TKO12 Marvin Johnson, July 26th, 1977.
1980-1989: Marvelous Marvin Hagler TKO3 Thomas Hearns, April 15th, 1985.
1990-1999: James “Buster” Douglas KO10 Mike Tyson, February 11th, 1990.
2000-2009: Diego Corrales TKO10 Jose Luis Castillo, May 7th, 2005.
2010-2019: Marcos Maidana W12 Adrien Broner, December 14th, 2013.

There you go. Just because I expanded the ability to choose more fights did not mean it was any less daunting a task. As I have left out many classic battles.

What would you choose?

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