I’ll give a few and everyone can follow then. Leonard-Hagler- Leonard won a close one for me, but after all the complaining Hagler did, there should have been a rematch. Trinidad-De La Hoya- The golden coke head still cries about that fight till this day. Why didn’t he do a rematch in 2000/2001 at 154? Chavez vs Ramirez- Ramirez acquitted himself well enough and after the head butt ending, I would have liked to see it again. Any others?
Winky Wright vs Jermain Taylor Pernell Whitaker vs Julio César Chávez Matthew Saad Muhammad vs Eddie Mustafa Muhammad Juan Manuel Márquez vs Marco Antonio Barrera Hector Camacho vs Edwin Rosario
These are some good ones. Especially the Camacho and JMM fights. These didn't occur to me at all for some reason.
I would've liked to have seen a rematch with Charles and Harold Johnson. It was razor thin and Charles scored a knockdown in the final round which would've won him the fight with today's scoring. Obviously that's not a reason why they'd rematch, but the fact is that it was seen as extremely close by the press at the time and neither were shying away from tough fights, or rematches. It just never took place twice.
That’s a good pick. Harold Johnson vs Willie Pastrano is also another close-ish fight that could have warranted a rematch.
Last time I watched Johnson vs Pastrano was the late 2000s. I seem to remember Pastrano boxing superbly and deserving the decision.
Ok, this doesn’t technically count because Frankie Randall gave Chavez a rematch after their first fight but because he then had his title stolen from him, Randall never got the immediate rematch he richly deserved given he was jobbed out of the win in the second fight. The third fight came 10 years later when nobody cared and had about as much relevance as Nelson-Fenech 3 did.
Given the circumstances, I completely understand why it didn’t happen but there’s no way Michael Nunn v Sambu Kalambay plays out the same way twice.
Herol Graham deserved another shot at Mike McCallum considering how close that fight was and the point deduction cost him. Chris Byrd and Andrew Golota is also another fight that needed a rematch. It would have been nice to see a rematch between Ike Ibeabuchi and David Tua.
Camacho-Rosario and Taylor-Wright absolutely come to mind. I honestly don’t think Whitaker-Chavez needed a do over.
Chavez v Ramirez was a quality performance from Chavez. I don’t think the way it ended really clouded the outcome. I remember Chavez timing the right hand lead to perfection and he couldn’t miss. The real shame for me is that JCC didn’t spend more time at lightweight, particularly as Pernell Whitaker would have come quickly into view after the Ramirez fight.
