20 Fights That Looked Great on Paper but Ended Up Disappointing 1. Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao (2015) 2. Mike Tyson vs. Lennox Lewis (2002) 3. Canelo Álvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin III (2022) 4. Oscar De La Hoya vs. Félix Trinidad (1999) 5. Wladimir Klitschko vs. David Haye (2011) 6. Canelo Álvarez vs. Jermell Charlo (2023) 7. Bernard Hopkins vs. Chad Dawson I (2011) 8. Roy Jones Jr. vs. Bernard Hopkins II (2010) 9. Anthony Joshua vs. Joseph Parker (2018) 10. Teofimo Lopez vs. George Kambosos – undercard hype vs. reality (2021) 11. Tyson Fury vs. Wladimir Klitschko (2015) 12. Shane Mosley vs. Manny Pacquiao (2011) 13. Adrien Broner vs. Manny Pacquiao (2019) 14. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Canelo Álvarez (2017) 15. Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia (2023) 16. Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Durán III (1989) 17. Bernard Hopkins vs. Roy Jones Jr. I (1993) 18. Miguel Cotto vs. Canelo Álvarez (2015) 19. Guillermo Rigondeaux vs. Vasiliy Lomachenko (2017) 20. Errol Spence Jr. vs. Terence Crawford (2023) Thanks GPT
Floyd-Pac, Lewis-Tua & DLH-Tito are the three most famous examples. But another huge letdown that comes to mind is -- Tszyu-Tackie. To give some context, Tszyu-Tackie took place the very same night as Gatti-Ward 1. And A LOT of fans at the time on the forums were more excited for Tszyu-Tackie. As it were, Gatti-Ward 1 became a classic while Tszyu-Tackie was almost a carbon copy of Lewis-Tua.
I wouldn't call Cotto-Alvarez or Crawford-Spence disappointing. The former was a decent fight, i don't think people were expecting much more given the styles. The latter was pretty one sided but still entertaining.