What is the greatest rivalry in boxing history?
Trilogies, grudges, one bite. Choose the pair that gave boxing its best nights.
1Muhammad Ali vs Joe FrazierThree fights between 1971 and 1975, including the Fight of the Century and the Thrilla in Manila.
2Sugar Ray Leonard vs Roberto DuranTwo welterweight classics in 1980 that ended with Duran turning away in the No Mas fight.
3Muhammad Ali vs Ken NortonThree close fights in the 1970s, the first of which left Ali with a broken jaw.
4Evander Holyfield vs Riddick BoweThree heavyweight fights in the 1990s, including the round-ten war of 1992.
5Sugar Ray Robinson vs Jake LaMottaSix meetings across the 1940s and 1950s, ending with the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
6Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel MarquezFour fights over eight years settled only by a single punch in the sixth round of the last one.
7Arturo Gatti vs Micky WardThree brutal fights in 2002 and 2003 that produced two Rounds of the Year.
8Joe Louis vs Max SchmelingTwo heavyweight fights in 1936 and 1938 watched by the whole world.
9Evander Holyfield vs Mike TysonTwo fights in 1996 and 1997, the second ended by a disqualification for biting.
10Israel Vazquez vs Rafael MarquezFour super-bantamweight fights between 2007 and 2010, all of them wars.
11Muhammad Ali vs George ForemanOne fight, in Kinshasa in 1974, that reset both men's careers.
12Carmen Basilio vs Sugar Ray RobinsonTwo middleweight title fights in 1957 and 1958, split one each.
13Katie Taylor vs Amanda SerranoThree fights from 2022 onward that headlined Madison Square Garden and a stadium card.
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Comments
Robinson and LaMotta predate both men here, and one of these rivalries ended in a disqualification over a bitten ear: https://youpick.best/articles/muhammad-ali-vs-mike-tyson-ranked https://youpick.best/articles/muhammad-ali-ranked-many-ways
