# What is the greatest rivalry in sports history?

> Some rivalries make a sport bigger than itself. Boxing, tennis, basketball, football, motor racing — pick the two names that belong together permanently.

*By YPB Team · Published September 5, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-greatest-rivalry-in-sports-history*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier**
   Three fights across five years, ending with the Thrilla in Manila in 1975.
2. **Evert vs Navratilova**
   Eighty matches between 1973 and 1988, sixty of them finals, split 43-37.
3. **Magic Johnson vs Larry Bird**
   From the 1979 NCAA final to three NBA Finals meetings in the 1980s.
4. **Federer vs Nadal**
   Forty meetings over sixteen years, including the 2008 Wimbledon final.
5. **Senna vs Prost**
   Teammates then enemies, decided by collisions at Suzuka in 1989 and 1990.
6. **Messi vs Ronaldo**
   Two decades of parallel record-breaking, nine years of it in the same league.
7. **Yankees vs Red Sox**
   More than a century of it, and the 2004 comeback that reversed the story.
8. **Lakers vs Celtics**
   Twelve NBA Finals meetings and the two biggest trophy cabinets in the league.
9. **Borg vs McEnroe**
   Ice against fire, and the 1980 Wimbledon final tiebreak that ran to 18-16.
10. **Palmer vs Nicklaus**
   The king against the challenger, and the 1962 US Open playoff that swapped them.
11. **Real Madrid vs Barcelona**
   El Clasico, played more than 250 times and watched almost everywhere.
12. **Chamberlain vs Russell**
   142 meetings between the era's most dominant scorer and its most decorated winner.
13. **Brazil vs Argentina**
   South America's oldest football argument, contested since 1914.
14. **Ohio State vs Michigan**
   College football's most-played grudge match, simply called The Game.
15. **Sampras vs Agassi**
   Serve against return, thirty-four meetings and the 2002 US Open final.
16. **Evander Holyfield vs Mike Tyson**
   Two heavyweight fights in 1996 and 1997, the second of them notorious.

Tags: sports, tennis, boxing, rivalries