20 Athlete Boxing Bouts We Want To See

20 Athlete Boxing Bouts We Want To See

James Caughlin

By all accounts, newly retired NRL player Paul Gallen is lining up another boxing fight, this time with MMA legend Mark Hunt.

It will be his 11th career fight with 9 wins and a draw and naturally it sparked up an office debate, what are some other athlete grudge matches we’d like to see.

After some exhaustive research… ok a couple of hours on google, we came up with this short and simple 20 Athlete Boxing Bouts We Want To See.

Paul Gallen v Nate Myles

If something goes wrong with the Mark Hunt fight, we’d love to see Myles step up in his place.

Sure it wouldn’t be a “professional” bout to add to Gallen’s record but it would be the perfect follow up to their first meeting in the 2013 State of Origin series where Gallen got a couple of good hits on Myles before all hell broke loose.

We’d love to know if these boxing pads at Maroons training had Gallen’s face taped to them.

Cam Smith v Cooper Cronk

One day there’s going to be a book about the falling out between to of the best NRL players of the last decade.

After winning pretty much everything on offer with the Storm, Maroons and Kangaroos, the hostilities came out when Cronk announced his departure from the Storm in 2017.

While they will say all the right things publicly, we’d love to see them express their true feelings… with their fists.

Israel Folau v Gareth Thomas

There’s plenty of people that disagree with Israel Folau’s views and would love to have a chance to change them with a brisk exchange of ideas.

Others may want to adopt a more forceful approach to try and explain why they think his viewpoints are not necessarily the best.

While former Welsh international Gareth Thomas has come out in firm opposition of Folau’s views and recent signing with Catalans in the Super League (and can you blame him?).

There will probably be some strong feelings in this one if Twitter is anything to go by.  

Andrew Johns v Darren Lockyer

Who was the best player of the early 2000’s?

Generally speaking, which side of the Tweed River you reside on would determine which player you would be backing in this debate.

Why not use the always reliable way solve it with these two squaring off in the ring?

An early market on this one would surely favour Johns, even if only slightly.

Gorden Tallis vs Robbie Farrah

Rugby League’s history is filled with long standing rivalries and spats that go back to who said what to whom.

These two have had their differences and in all honesty, this one actually would be a good matchup to watch if given the chance.

Wayne Bennett vs Phil Gould

If the recent reports are true, this might impact the ability of Gus to sign Rabbitohs players but these two have been going back and forth for years.

Remember when they were reportedly going to be working together at the Panthers?

That could very well have devolved into fisticuffs anyway.

Arsene Wenger vs Jose Mourinho

It’s fair to say there was some genuine dislike between Wenger and Mourinho after the latter branded the former a “specialist in failure” and plenty of other barbs traded in the press throughout their time as Premier League managers.

While tensions have eased in recent years we got a glimpse of it when they clashed on the Stamford Bridge touchline a few years ago.

While Mourinho would not be afraid to turn it into a scrappy fight, Wenger’s reach and tenacity, not to mention a desire to knock the self proclaimed special one over.

If only Wenger was still at Arsenal, we might get the wildest North London Derby ever with Mourinho at Tottenham.

Besart Berisha vs Pascaal Bosschart (or anyone he has ever met)

We could have named pretty much anybody in A-League history to take on the fiery striker but we couldn’t go past Pascaal Bosschart after the two very nearly came to blows in January 2012.

Seconds after scoring the winner, Berisha invited Bosschart into the tunnel to resolve their differences after a couple of tense meetings in that season.

Berisha would be a pretty short priced favourite in any bout, once he gets that look in his eyes he would be hard to stop.

Plenty of opponents (and even a few ex-teammates) would surely love to have a clean shot at him as well.

Joey Barton vs Anyone

We know plenty of people hated playing against Joey Barton but did anyone actually like playing with him?

You could literally market this as Joey Barton Boxes TBD and people would flock to it in hopes of seeing him get his clock cleaned.

Lionel Messi v Cristiano Ronaldo

Their fans argue all the time on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and probably even LinkedIn over who is the better footballer.

This might not solve that debate, in fact this probably wouldn’t even be much of a fight but it would be a fun build up.

Ronaldo’s size and reach would give him a huge edge in this game and while Messi would work the body as best as he can, you’d have to give this one to the Portuguese forward.

Lee Bowyer v Kieron Dyer

We’ve already seen this play out on the pitch, so why not set up a rematch? Plus we can share this again.

Brent Harvey v Ryan Crowley

Look, we can accept that “he pinched me” is a perfectly legitimate reason for wanting to level someone right?

Hayden Ballantyne v Most of the AFL

Notorious pest Ballantyne has made plenty of headlines for his extra curricular activity on the field, you wonder how many people would sign up for a chance to get one back on him.

Maybe Matthew Scarlett would be first in line?

Quade Cooper vs Richie McCaw

There’ll be no kneeing in the head from Cooper and no side entries or other dark arts from McCaw.

Just a good clean match that will probably… no definitely be way tougher than any other boxing match Cooper has faced.

Tiger Woods vs Phil Mickelson

These guys are that competitive we’d probably see them having bets on who would win each round mid-fight.

In fact they might get on a little bit too well now to even take it seriously.

Mack Horton v Sun Yang

Say what you will about swimming as a whole but the Mack Horton/Sun Yang rivalry is far and away the most interesting thing the sport has going for it.

There’s a genuine dislike with Horton not wanting anything to do with the (accused) drug cheat on the dais after races.

In fact, if the ref wanted to go get a hot dog or something during a round of this fight we could see things really escalate, just hope nobody loses the urine samples after the bout.

Nick Kyrgios v Rafael Nadal

In a sport that is, in all fairness, dominated by guys with limited personality, the dislike between Kyrgios and Nadal makes any clash between these two a must watch.

You think Nick would love a chance to hurl more than tennis balls at Nadal?

Chances are Rafa would wind up taking 120 seconds between rounds instead of the allotted 90 since his gloves need to be at the exactly right angle to compliment the shadows of his water bottles.

David Warner v Joe Root

The angriest man in the Australian Cricket team taking on the guy he has already punched on with?

Sign us up for that!

Joel Embiid v Karl Anthony Towns

We got a taste of things last October, how about a proper fight.

Embiid will do all his talking on Twitter and claim a victory regardless of how the fight actually goes.

Damien Lillard v Donovan Mitchell

If we can’t get these two to resolve their differences with a 1 on 1 grudge match at All Star Weekend, why not put them in the ring and let them go at it.

The weird thing is it sure seemed like they were getting along so well a while ago.