In this topic, the men who faced challenges when they didn't have to.

[Shake]

Mayweather -- for fighting De la Hoya.
Jermain Taylor -- for fighting Kelly Pavlik.
Cotto and Mosley -- for fighting eachother.
Antonio Margarito -- for defending his belt against the #1 contender after he accused Mayweather for ducking his mandatory.
Joe Calzaghe -- for taking on a less-than-well-known but better-than-all-the-'names' fighter in Kessler.

Who still have to --

Hopkins.
Pacman.

Add your own.

[PATSYS]

Pac-JMM 1
Tito-Winky
Taylor-Pavlik
Lewis-Vitali

[Middleweight]

At what point do you need to fight someone? Pavlik was Taylor's mandatory for months... he fought two #1 elimination bouts.

[Napuis]

Jake LaMotta - defending his Middleweight title to Sugar Ray Robinson after SRR had beaten him in the previous four encounters.

You WOULD NOT see that nowadays.

And yes, LaMotta lost :-)

[FlatNose]

So now, fighters get extra credit for doing what their supposed to do? I guess when there are guys like Roy Jones, and Benard Hopkins around, who talk about fights more than actually fighting , guys like Cotto and Mosely are elevated to a higher level just for being active and not trying to avoid a tough fight , like most would avoid the plauge.

[Mike T]

Jones didn't have to fight Ruiz

[PATSYS]

Nope, Pavlik was the number one contender and people would've given Taylor shit if he left the division without fighting Pavlik.

Taylor was offered to fight Calzaghe.

He also had the option to rematch Winky.

Mandatories don't mean a lot these days. Pavlik definitely pose as a hgih risk low reward fight for Taylor and yet he took it. Kudos to him.

[MattyC808]

I think any fight Corrales took had to be a challenge. When he moved up to welterweight and fought Corley that was insane. A true warrior.

[PATSYS]

Very good one! NOBODY wanted to fight Marquez at that time and even the elite were avoiding his like the plague. Pac absolutely did NOT have to take that fight but he did...

Yep. I remember clearly Roach was not very happy with Pac's decision to fight Marquez - whom Roach had been saying was a much difficult fight for Pac than MAB or Morales.

[Mike T]

Floyd-Oscar and Roy-Ruiz are bad examples. Each made a career high payday and each fight huge historical significance. So while they didn't have to fight them they'd have been foolish not to.Fair points. The paydays were great in both cases. Jones was already a first ballot hall of famer without this fight. It was basically a lose, lose situation for Ruiz. If he wins it's a great payday but he did what he was supposed to do to the smaller Jones. We all know what happened.

[cuchulain]

Mayweather -- for fighting De la Hoya. $$$$$$$ for both !!!
Jermain Taylor -- for fighting Kelly Pavlik. Had to.
Cotto and Mosley -- for fighting eachother. Best that could be made for each and a Mayweather eliminator.
Antonio Margarito -- for defending his belt against the #1 contender after he accused Mayweather for ducking his mandatory. Showed some balls !
Joe Calzaghe -- for taking on a less-than-well-known but better-than-all-the-'names' fighter in Kessler. Absolutely HAD to.
Who still have to --

Hopkins.
Pacman.

Add your own..

[raiderjay]

I could be wrong, but I thought Pavlik was already the #1 contender when he fought Miranda and he didn't need to fight him, but did anyways to cement himself as the #1 contender for both of Taylors belts. If that was the case then he easily wins the contest for fighting a tough fight when he really did not need to.

[iceman]

Any fighter worth his salt should want to fight the best. If a champ fights 3 or 4 times a year (like they should) at least 2 of those fights should be against the # 1 and #2 rated challengers.Politics and bullshit abc rankings are ruining boxing.Thats why i like Cotto and Pavlik so much - they want to fight the best out there, theres no ducking,no bullshit trashtalking, they just come to fight

[Brickhaus]

Juan Manuel Marquez - for fighting Chris John IN INDONESIA for next to no money.

Sultan Ibragamov has to get props for going after Chagaev and Klitschko. I doubt he'd be the favorite in either fight, and long-term, he'd probably make more money fighting a bunch of scrubs and mandatories like the other heavies have been doing.

[Pantera2000]

I could be wrong, but I thought Pavlik was already the #1 contender when he fought Miranda and he didn't need to fight him, but did anyways to cement himself as the #1 contender for both of Taylors belts. If that was the case then he easily wins the contest for fighting a tough fight when he really did not need to.

He was #1, but not the mandatory. The WBC made that fight and the winner was to fight JT.

[dangerousity]

Juan Manuel Marquez - for fighting Chris John IN INDONESIA for next to no money.

Sultan Ibragamov has to get props for going after Chagaev and Klitschko. I doubt he'd be the favorite in either fight, and long-term, he'd probably make more money fighting a bunch of scrubs and mandatories like the other heavies have been doing.

Chris John was a mandatory and I dont think anyone saw John as a threat so this wasnt JMM taking a big risk.

[PATSYS]

Tarver-Harding 2

[Brickhaus]

Chris John was a mandatory and I dont think anyone saw John as a threat so this wasnt JMM taking a big risk.

Fighting any Indonesian in Indonesia is a big risk.

He was in a similar situation to Margo vs. Williams. He could have dropped his belt and made a bigger money fight with a different title holder. Instead he went off to go fight an unheralded, undefeated #1 contender who didn't bring nearly the same financial rewards. Yes, it was partially out of spite, but it was definitely a risk he didn't need to take.

[kg0208]

Jones-Tarver 2 should have been mentioned.

[Illmatic]

Mosley fighting Forrest and Wright.
Mayweather giving an immediate rematch to Castillo.
Whitaker-Vazquez
Lacy fighting Calzaghe
Calderon - Cazares.

and the biggest of em all.......

LEONARD FIGHTING HAGLER.

[Amsterdam]

Mayweather -- for fighting De la Hoya.

I don't consider a past prime, inactive De La Hoya to be a great challenge for the P4P #1. And it's no merit of 'taking a challenge' considering the money anybody gets fighting Oscar.

Jermain Taylor -- for fighting Kelly Pavlik.

He would have faced immense ridicule if he didn't, it was a 'had to' from an indirect point of view. He definitely couldn't avoid the guy without committing a massive blow to his selling point.

Cotto and Mosley -- for fighting eachother.

Fact.

Antonio Margarito -- for defending his belt against the #1 contender after he accused Mayweather for ducking his mandatory.

Fact.

Joe Calzaghe -- for taking on a less-than-well-known but better-than-all-the-'names' fighter in Kessler.

Joe had to face him, similiar situation as Taylor. But the difference is that Joe wanted a big fight that would generate acclaim, so it was no big deal, Taylor was put at a wall. I'm sure Taylor would have enjoyed fighting a LMW had it been another scenerio.



.

[Axe]

Tomasz Adamek for fighting Chad Dawson.

[kg0208]

Tomasz Adamek for fighting Chad Dawson.

Yah....that's probably true.

[Amsterdam]

Tomasz Adamek for fighting Chad Dawson.

Definitley, and for taking Briggs twice, which we remember Tarver refused and stayed to the senior circuit with journeyman Johnson along the way.

Though, a non-superstar Euro gets no credit, as usual.

[PATSYS]

Juan Manuel Marquez - for fighting Chris John IN INDONESIA for next to no money.


LMAO :D