Wrestlers vs. Boxers

In 1976, the world wanted to know what would happen if the greatest boxer in the world battled the greatest wrestler in Japan. No one expected that Inoki would be on his back for the entire match kicking at Ali's legs. This farce was seen via closed circuit to a worldwide audience.

As part of the undercard of the Ali debacle, Andre the Giant took on Chuck Wepner at Shea Stadium. Thankfully, that match didn't last 15 rounds. This one lasted three rounds and ended when Andre threw Chuck Wepner outside of the ring. Andre won the match by count out. For those of you wondering who Chuck Wepner was, he lost to Muhammad Ali a year earlier and is the boxer that Sylvester Stallone based Rocky Balboa off of.

Speaking of Rocky, in Rocky III he had an exhibition battle against Thunderlips. Thunderlips was played by Hulk Hogan and with the release of that movie, Hulkamania was born. Without this wrestler vs. boxing battle, it is very possible that wrestling as we enjoy it today would be very different.

The prior battles answered the question of what would happen if a boxer entered the wrestling ring. In this case a wrestler entered a boxing ring. However, this 1991 boxing match turned out to be just as scripted as any wrestling match. Former AWA star Derrick Dukes threw the match to help hype the career of football player turned boxer Mark Gastineau. Gastineau won the match by knock out in the first round but it was later revealed that this and several other of his fights were fixed.

At the 1997 PPV event In Your House D-Generation X, Eric "Butterbean" Esch took on Marc Mero in a worked "Toughman" match. That match ended when Mero hit Butterbean with a low blow that resulted in his disqualification.

Butterbean returned to the WWE in 1999 and took part in WrestleMania XV. He fought Bart Gunn in a "Brawl for All" match. This match was a legitimate shoot fight that ended in 35 seconds when Butterbean clocked Gunn in the face with a haymaker that caused Gunn to be knocked out legitimately. Gunn was released from the WWE shortly after this embarrassing loss.

Evander Holyfield took on Matt Hardy in a boxing match during a 2007 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event. Evander's cornerman was Montel Vontavious Porter, a wrestler that was feuding with Matt at the time. When Evander didn't finish off Matt as quickly as MVP wanted, MVP started to talk trash to Evander. Evander then knocked out MVP with one blow and celebrated with Matt. The match was declared a no-contest.

Billed as "The Biggest vs. The Best", these two men squared off at WrestleMania XXIV. Big Show entered the ring with a 16" height advantage and weighed more than twice as Mayweather. This David vs. Goliath battle didn't end with David using a rock, he used a pair of brass knuckles instead. However, all did not end well for Mayweather. He didn't make the $20 million that he was rumored to be making for this match.

Ricky Hatton was the celebrity guest host for Monday Night RAW on November 9, 2009. During the program, Chavo Guerrero first challenged Ricky to a game of darts which Chavo lost. Chavo then got into it with Santino Marella, who was dressed as Ricky Fatton. After hearing the bickering, Ricky gave Chavo the boxer vs. wrestler match he asked for. Only instead of fighting Ricky Fatton, he had to face Ricky Hatton. Ricky easily knocked Chavo out during their match later in the show.