From Ali v Inoki to Mayweather v McGregor: five bizarre boxing bouts

George Foreman v the Toronto five

In 1975 the former heavyweight champion Foreman takes on five opponents on the same afternoon in bouts of three three-minute rounds each in Toronto. Muhammad Ali is ringside providing withering putdowns for the ABC television network six months on from their colossal “Rumble in the Jungle”. Foreman, who is attempting to rebuild his reputation, takes on respectable fighters in Alonzo Johnson, Pedro Agosto, Mac Foster, Terry Daniels and Boone Kirkman. To a background of booing, Foreman wins the lot. “I’d put on a show. I’d fought five guys, and I’d made it through. It was a big victory for me,” he says afterwards.

Muhammad Ali v Antonio ‘The Pelican’ Inoki

Nine months on from his third and final fight against Joe Frazier, the “Thrilla in Manila”, Ali has been busy boxing stooges such as the Yorkshireman Richard Dunn in Munich. So in June 1976 he travels to Tokyo and takes on the gigantic Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki for a cool $6m, contesting the title of “Toughest Man on the Planet” at a soldout Budokan. Ali has a less than complimentary nickname for Inoki – “The Pelican” because of his big bullseye chin – and what follows is 15 rounds of pure slapstick as Inoki lays flat on the canvas offering only kicks and Ali, leaping out of the way, throws only six punches.

Muhammad Ali v Lyle Alzado

In July 1979, the now 37-year-old Ali fights an eight-round exhibition against the burly American football star Lyle Alzado at Mile High Stadium, Colorado. Ali’s previous competitive bout had seen him regain the heavyweight title from Leon Spinks in August 1978 while Alzado is pushing for a new deal with the Denver Broncos – having fought in the Golden Gloves he wants to prove he has career prospects outside the NFL. Before the exhibition bout Ali goes into full motormouth mode, taunting Alzado: “We’re friends now, we smile and we laugh. But when the bell rings, we rumble. You’ve got some nerve. I’m not in shape to fight no Joe Frazier or Foreman, but I’m in shape for a football player.” Amid all the blather, 15,000 turn up to watch, leaving 60,000 empty seats for a forgettable waltz around the ring that Ali struggles to take seriously.

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Shaquille O’Neal v Oscar De La Hoya

The 2009 bout is part of a TV series called “Shaq Vs” where the basketball legend takes on other big sporting figures in the boxing ring. The fight takes place in Paradise, Nevada and consists of four two-minute rounds and a one-minute fifth round. The undersized De La Hoya outboxes O’Neal and walks away with a unanimous decision, but the former LA Lakers great later says: “I held back ‘cause he was my friend.”

Floyd Mayweather v Conor McGregor

It’s August 2017 and the finest boxer of his generation, unbeaten in 49 paying fights in five weight classes, faces off against an opponent with no professional boxing experience but a big noise in mixed martial arts. Mayweather is lined up to pocket $100m from the PT Barnum-style “superfight”, and announces his retirement from boxing straight after his 10th-round, 30-minute TKO victory.