Top 10 Highest Attended Fights In Boxing History

On Saturday night over 78000 packed out the Principality Stadium to see Anthony Joshua take on Joseph Parker. This means that in his last 4 fights over 328000 fans have seen Joshua fight. With that in mind I thought I’d look at the highest attended fights in boxing history, so here’s my top 10.

10. Ricky Hatton V Juan Lazcano 24th May 2008 Crowd 55000

55000 fans came to see this fight, it was Ricky’s first fight back in the Uk in over 2 years, and he was in front of his adoring home town crowd. It was his first time back in the ring since losing for the first time after been knocked out by Floyd Mayweather so there was a lot of pressure on him to perform. This fight will always have a special place in my heart because it was the first fight I saw in person. From the opening bell Ricky controlled the fight with his jab and he landed a lot of big attacks in the early rounds. However for large parts of the fight he didn’t look like the Hitman of old as he was rocked in the 8th and the 10th. Despite that all the quality work came from Ricky and he went on to win a unanimous decision 120-110, 118-110 and 120-108 on the judges cards.

9. George Foreman V Muhammad Ali 30th October 1974 Crowd 60000

The Rumble In The Jungle this is probably one of the most famous events in sporting history not just boxing. It has been reported that Forman actually prayed before the fight that he wouldn’t kill Ali, nobody gave Ali a chance in this fight such was the power of Forman. In the 1st round Ali started dancing round the ring, but Forman had done his homework on Ali and did a good job of cutting off the ring. In the 2nd round Ali just backed up on the ropes and let Forman hit him a move Ali would later called the rope a dope, Ali would keep this tactic up for most of the fight occasionally taunting Forman telling him to hit him harder. By the 5th round you could see that Forman was feeling the pace and he looked exhausted. That’s when Ali went to work and eventually scored the knockout in the 8th round.

8. Jack Doyle V Jack Peterson 12th July 1933 Crowd 70000

These two met for the British heavyweight title and from the first bell the leather was flying with both men landing big punches. However the fight came to an abrupt end in the 2nd round when Doyle was disqualified for landing a number of low blows.

7. Carl Froch V George Groves 2 31st May 2014 Crowd 80000

This big rematch all came about after Carl Froch won their first fight in November 2013 in controversial fashion, after been put on the canvas in the opening round Froch came back well to score the stoppage in the 9th round. However many people believe that referee Howard Foster stopped the fight to soon.

So after months of build up the pair went to war again the fight was fairly even until the Cobra struck in the 8th round and landed a perfect right hand which laid Groves out leaving the result in no doubt this fight was the largest attended fight in post war Briton. Now I know what your thinking Joshua Klitscho had a crowd of 80000 and yes it did but Froch Groves 2 did it first which is why it made my list.

6. Len Harvey V Jock McAvoy 10th July 1939 Crowd 90000

This fight was for the British and Commonwealth light heavyweight titles the pair went to war for 15 hard rounds with both men having their share of success before Harvey won this epic fight on points.

5. Max Schmelling V Walter Neusel 26th August 1934 Crowd 102000

In this fight Schmelling gave Neusel a boxing lesson for round after round Schmelling continued to beat up Neusel. Until at the end of the 8th round Neusel quit on his stool with blood pouring from his head he was clearly in no state to continue.

4. Jack Dempsey V Gene Tunney 2 23rd September 1927 Crowd 104943

This fight had everything a boxing fan could want with both men hitting the canvas with Tunney going down in the 7th round and Dempsey going down in the 8th round. However despite hitting the canvas Tunney dominated the fight from start to finish according to the judges cards he only dropped 1 round in the whole fight. Although the fight wasn’t without it’s controversy as when Tunney was knocked down in the 7th the referee’s count was at 9 but the fights official time keeper was up to 13 on his count this incident earned the fight the nickname the long count.

3. Jack Dempsey V Gene Tunney 1 23rd September 1926 Crowd 120757

This fight will go down in boxing history and not just because of the size of the crowd. To everyone surprise Tunny dominated the whole fight winning every round and that was reflected in the judges score cards as Tunny won a wide unanimous decision. This fight was named upset of the decade by ring magazine.

2. Julio Cesar Chavez V Greg Haugen 20th February 1993 Crowd 132274

Greg Haugen received one of the worst beatings I have ever seen in a boxing ring, from the opening bell Chavez went straight down to work how Haugen made it to the 5th round I will never know. However you have to give him credit he got back up and wanted to fight on but the fight was stopped when he continued to take a pounding from Chavez.

1. Tony Zale V Billy Pryor 16th August 1941 Crowd 135132

From the start of this fight it was clear to see that Billy Pryor was over matched but he put in a brave effort. He definitely had a fighter’s spirit as he was dropped a number of times before finally been knocked out in the 9th round.

Unfortunately I don’t think we will ever see a crowd of this size at a boxing match again mainly because of health and safety.

Please comment below and let me know your thoughts.