Today’s Mayweather-Pacquiao showdown may be the richest fight in history, but PA Sport examines five bouts that were more eagerly anticipated

Joe Louis vs Max Schmeling
Yankee Stadium (New York), 1938
Nearly two years after Louis had been knocked out in the 12th round of their first meeting, he flattened Schmeling in just 124 seconds. It was viewed as a victory for good over evil due to the Nazis’ idolisation of Schmeling as evidence of Aryan supremacy.