Roy Jones Jr. vs. Vinny Pazienza, billed as The Devil and Mr. Jones was a professional boxing match contested on June 24, 1995 for the IBF super middleweight championship. After defeating James Toney to capture the IBF super middleweight title, Roy Jones would successfully defend the title against Antoine Byrd before being matched up against former WBA light middleweight champion Vinny Pazienza. Pazienza had won that title on October 1, 1991 but just over a month later on November 12, he was involved in a near-fatal car crash that fractured his neck and nearly cost him his boxing career. Though doctors had informed him that his boxing career was over, Pazienza returned to boxing after a 13-month layoff to defeat future WBC light middleweight champion Luis Santana by unanimous decision. Pazienza would then move up two divisions to super middleweight and won nine consecutive fights (including two against future hall-of-famer Roberto Durán) before landing the fight with Jones. Jones was regarded as one of the best fighters in the sport and was ranked at number two on The Ring pound-for-pound list (Pernell Whitaker was number one). As a result, Pazienza was installed as a massive underdog with Jones being listed as a 12–1 favorite, though one Las Vegas oddsmaker listed the odds at 100–1 in Jones' favor. Pazienza shrugged off his underdog status, however, stating "It makes me all the more determined to prove him wrong. And, besides, I'm most dangerous when I'm an underdog"

Dmitry Bivol defended the WBA World Light-Heavyweight title for the sixth time against Lenin Castillo at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago on October 12, 2019.

The first contest between José Luis Castillo and Floyd Mayweather Jr. was on April 20, 2002 for the WBC Lightweight Title (4th defense by Castillo) and The Ring Magazine Lightweight Title (Vacant) at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Mayweather entered the fight as a 4-1 favorite despite having recently moved up from the 130-pound division, where he held the WBC title.

On March 18, 1976, former undisputed heavyweight champions George Foreman and Joe Frazier agreed to face one another in a rematch of their 1973 heavyweight title bout. In their previous encounter, Foreman had brutalized the then-champion Frazier, scoring six knockdowns in less than two rounds to capture the WBA and WBC heavyweight championships. Foreman had then successfully defended the titles twice, easily defeating José Roman and Ken Norton by knockout in the first and second rounds respectively. Foreman, however, lost his titles to Muhammad Ali in "The Rumble in the Jungle" in October 1974, by KO in the eighth round. The following year, Frazier finally got his first chance to regain the heavyweight titles, challenging Ali in a fight dubbed the "Thrilla in Manila", though he lost by technical knockout in the 14th round. After his defeat at the hands of Ali, Foreman was out of boxing for over a year, sitting out all of 1975. He returned in January 1976 to defeat Ron Lyle and capture the less-regarded NABF heavyweight title before agreeing to face Frazier. Foreman hoped a victory over Frazier would propel him to a championship rematch with Ali, while Frazier, who was close to retirement, hoped to avenge the blowout loss Foreman had bestowed him with three years prior.