Great sporting rivalries. The main rivals in sports

December 5 will be the long-awaited premiere of the biographical drama “War of Currents”, which has been waiting for a long time, until producers Timur Bekmambetov and Martin Scorsese took over. The picture will talk about the confrontation of great inventors – Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, joined by Nikola Tesla. Great minds fight for whose electricity system will first give light to the whole country.

Sports competitions are also always about the competitive spirit. In order to get the victory, competitors are ready to literally bite into each other and tear it out with their teeth. On the eve of the movie premiere, we decided to remember the most striking confrontations in the history of sports, which went beyond simple competitions.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo

Perhaps the most famous confrontation in modern soccer. The rivalry between the Argentine and the Portuguese has lasted for many years and has been the basis of the plot of a documentary movie and even a book.

The tense relationship began in 2008, when Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or for the first time, significantly ahead of Messi on points. From then until 2018, it was the two who shared the award going to the best soccer player in the world. In 2013, again ahead of Lionel, Cristiano cried at the awarding ceremony – it was so hard for him to win. Last year, the title of best player was taken by Croatia’s Luka Modric, which for a while reduced the fervor of the rivals.

More recently, the fight between the two soccer legends has reached a new level. Messi decided to follow Ronaldo’s example and created his own brand of clothing. Fans of the Portuguese immediately accused him of imitation and noticed that Lionel’s new collection looks and costs much more modest than many things CR7. That’s the thing about Messi. While Cristiano attracts public attention in every possible way, the quiet and family-oriented Argentine prefers to spend time with his family and not to splurge on unnecessary fights.

Mohammed Ali and Joe Frazier

Another famous rivalry in the history of not only boxing, but all big sports.

Mohammed Ali was an undefeated fighter, until in one of the fights he faced Joe Frazier and his trademark hook – to wrap up the body and then put all the power into a side left punch. That famous fight took place on March 8, 1971.

Frazier officially won the world title on February 16, 1967, when he beat Jimmy Ellias early. Then he twice sent the technical Ellias in knockdown, forcing him to refuse to continue the fight after the fourth round. However, the satisfaction of this victory did not bring Joe. Everyone knew that Jimmy Ellias was, in fact, a “paper” champion, who became such after the deprivation of boxing license Muhammad Ali because he refused to serve in the U.S. Army.

Joe Frazier wanted a confident victory over the real champion and even got his return to boxing from President Richard Nixon. Ali was not happy about it. He threw a lot of hurtful remarks at his opponent, until one of them hit Frazier in the heart. Then a fired up Muhammad Ali called his opponent Uncle Tom.

Uncle Tom was a hurtful and shameful nickname for African Americans who shied away from fighting for their rights.

Of course, these words were unfair and hurt Joe so badly that he could not forgive Ali until his death. He got his revenge in the 15th round of their first meeting, sending Muhammad to the floor with a crowning blow. And then tried again, but after he gave his title to George Foreman. The second fight ended with Ali’s victory.

The last duel of the great rivals took place on October 1, 1975. This day was remembered by them forever. The fierce fight ended with the fact that Frazier’s right eye swollen so much that the trainer simply did not let him out for the 15th round. But his opponent was also completely out of energy.

After the fight, Muhammad Ali apologized to Frazier’s son for everything he had said to his father during that time. However, he didn’t say those words publicly until nearly 30 years later. Frazier still continued to mock Ali and his Parkinson’s disease until his death from cancer in 2011. Muhammad Ali died five years after his opponent defeated him in that fight as well.

Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova

It would seem that it is at least silly to talk about an equal confrontation between the two tennis players. Serena Williams has been beating the Russian for 15 years. However, Sharapova’s confidence and a couple of defeats at the very beginning of their battle brought Williams a lot of unpleasant feelings and a big blow to her self-esteem.

Their first meeting took place back in the spring of 2004. Then the six-time Slams champion defeated the 16-year-old Sharapova after a long pause. Six months later, Maria got her own back and won a famous victory. And then again. After that moment, the smiles became strained, and beating Maria more than once, Serena stopped seeing her off the court with applause. After a number of upsetting defeats, Sharapova even hired a consultant who, according to rumors, was supposed to analyze all her matches with Serena and identify the main mistakes. But that didn’t work either.

Soon the tennis players’ quarrels became public. The subject of one of them was tennis player Grigor Dimitrov, whom Sharapova allegedly stole from Williams. Sharapova did not put words in her pocket and called him a guy with a “black heart”.

In an interview, former Russian Tennis Federation press assistant Sofia Tartakova shared:

Sharapova’s agent said that Serena hates Masha. She just hates her. When she goes out to play against her, it’s a completely different match for her. She’s ready to destroy her just because Sharapova is on the other side of the court. It’s so fundamental to her.

Now the fervor of the girls has not died down. It remains only to see how this confrontation will end.

Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov

The history of the conflict of famous MMA fighters began six months before their high-profile fight. Last year for the rivals turned out to be really hot – passions flared up no-nonsense.

To find out why suddenly a positive attitude to the opponent was replaced by barbed remarks from Khabib is already difficult, but the fact remains. In the spring of 2018, the fighter decided to be the first to make a verbal attack. He did not take into account that his friend and sparring partner Artyom Lobov could stand up for Conor. Calling Khabib a “pussy,” Lobov pissed him off, which led to an altercation at their first face-to-face meeting.
McGregor could not leave this situation unnoticed and the next day attacked the bus in which Nurmagomedov was traveling. He broke the window, the shards of which injured other fighters. The Irishman was sentenced to five days of community service, but this act greatly affected his reputation.

The fight was not canceled, but the conflict did not subside even at the weigh-in. McGregor almost put up a fight, hitting Nurmagomedov on the arm and trying to kick him with his foot.

The winner in a tense fight, which was not watched only by the lazy, was Khabib, Conor soon said that he was interested in a rematch.

The public was confident in Arnold’s victory, but when history repeated itself the following year, and “Big Lou” was again Schwarzenegger’s opponent, Arnie’s title was in jeopardy. Ferrigno’s body and form were every bit as good as his rival. Nevertheless, this time again Lou was left out of the honorable first place on the podium. It was about this confrontation that the documentary “Pumping Iron” was made.

The rivalry between the two athletes was quite friendly. In 1976, Lou Ferrigno was invited to the main role in the series “The Incredible Hulk” based on Marvel Comics. It is said that this happened at the suggestion of Arnold, who refused the role, as he had already starred in “Conan the Barbarian”, but offered the producers the candidacy of Lou. Another version says that Schwarzenegger was not tall enough and simply did not pass the casting.

Now both athletes are in great shape and even maintain a buddy relationship.

Healthy sports competition is exactly what makes us follow our idols, sit in stadiums for hours and worry about our favorite team. However, it is important to realize that such competition should not turn into aggression, especially in the stands. After all, sport is first and foremost a pleasure. And without unpleasant consequences. By the way, you can watch the struggle of the strongest not only at the stadium, but also in the movie theater at the movie “War of Currents” from December 5.