Top 5 most intense individual rivalries in the history of professional sports

While the world of professional sports might have given us some of the most legendary team rivalries such as those between Barcelona-Real Madrid in football, India and Pakistan in Cricket, Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics in the NBA and New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox in Major League Baseball, there have also been some iconic individual rivalries.

Over the years, we have witnessed some truly legendary and titanic battles between sportspersons in a bid to be identified as the best in their field.

Most times, such men or women in question performed on levels so far above anyone else that they were basically each other's only competition, leading to some of the greatest individual performances we have ever witnessed.

The aim of this piece is to highlight the five greatest of such individual rivalries and it is pertinent to note that some factors such as length of the rivalry and overall impact on the history of the sport have been put into consideration before compiling this list.

Honorable mentions - Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal (Tennis), Magic Johnson vs Larry Bird (Basketball), Sebastian Vettel vs Lewis Hamilton (Formula One), Tiger Woods vs Phil Mickelson (Golf), Bjorn Borg vs Josh McEnroe (Tennis)

#5 Peyton Manning vs Tom Brady (American Football)

Tom Brady (L) and Peyton Manning (R) before the AFC Championship playoff

While football might mean a game with a round ball played by eleven players primarily with their foot to the rest of the world, in America, the word football is associated to a much different sport.

American football is the quintessential sport in the land of the Stars and Stripes and two names rank above others to have made a telling impact in the history of the game - Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.

While the former might might be the more illustrious of the pair owing to his displays with the New England Patriots, there are many who believe that Peyton Manning is the more naturally gifted of the two legendary Quarterbacks.

To the uninformed about the workings of American football, the role of the Quarterback is arguably the most important one in the sport, as he/she is responsible for calling plays and dictating the tempo of matches pretty much like a playmaker does in regular football (err soccer).

When it comes to Quarterbacks, few can claim to have performed better than Brady and Manning throughout the illustrious history of the NFL, as the pair turned the position of Quarterback into almost an artform with their performances.

Peyton Manning was selected as the first overall pick by the Indianapolis Colts in the 1998 NFL draft and spent the next 14 years with the Colts, helping them to the Super Bowl in 2006 (their first in three decades), while also holding a number of NFL records including for touchdown passes (539), AP MVP awards (5), single-season passing yards (5,477 in 2013), single-season passing touchdowns (55 in 2013) but to name a few.

He is also the only starting Quarterback in NFL history to win two Super Bowls with two different franchises, doing so with the Colts and Denver Broncos in 2015. He is widely considered to be among the greatest Quarterbacks in the history of the NFL.

A major drawback on Manning's career, however, was his post-season record, as he posted a modest 14-13 record in post-season matches, leading many to term him a choker on the stages when it mattered most.

For his part, Tom Brady is unarguably the single most important player to the New England Patriots dominance of the last decade, providing leadership and direction with his play.

Like Manning, Brady totally redefined what it meant to be a Quarterback, breaking and setting numerous records.

But unlike the former, not much was expected from him at the start of his career as he was the 199th overall pick in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft by the Patriots

Brady was originally slated to be their backup Quarterback until an unfortunate injury to regular first choice Drew Bledsoe in 2001 and he has not looked back since getting his break in the starting team.

He is considered to be the biggest 'steal' in the history of the NFL draft due to his late pick and has set a lot of records in the NFL including for most Super Bowl MVP awards (4), joint most Pro Bowls (14) and is the oldest player in NFL history to win both the Super Bowl and League MVP awards.

Under his guidance, the Patriots have made it to nine Super Bowls (the most by any player), with Brady winning six (also the most Super Bowls for an individual) and became the oldest player in history to win the Super Bowl, doing so aged 41 in 2018 (and breaking Manning's previous record of 39 years).

Tom Brady is also the only Quarterback in history won have won 200 NFL matches (a total of 207) and is some way clear of the second highest (Manning with 186).

In total, the two NFL legends played each other 17 times, with Brady leading the head-to-head series 11-6 but Manning holds the advantage in playoff victories 3-2.

While the NFL might be more famous for giving us some legendary team rivalries, in an age of increased commercialization and marketing, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning helped remind lovers of the game what it takes to be a professional American football player in the true sense of the word.

#4 Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier (Boxing)

If you were to ask an average fan who the greatest boxer of all time is, chances are pretty high that the name Muhammad Ali would be mentioned. However there is one man who would have a lot to say about that.

Muhammad 'The Greatest' Ali was a true revolutionary in the art of boxing, garnering headlines wherever he went with his trash talking, poetry composing and fighting ability which helped him gain considerable exposure.

When it came to the art of trash talking, there is none better than Ali.

The late great machismo perfected the art of using his mouth as a weapon to get into the psyche and emotions of his opponents prior to the match and most times succeeded in an age where boxers most times let their managers do the talking.

However, beyond his quick wits and charming personality, Ali could also strut his stuff in the ring, possessing a fighting technique far above what was obtainable by boxers of his era.

Having won the Gold medal at the 1960 Olympics games in the light heavyweight division, Ali turned pro in 1961 and won the World Heavyweight title just three years later at the age of 22 when he defeated Sunny Lister in a major upset.

Till date, Muhammad Ali remains the only three-time lineal champion in heavyweight boxing history and holds the joint-record of beating 21 boxers for the world heavyweight title.

He is widely considered by many to be the greatest boxer of all time and among the greatest sportsmen ever. Ali also showed great compassion and philantrophy to social causes and protested against injustices including the Vietnam war (for which he was stripped off his titles) and was also named among the TIME 100 people of the 20th century in 1999.

In total, Ali's professional record reads 61-56-5, with 37 of his 56 victories coming via knockouts.

For his part, Joe 'Smokin' Joe' Frazier also played his part to lay a marker to be considered among the greatest in the history of the sport and gained fame for his strength, durability and incredible punching power.

Fraser was named Fighter of the Year on three occasions by The Ring magazine and was an Olympic Gold medalist as an amateur at the 1964 Olympic Games.

His record reads 32 wins from 37 matches, with one match ending in a draw and 27 victories coming via knockout. Upon retirement, Frazier became a trainer, training both his son and daughter, but sadly passed away 2011 due to complications arising from Liver Cancer.

In an age widely considered as the Golden Period of heavyweight boxing, Ali and Frazier shone through, rising high above their contemporaries and helping to rewrite the history of their sport.

In total, they met three times in their career, with the first and last ones ('Fight of the Century' and 'Thrila in Manila') being for the world title; while another highly publicized, record breaking and thrilling match 'The Rumble In The Jungle' between Ali and George Foreman in 1974 was also an offshoot of the Ali/Frazier rivalry.

Joe Frazier won the first of their three fights (the aptly named 'Fight Of The Century') in 1971 to win his first world title.

Ali won the last two, winning the second by unanimous decision in controversial circumstances in 1974 as well as the 'Thrilla in Manila' in 1975.

#3 Chris Evert vs Martina Navratilova (Tennis)

Martina Navratilova (R) defeats Chris Evert (L) in the French Open final

Before Steffi Graf and Serena Williams ever dreamed of achieving the heights they did in women's tennis, there was a certain pair of female tennis players who paved the way for the successes and spotlight enjoyed by the current roster.

Chris Evert is the senior of the two and captured global attention first - winning her first of 18 Grand Slams in 1974 and went on to win at least one every year for the next 13 years (which remains a record till this day).

Furthermore, she achieved the record breaking feat of getting to 34 Grand Slam finals and never lost in the first or second round of a Grand Slam for the entirety of her professional career.

Incredibly, Evert made it to the semifinals or better in 34 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments between 1974 and 1983, while her career winning percentage of 89.97% remains a record for either men or women in the Open era.

To state that Evert totally dominated the female Tennis scene in the mid to late 1970s would be merely stating the obvious, but towards the end of that decade, a new threat to her dominance emerged in the form of Martina Navratilova.

The Czech-American totally revamped the women's game, winning a total of 18 Grand Slams and setting a number of other records along the way.

She broke Chris Evert's previous record of 55 consecutive wins in the Open Era for a total of 74, while also setting a record for most singles (167) and doubles (177) title wins in the Open Era.

Her record of being number one for five consecutive years (1982 - 1986) remains till this day and she also holds the best season win-loss record in the open era, 86-1 (98.9%) achieved in 1983.

Navritova set a then-record of reaching 11 consecutive Grand Slam finals (since surpassed by Stefi Graf's 13), while she is also the only Tennis player (male or female) to have won eight different tournaments at least seven times and was ranked in the top ten in singles for 20 consecutive years between 1975 and 1994 (with 19 years spent in the top five, 15 in the top three and seven as the number one ranked singles player).

Given that Chris Evert and Martina Navritova both hit their peak at the top of the game in and around the same time makes it a no-brainer that the pair would be regular fixtures for the biggest Tennis titles during their day and the two women did see a lot of each other.

The two women faced themselves a total of 80 times during their career, with 14 of those clashes coming in Grand Slam finals, with Navritova winning 10, while also holding the advantage in their overall head-to-head with 43 victories to Evert's 37.

The rivalry lasted for approximately 15 years from 1973 till 1988 and their intense battles undoubtedly shed the light for future legends like the Williams sisters, Stefi Graf and Maria Sharapova to shine through.

#2 Alain Prost vs Ayrton Senna (Formula One)

During the 1980s and early 1990s, two men stood tall above others as the faces of Formula One around the world.

Alain Prost is a four-time Formula One champion and previously held the record for most Grand Prix victories from 1987 to 2001 when his total of 51 victories was finally surpassed by Michael Schumacher.

Across his racing career, the Frenchman raced for some of the biggest names in the world of Formula One including McLaren, Renault, Williams and Ferrari and is widely considered by many to be one of the greatest F1 racers in history.

Prost earned the nickname 'The Professor; for his calm demeanour and intellectual approach to racing and one of his race secrets was to reserve his brakes and tyres early in a race to keep them fresh for the latter assault.

Ayrton Senna was a Brazilian driver who is also considered by many to be the greatest and most influential racer in the history of the sport.

He won a total of three Formula One world titles in his career and raced for the likes of Toleman, Lotus, McLaren and William.

Senna was renowned for his performance in wet conditions, as well as qualifying speed over one lap and from 1989 until 2006 held the record for most pole positions.

Unfortunately, Senna passed on at the 1994 Monaco Grand Prix while leading the race for Williams.

Both Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna were the biggest figures in the sport during their time and the origin of their friction can be dated back to 1988 when Senna joined Prost at McLaren.

Their first major incident occurred during the season when Senna attempted to block Prost from taking the lead by forcing him to run close to the pit at a high speed at the Portuguese Grand Prix.

Even though Prost was able to manoeuvre and regain his lead, he was angered by his Brazilian teammate's antics.

Ahead of the start of the 1989 season, both men had an agreement not to get in each other's ways heading into corners.

But once again, Senna broke their agreement which angered Prost so much that he decided to leave McLaren-Honda and sign for Ferrari at the end of the season over the company's seeming deference towards Ayrton Senna.

The most controversial incident in their rivalry occurred at the final clash of the 1989 season when the winner of the world title was to be decided at the Japanese Grand Prix.

The two teammates once again collided, with Prost walking away from the track while Senna stayed on to win the race.

However, his victory was overruled by the Formula One governing body meaning that Prost was named the winner of the 1989 World title (as he had a sizable points lead on Senna heading into the final race) while the Brazilian was also fined $100,000 and suspended for six months with Senna accusing FIA president Jean-Marie Balestre of bias and favoring his compatriot.

There were two further collisions in the next year while Prost was with Ferrari, with Senna admitting that the first was pre-medidated and Senna's antics almost forced Prost to retire from the sport, calling the McLaren driver 'disgusting and a man without value'.

This was however not the end of their rivalry, as after Alan Prost was fired from Ferrari for criticizing the manufacturers in 1992, he signed for Williams (who were the most competitive at the time).

Senna had wanted to join the racing team but was not allowed to, as Prost had signed a clause in his contract with the British team forbidding them from signing Senna while he was contracted to them.

Expectedly, this did not sit well with Ayrton Senna who accused the Frenchman of being 'a coward' and Alain Prost had to be escorted by police onto the circuit at the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix due to the hostility of Brazilians towards him.

Alain Prost retired at the end of the 1993 season and both men appeared to have buried their hatchet, with Senna embracing his long-term rival at the end of his last race at the Australian Grand Prix.

Unfortunately, Senna passed on in 1994 and footage emerged of Senna greeting Prost (who was then a pundit and reporter for a Formula One channel) stating " A special hello to my dear friend ... the sport misses you very much' only few days prior to his death."

Despite their rivalry, the two men maintained a deep respect for each other with Senna stating to a friend upon Prost's retirement that a large part of his motivation had come from his battles with his former teammate.

The Frenchman said that when Senna died, a part of him died also as their careers had been so intertwined and he was a pallbearer at Senna's funeral.

#1 Lionel Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo (Football)

There really could be only one rivalry to top this list, as these two men have totally redefined what it means to be a professional footballer.

Ronaldo is the older of the pair and made his debut first in 2002, but despite only making his competitive professional debut two years later, Lionel Messi deserves immense praise for clawing his way into being considered arguably the best player in history.

While Ronaldo was at Manchester United, there were loud whispers of comparisons between the two, as they had each shown to be the biggest talents in their age grade at that time.

However Ronaldo's transfer to Real Madrid for a world record fee in 2009 brought their comparisons to a head, as both men now played in the same league at the same time for the two biggest clubs in the world.

Such has been their utter dominance that all individual award ceremonies in the ten years between 2008 and 2017 were duopolized into their personal battleground. Their competition has been so intense that it spawned a website dedicated to just the two's stats and records.

For nine seasons in LaLiga, Messi performed extraordinary feats, only to see them eclipsed by Ronaldo sometimes in a matter of hours and vice versa. Both players have set yardsticks, almost unspokenly daring the other to achieve or surpass it.

It was almost comical the way in which the duo set about raising the bar in their competition with one another and such was their otherworldly brilliance that every other player in the world left them in their personal game of deciding the world's best.

Ronaldo set a record of scoring against all LaLiga teams in a single season, Messi achieved the same feat the next season.

Ronaldo became the first player ever to reach the 40-league goal mark in 2011, a season later, Messi did the same and added an extra 10 goals for good measure. Messi was the first of the pair to score 50 Champions League goals and broke Raul's previous record first; Ronaldo beat him to 100.

If Messi scored a brace, you can expect Ronaldo to score a hat-trick when Real Madrid lined up.

Each of the 10 Ballon d'Ors between 2008 and 2017 were shared equally between them, each of the last 9 Champions League Golden Boots has been won by at least one of them.

Ronaldo became the first ever player to win the European Golden Shoe four times in 2015, Messi equaled that two years later and extended his record to six at the end of the recently concluded season. They each hold the record of having appeared in the most FIFPRO World XIs with 11 appearances between 2007 and 2018.

Their rivalry has been so intense that a common and rather annoying trend on social media and football websites over the last decade has been a bitter debate over who the better player is (even on unrelated posts), with fans almost equally divided in their support for the Portuguese and Argentine icons.

In total, the eternal duo have faced each other 35 times in all competitions, with Lionel Messi winning 16, scoring 21 and assisting 12 while his Portuguese rival has won 10, scored 19 and assisted one.

Despite their seeming immortality, Ronaldo and Messi would one day exit the scene, but their contributions and extraterrestrial abilities have been so far reaching that their impact on the beautiful game would still be felt for generations to come.

Edited by Alan John