Which fighters were charismatic 'n thrilling?

...As they say in showbiz JG, "you're on a roll"...

 

That moment in time was pure magic...I was rooting so hard for Chacon in that fight. What a great fight...

 

Maybe not thrilling, but I would say he had a certain charisma. That finisher he laid on JJW in their first fight was sure enough thrilling.

Others maybe not thrilling, but with at least an element of charisma.....

Nino Benvenuti

Gypsy Joe Harris

Tex Cobb

Ray Leonard, though I never pulled for him.

Heck, even Hector could be said to have some charisma, even though I pulled for him to get his butt kicked every time out.

 

How very true...people forget what an impact he had on boxing in '67 after defeating griffith...it wasn't a case of simply a boxer winning a title...Benvenuti supplied color, glamour and charisma in the wake of Ali's exile.

 

Both good choices, I would add Dempsey.Early Ali.

 

Jake LaMotta. A great talker and a great showman in the ring. Not necessarily a great person but not all were.

 

Art Aragon and Mando Ramos

Scartissue

 

I do not like the Pacquiao character. To me his charisma is poor.

I like people have who have huge characters like Ali (even though I never liked his style, I loved the character), Mike Tyson, Prince Naseem Hamed, Amir Khan and even Floyd Mayweather. Those guys all stand out to me with their huge personalities.

Another guy I always liked was Roy Jones Jr, he knew how to work a mic.

Floyd Patterson, Marco Antonio Barrera and Miguel Cotto always had this stone cold bad ass persona about them that I always enjoyed.

I have never cared for guys like Brandon Rios or Fernando Vargas. Rios reminds me so much of Vargas with his phony emphasis on everything having to be "Mexican" or "Real Mexican." STFU Rios, you are not the authority on what a real Mexican is.

Characters in boxing is what makes the sport so great. I love all the different personalities that make the sport so interesting.

 

By Decade:

1899-1909: Hard to say. Don't know whether any of them were real charismatic. Langford seems cool though.
1909-1919: Benny Leonard. A master boxer and pretty funny on camera. Like an old uncle.
1919-1929: Mickey Walker seems like a character
1929-1939: Henry Armstrong. He fought hard and tried to get some strange even harder.
1939-1949: Joe Louis. Nothing needs to be said here.
1949-1959: Ray Robinson. Again, personality in spades.
1959-1969: Muhammad Ali. This version was fast on his feet and with his lips. Rumble young man rumble.
1969-1979: Duran. A street dog with gloves on.
1979-1989: Leonard, a nice guy with a bloody streak.
1989-1999: Mike Tyson. Always in the news. Terrified of this man growing up.
1999-2009: Pacman. Unintentionally funny, and breaks the compubox.

 

Here, I'd say Tommy Burns or Jack Johnson. Both had personalities which would put them over today. Nat Fleischer was a friend of Ketchel's, and wrote about what a colorful individual and funny prankster he was.

Anybody who's read his autobiography would have a hard time arguing, even with Dempsey in the mix.

Have to go with Max Baer here, although Galento certainly pushes him. But Maxie could also bring it out in those he shared the ring with. Panama Al Brown is also somebody to think about.

A dominant icon, to be sure, but more of a personality than Conn? (Who got a movie made out of his story in 1941, where Joe would have to wait another dozen years to have his brought to the big screen.)

Honorable mention to Benvenuti and Griffith for the 1960s.

Carlos Monzon and Jerry Quarry should also be mentioned. Monzon got the cover of SI and national television coverage in the States despite not speaking the language and fighting there just once.

I hated the SOB more than I liked anybody else, so by my standards he definitely qualifies.

I'll leave it to others to add to this, if they choose.

Again, I'll leave this to others as I was no longer following the sport by then.

Excellent post.

 

I thought about Johnson, but i found it hard to reconcile charismatic with that many people wanting to murder you . Agreed on Baer.

 

Great moment for you JG. He is one of my idols. Sometimes in the 1940s i noticed a crowd in front of Dempsey's restaurant on B'way looking in the large window. I peered in also, and there was Jack Dempsey sitting at a window table,with shoulders wide as a barn and a head of jet black hair.
I was so thrilled to see him wave to us. He and Joe Louis are my favorite heavyweights....Cheers....