Great fighter who consistently cared more about his legacy than money

Marciano who loved money but who was smart enough to never come back comes to mind first .. Dempsey to some degree as he would have made his largest purse for a third Tunney fight after the long count battle but feared blindness ... that being said, at the time he did think he was set for life ..Hagler never came back when he still could have made huge bucks but maybe that was due to his own demons of another sort ..

 

Dempsey, lol. "Give me $300,000 BEFORE I even enter the ring and MAYBE I will consider facing a guy who isnt in the top five..."


Greb: "give me three thousand dollars and sign the toughest opponent you can find." was his mantra.

 

Hagler & Marciano were the first names that sprang to mind for me...

 

I like the idea of meeting RING #1 contenders, it's not as common as people would think.

For notable HW Champions:

Louis: Schemling II, Conn II, Nova, Mauriello, Walcottx2
total: 6
missed:Ray

Marciano: Walcott II, LaStarza, Charles x2, and Moore.
total: 5
missed: Valdez

Ali: Liston, Patterson, Terrell, Norton.
total: 4
missed: Foreman II

Patterson: Jackson II, Ingo I, Liston
total: 3
missed: Machen

Liston: Patterson, Clay
total: 2

Holyfield: Bowe I, Lewis I
total: 2

Lewis: Holyfield II, Grant
total: 2
missed: Byrd, Wlad

Frazier: Ali
total: 1

Foreman: Ali
total: 1

Wlad: Povetkin
total: 1
missed: Big Bro

Charles: 0 missed: Savold
Holmes: 0 missed: Weaver II, Thomas, Dokes, Coetzee.
Tyson: 0 missed: Holyfield

Not sure, could have missed a few.

 

Lewis and Holyfield.

Not Calzaghe anyway

 

By this measure, some of the short tenure champions likley stack up quite well. Most of the champions of the 30s lost their titles to the #1 guy.

Obviously Marciano looks rather impresive here.

I think that Conn was the #1 guy the first time Louis fought him, and so was Schmeling for their second encounter.

 

Some guys who seemed to recklessly mix it up the most throughout their careers:

Langford, Loughran, Herb, Armstrong, Maxim, Bivins, Moore, Charles, Holyfield, Patterson, Walcott.

 

Good point as I just started with Louis and more modern guys. I was just interested how this would pan out as I never thought to compare this stat before, especially with all the talk of Holmes' missing contenders on the other thread.

I believe Nova held the #1 ranking at the time of the first Conn fight to the best of my knowledge, he did just beat #1 Baer, and Louis met him next, possible Conn inched up before fight time though...:think

Ah, I think your right on Schemling. I missed that one. Edit forthcoming.

 

Herb?

 

That last one is unfair. You can't typify Hagler as part of the 'cares more about money than legacy' set just because he was - quite understandably - jaded.

Same with Ike Quartey, any of his times walking away from the sport.

 

HAHAHA :rofl

Come man! Havent you heard of Herb? Arguably the greatest, most recklessly brave fighter in history. Herb Finklestein the original Master of Disaster. The guy fought from 1862, when he started boxing as a private during the Civil War all the way through 1943 when he died of acute sinusitis while preparing to climb into the ring with Joe Louis for a war time exhibition match at the age of 101. Herb was BOSS!

 

good work Mongoose pretty short list to my surprise, Happy to see Louis and Rocky at the top, Ali & Floyd done well, that's the old school mentality of fighting the best

 

Ali and Louis are the only two heavyweights I can think of who would rather be famous than rich. Of course, any one of the top 20 greatest boxers did more than they had to to make good money. Mickey Walker didn't need to fight heavyweights a foot taller than himself to earn a living. Guys like him are definitely trying to prove something.