Who is the next superstar in boxing?

Oleksandr Usyk. He beats all the CWs and every non-top 5 HWs right now, with only 7 fights under his belt.

 

Derry Mathews

 

Oh yes I forgot, because GGG is a regular song and dance man.

Why does someone need "personality"?

 

Merry Datthews

 

Oh yes I forgot, my post must have mentioned GGG. atsch But since you bring him up out of absolutely nowehere, many people seem rather taken with his personality.

If you're not a heavyweight or an aggressive, action fighter or a KO artist then you better have some charisma that makes you either very likeable or very hateable if you hope to become a star.

I am open to examples to the contrary, please enlighten me.

Do you think Terrence Crawford will ever be the drawing name for a PPV that does more than 500,000 buys? I don't. And I think he's damn good.

 

My point was simple. GGG is becoming a superstar and doesnt have much of a personality, other than "Nice guy, cant speak much english"

Plenty of fighters have become stars without any great personality

 

Okay, please offer me some example of non-heavyweights who are not either aggresive action fighters or KO artists who have become stars without a personality.

 

Thats a pretty silly list.

Its like asking "name me some soccer players who dont score lots of goals,are stylish or create lots of goals and who play with bad teams that become superstars"

Its the style of fighter/ achievements that make a fighter a superstar. You can be the most charismatic guy in the world but if you're not winning titles or entertaining people, you wont be a star.

You can however be pretty boring and if you're KO-ing guys or simply winning a lot (like Floyd), you'll be a star.

Despite what some people say, Floyd didnt become a star because of his personality. He became one because he was winning world titles from the age of 21 and remained undefeated for the bones of 2 decades beating big name fighters.
The personality thing just gave him an extra push.

 

Terrance Crawford is a superb fighter but as mentioned before doesn't have the character that you sometimes need to make it to the top. Roman Gonzalez is probably the most talented but being at a low division prevents him from any major publicity unfortunately. I don't want to say it too soon or look like a fan boy but if Anthony Joshua is as good as many feel he will be then he could be it, but the likes of Beterbiev and Usyk are probably the safest bets at the minute.

 

Maybe the return of Audley?

 

Callum Smith is the most exciting boxer coming out of the UK for my money, he seems to have it all. I can genuinely see him being a big force in a couple of years.

 

Canelo, and DLH come to mind. Depending on how strict you are with the definition of "action fighter" and "KO artist".

 

Wilder!

 

I assumed you would take it as a given that the next boxing superstar would have to be winning titles... Yes, you also have to be good of course. But there are a lot of good boxers out there. So what makes a superstar?

About what made Floyd a superstar? What you said is simply untrue. It was the Oscar fight that made him a superstar, same with Manny. Oscar was the only true superstar in boxing before he fought Floyd and Manny and he passed the reigns to the next generation. Before the Oscar fight Floyd had been on PPV 3 times and never done more than 375,000 buys. He did 2.4mil against Oscar and never looked back. Before Manny fought Oscar he had been on PPV 5 times and never done more than 407,000 PPV buys. He did 1.25mil against Oscar and has never looked back. Without those fights with Oscar those two would never have become boxing's "next superstars". Without that fight and his personality Floyd would have been another great fighter who was on PPV sometimes, but only against the right opponents. This isn't to say that Oscar is the chosen one or that it's a unique situation. Oscar had a lot going for him already, he had: the looks, an exciting style, an Olympic gold medal, and was charming and comfortable in front of the camera. But he wouldn't have become the same mega-star he became if he hadn't fought JCC Sr. Even Holyfield benefited from being the guy who knocked out the guy who knocked out Mike Tyson.

Your comparison to footy is a bad one because the "bad teams" part makes no sense. I guess you might be equating that to my question somehow suggesting that non-heavyweights would-be "bad divisions". But I certainly wasn't saying that, WW (where TC will end up) has proven to be a perfectly glamorous division as well over the years as long as you are a exciting either inside or outside the ring to the casual fan. As far as naming you footy players who do not score or create a lot of goals who are superstars? Iker Casillas and John Terry spring rather quickly to mind. Now that I've answered your question, try to answer mine. Please name me some non-heavyweights who are not aggressive fighters or KO artists who became superstars without a big personality in say...the last 25 years?

If a boring human being like Terrence Crawford who has no one waiting to pass him the mantle and has a style that doesn't appeal to the casual fans comes along, he's not going to be a superstar no matter how good he is.

Do you believe Terrence Crawford will ever be the drawing name on a PPV card that does more than 500,000 buys? I don't. And I think being able to headline a successful PPV card would be a minimum for boxing's "next superstar". The truth is that these days there are very few superstars in boxing at any one given time.

Here's who I think the next superstar will be...

1.) The man that beats Wlad because that man's HW reign will be seen as "legitimate" by your average fan because he took the belt from an established champ with whom they are at least somewhat familiar. The 3 who would become the biggest stars at the moment are Wilder, Fury and AJ. Wilder is an American with a personality and to this point, leaving level of competition out of it for a moment, a KO artist. Fury's from the UK and has the personality. As for Aj, I rate him the best of the bunch in the ring and although he's not as charismatic as the other two he's likable and he's knocking everyone out, so if that keeps up he'll be a star. But if you were to present me with parallel universes in which all 3 of these men could be the one to end Wlad's run and then go on to have a dominant 10 year HW reign like the one Wlad is enjoying and I had to pick which one would be the biggest star under those circumstance I'd pick Wilder.

2.) The other option is someone with a rabid national following like Canelo if he can get and win big fights. If Chavez Jr. had just been better than he is it would easily have been him. JCC did 475,000 buys against Martinez in 2012 which was more than anyone not named Oscar, Manny or Floyd had done since RJJ moved up to fight Ruiz in 2003. It's actually the most any non-HW fight has ever done on HBO or showtime that did not involve Oscar, Manny or Floyd since they started releasing the number of buys in 1988.. A Canelo-Cotto fight would be massive as they are 2 of only 4 men left in boxing who have ever headlined their own US PPV cards as the drawing name. And while neither were massively successful, Canelo is doing the same numbers that Floyd and Manny were doing at his age. I doubt Canelo will ever be a "850K+ buys no matter who he fights" type guy like Manny and Floyd were for a long period. But if he keeps winning I think he'll get up to the 500-600K range for most of his bouts regardless of opponent and be able to break a million buys when he has the right name opposite him on the card. And that is damn good.