Well in today's time anything before the 80s is considered ancient and archaic, so i may have to nominate Joe Frazier You had to kill him, then exorcise his vengeful spirit to get a draw against him.
Paulino Uzgadun was as tough as they come. Was only stopped by Joe Louis in the last fight of his career . Took Max Baer 20 rounds and beat him
There are too many to mention, but the first that came to mind is Jack Dempsey. I have a poster of Dempsey on the wall in my home gym with one of his famous quotes. It reads “a champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.” Corny as it sounds, when I’m struggling with my workout I look over at that poster and it gives me motivation to finish strong.
One of the craziest thing I've seen about Nelson is that he'd hook the liver with his thumb and forefinger, which must've hurt to land and it go wrong.
Tommy West. Billy Papke. Elbows McFadden. These were the boys that survived the real butcher's yards, not the very elite guys that have been mentioned.
Battling Siki, Marcel Cerdan, Laurent Dauthuille, Charles Humez, Emile Pladner, Kid Marcel, Gustave Humery, Omar Kouidri, Pierre Momont,Alphone Halimi,Cherif Hama, Kid Francis ... all of these french boxers was so solid and have a Iron chin in the past. I also think about the Belgian boxers of that period 20-50's like Cyrille Delannoit or Francois Sybille... And of course one of the best world champions before WW2 Panama Ai Brown this Bantamweight champion beat the french puncher Gustave Humery in a 0:15 seconds knock out in Paris.
surely among a great list like that, you have forgotten Robert Villemain... "the Proof Fighter" as I call him.
Yes you're absolutely right ! I only mentioned my favorites, there were too many French boxers at that time who were world-class...