Dempsey instilled into the sport an entirely new kind of glamour that it had been lacking before IMO.
I can only speak from personal experience so here goes: Battling Jim Johnson Fireman Jim Flynn Soldier Bartfield
Numbers wise, I suspect overall it was Ali, in my era (late 80s/early 90s) Tyson was a clear number one, but with hindsight Chavez was the start of the Latinorisation of the sport in the USA.
I feel like Dempsey was the first sports national hero. Like him or not the amount of growth that occurred because of him is undeniable. Ali took the sport to all parts of the globe and kept the interest alive here in the states.
He maybe not number one overall, but Jem Mace deserves mention in this thread, as arguably the first true worldwide sports star.
Any place for Joe Louis, Cec? Heralded the dawn of dominance of black heavyweight champions, notwithstanding Johnson, which lasted about 60 years save for Marciano's reign and Ingo's brief moment as champ.. Possibly uncoincidentally, other divisions, from lightweight to light heavy, saw an upsurge in black champions once Joe had established himself with the likes of Moore, Charles, Williams, Robinson, Montgomery, Carter and many others following suit and getting title shots. Just depends whether you think Joe should get credit for this as some might counter that Joe defended predominantly against white fighters. But Johnson had left boxing a pretty toxic place for the black fighter. Joe's demeanour and public displays of humility undid a lot of the damage.
