Quite a few. John l. Sullivan Jim Corbett Jack Johnson ( For all the wrong reasons) of Course Dempsey Robinson J. Louis Marciano were all well known for there era's. Greb Walker Pep Saddler Armstrong All of them were very well known without the mass media of today's time. Also consider the sport of boxing was much bigger during those times than it is today.
Dempsey brought boxing to the next level popularity-wise. Louis brought it to an even higher level with the narratives he participated in as well as his overall greatness. For what it's worth, my grandfather remembered hearing Louis on the radio and his family would always tune into the fights. With the overarching narratives at play globally, I'd say Louis definitely. Then in terms of raw popularity from boxing alone, Dempsey. Then in infamy and historical importance, perhaps Jack Johnson. All eclipsed by Ali in time.
People seriously underrate how massive Jack Dempsey was at his peak. Joe Louis was the greater champion and more complete fighter, but if we're talking pure star power and public obsession, Dempsey was on another level. Dempsey basically became America’s first true sports megastar alongside Babe Ruth. His fights weren’t just boxing matches — they were national events. He was pulling record-smashing gates in the 1920s when the country was smaller and media was far less developed. The guy helped turn boxing into mainstream entertainment. Louis was admired. Dempsey was idolized. There’s also the context. Dempsey exploded during the Roaring Twenties when celebrity culture itself was being born. He had the savage fighting style, movie-star looks, and outsider story all at once. Women who dksab knew who Dempsey was. That kind of crossover fame matters. People point to Louis being a national hero during WWII, which is true, but Louis’ image was carefully controlled and respectable. Dempsey generated hysteria. Different type of fame entirely. If you dropped both men into their respective peaks and asked who caused the bigger cultural frenzy, I think it’s clearly Dempsey.
Dempsey was making million $ gates almost everytime he fought, something Louis or Marciano was unable to do.
It's Dempsey. Dempsey vs Carpentier being shown in Japanese theaters was a major reason (to my limited understanding anyway) as to why karate became so big in Japan. I can't post images here so look up "Dempsey vs Carpentier Japanese poster" it should be the first thing to come up. It looks cool right? Anyways Dempsey was truly a world wide star, no heavyweight before him could really say and I'm not entirely sure if any athlete before him could say that but that's more questionable.
Louis was dominant but had the personality of a tree. Robinson was dominant an had a great personality an charisma at least in public but been middleweight an not a heavyweight stopped him being a superstar. It’s gotta be Dempsey in the roaring 20s btw I would say that Ali himself didn’t become a world wide superstar until the foreman fight an the 3rd Frazier fight an he was past his best by then
Hi Buddy. Agree that Louis didn't have a huge personality, but he did have humility,compassion, ( many a time he would help a beaten foe to his feet) and carried himself well in public, which I believe is good traits in a heavyweight champ, as to Ali only becoming a superstar after the Foreman fight, forgive me but I don't see it that way, even as a young rising contender , he was big news, predicting the round he would win in,his bravado, if he wasn't world known before the first Liston fight he most certainly was after, we had never seen anything quite like him, all the antics before the fights with his contenders bought him to media's attention, and by proxy the worlds public, the FOTC was indeed a global event, it transcended boxing, the Foreman and later the Frazier fights, confirmed for me, and many others that he was the greatest, like he had been saying for a long time, that's the way I see it, you see it differently, that's fine, would be a boring forum if we had the same views. stay safe Jack, chat soon. Mike.
