Fighters whose skills/style you admire but whose persona you dislike, and vice-versa?

ROy Jones turned me off later in his career but he has cooled down, more likeable now... Also whittaker never liked his smugness,clownin and just wasnt likeable in his fighting days, but he is another one who seems to have chilled out with age.

FLoyd an obvious one. Although he seems to have 2 different personalitys sometimes he seems like an alright guy.

Never liked Vic but i do respect his abilities and wilingness to fight the best
Carl Froch is an ******* sometimes but he is a warrior and gets wins .
Chavez at the end of his career turned me off with his primadonna cry baby attitude but still one of my all time favs.

 

Ali
Tyson
Toney
Jones Jr.
Mayweather Jr.

 

MAB acted like a "snarling intimidating tough guy"? When was this, B? I thought MAB was just expressionless, emotionless, he naturally carried around a stoic demeanour. The only time he ever got nasty was when he thought his opponents were taking liberties in the ring, such as hitting behind the head, etc. I never found him remotely comparable to Roberto Duran, who would shout, rant, and start insulting his opponents and sometimes their wives pre-fight.

You have given us one example of MAB acting in a way you disapprove of. He was complaining in a fight he was losing. Fair enough. Anything else?

 

I´m a hypocrite here though becasue there are guys who behave similar to them but with them I like it. Like Jack Johnson, Roberto Duran, Bernard Hopkins, Graziano Rocchigiani, Naseem Hamed.

Barney Ross and Max Schmeling. Both have interesting but not particularly attractive styles but were great persons. Wlad Klitschko is another one.

There are a few guys who have both, an attractive style and persona, like Floyd Patterson. And on the other hand you have guys like Sven Ottke and Henry Maske who have boring, unattractive styles (not uninteresting though) and are absolute ****s.

 

Very good thread BTW.

 

This is exactly what I was talking about in regards to opponents taking liberties. The fight was good natured until Hamed had MAB in a headlock and pulled him to the ground. After that, the nice guy act was out of the window and MAB put an explanation mark on his victory by shoving Hamed into the turnbuckle. I didn't see anything OUTRAGEOUSLY wrong with this, and Hamed wasn't too offended because he gave MAB his due after the fight, and the two had their arms round one another during the press conference. Handbags.

What do you expect a seasoned professional like MAB to do when his fiercest rival, fellow Mexican, is calling him names in front of his face? I think the story goes that MAB had heard Morales was calling him names to the media. I forgot what the word was specifically, but MAB asked Morales to repeat it right there in front of him. Morales obliged...and MAB slapped him as if to say, "I don't play that ****". In other words, Morales got what was coming to him. You don't call MAB names at a press conference and expect to get away scot free. That's not how it works.

I don't remember this? Especially not the Morales deal. Can people conform this? I've got a feeling Anarci can tell us one way or the other.

Absolutely. I've never bought into this idea that he was a dirty fighter though. He only ever got rough when his opponents initiated it, and so what if he complained a little in the Manny Pacquiao fight? Maybe he was getting head-butted, etc. I certainly can't find just cause to condemn him for that fight alone. He'd had over 40 fights by that point and had recently switched promoters. Stressful times. No big deal.

 

James Degale. I love his style. Lovely combinations, adequate defence inside, and blinding hand-speed for a Super Middleweight. Shocking showing on ringside the other week though. Some of the things he said to Groves was quite nasty, and I don't like to see fighters talking like that. "Ugly boy". "You're really, really ugly", etc. No need for it. Groves family are all probably watching. If you want to prove a point to the public, if you want to prove you're "the man", then just handle your business on fight night. Great fighter...but seemingly a tit.

 

I think most people have redeemable characteristics, we all have good and bad. HOWEVER Duran comes across as an absolute ****. Supposedly knocking out a horse is just animal cruelity. Saying 'not so marvelous now' to Marvin after there fight is just epic twatery. And disrespecting Leonard's wife was beyond the line of even trash talk decency, say what you want to your opponent but leave their family out of it.

I love Duran's skills, certainly top10, but I'm puzzled why he's so many people's hero, must be the machisimo

However I'm no expert on Duran's personal life, maybe he has redeemable characteristics/stories etc

 

i like pacquiao, but don't find him very interesting to watch.

i'm not particularly keen on hagler, holyfield, leonard or duran as people, but they're all great to watch.

i think hearns, vitali, tyson and patterson each have charm in different ways, and enjoy watching all of them.

i find foreman a real bore, and watching him is worse.

 

I've always been fascinated by Carlos Monzon's "in the ring" style and persona..the patient, cold calculating assassin persona...but his out of the ring personna was appalling. An observation here...being interviewed after the '72 Bouttier stoppage by Howard Cosell...most every fighter that Howie ever interviewed after a fight had some kind of rapport with him..at least some kind of humor, warmth or human interest..but Monzon never even engaged at all with Cosell..speaking only to the Spanish speaking interpreter...and not even with any warmth or personality to him even...Monzon completely ignored Cosell...Monzon was a cold, arrogant fish...with, if anything, a volcanic temper and contempt for people.