Legitmate Good People In Boxing...

A fight you liked that Hearns may have won?

 

That, and especially the Hearns hugging

 

Hearns is VASTLY overrated!

 

Hearns? Overrated?


:huh

 

Marciano

Patterson

 

Marciano, Patterson, Rooney and Atlas. All of these men looked out for the greater good of the sport.

 

Gerry Cooney?

 

Good shout, McGrain.

Pierre Coetzer was truly one of boxing's nice guys. A God-fearing family man, he was always humble and never made an excuse when he lost. When Riddick repeatedly hit him low and Bruno repeatedly fouled him, he never complained about it, even though he had ample right to do so.

Baby Jake Matlala is another. He was just a lovely man.

Of the more recognized fighters, Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano were two fighters who were class acts outside the ring. Despite his dour demeanour, it's said that Bobby Foster when one got to know him, was a true gentleman.

Pierre Fourie, who fought and lost twice on points to Foster, tells a great story.
It was years after their fight, and one day Fourie found himself in Denmark, watching a tall black guy dancing to music outside a record store. Fourie recognizes that it's Foster after a few seconds.

Now, before I go further, there was some history between the two men. In the weight-in for their first fight, Fourie said to Foster: "Tonight's the night, boy."
Foster became enraged at being called 'boy' (understandable considering SA's controversial racial policies at the time) and threatened to beat Fourie to within an inch of his life.

So now, here's Fourie years later and he recognizes Foster. He goes up behind him, slaps him hard on the back, and says "Hey boy!"
Foster spins around with a look of murder on his face, sees Fourie standing there, and breaks out in a huge grin and wraps those long arms around Fourie in a tight embrace.
I thought that was pretty cool.

 

Looking at it I have him #31 all time; #39 at 175; a mention at 168lbs; #39 at 160lbs; #1 at 154 and #9 at 147.

I try to be fair, but Tommy was very nice and that may of affected my ranking of him, but not vastly IMO.

 

Didn't Tommy get into trouble for beating his son up, though? It happened about 2-3 years back, if I recall.

 

Many boxers are good people.

It's a bit silly to name names and vouch for people who you dont know personally though. Guys like Marciano and Patterson had "nice guy" images, but that doesn't necessarily mean they were better than people who didn't. Likewise, Sonny Liston's "bad guy" image shouldn't be taken too seriously.

And nobody is perfect. Guys from rough backgrounds with criminal records are not necessarily "bad people", some are the best people you might hope to meet. We all make mistakes.

Some guys with the cleanest images, and most respectable jobs and backgrounds are the LOWEST SCUM, they are snakes and will be the first to stab you in the back. Look at politicians, they will literally KILL you and hundreds like you if it furthers their career, but they have "clean image", crazy huh ? Or in boxing, look at the promoters - Bob Arum, a Harvard-educated lawyer but as bad a thief and crook as Don King, two-time killer and former numbers racket man.

Dont judge a guy on his "background" or his image.

 

Didn't beat him up per se...just hit him in the face. Still, not a good moment for the Hit Man