Most unpopular linear HW champion?

Thanks you for this. Wlad particular exudes class and humility. Both are very good men. I have far less of an affinity for their ring performances and style, but it is good to see the top heavyweights avoiding the headlines.

 

i agree wlad comes off as more of a nicer guy. his older brother is respectful, and seems class as well, but i think you can see at times he can have a mean streak, or more killer instinct. he seems more like the hot head between the two but that's not saying much. you could see vitali toying with kevin johnson and sam peters, where as wlad just seems to want to get the job done and go on about his business, and that's not what american fans are are looking for.

 

"Hartless & Valubum" were awful........

MR.BILL:tired

 

Definitely one of these, I don't think anybody else comes close.

 

Well Jack Johnson is the only one who abnybody actualy atempted to kill.

That should give him a fairly strong case.

 

I think that Johnson was definitely one of the most hated boxers that lived, although dont forget that for all the hate (mostly by the whites) there was also the love and adulation by others.

Max Schmelling has to be a very good chance of beating Jack Johnson. He was seen (by most americans at least and probably the world) as being representative of Hitler and his Naziism. Despite the fact that he was actually a good man, i think that he was probably the most hated as Hitler hate would have attracted more neutrals, and both black and white than the racism hate for Jack Johnson.

To be honest, i cant think of anyone who might come close to these wo guys. If clutching at straws, I would say that perhaps Sullivan might be the closest. Loved by the boxing public, but in a time where the sport was often illegal and seen as barbaric, i would imagine that combined with his drunken antics, he would have a lot of hate from non boxing fans.

Ali probably is 4th and the only other worth a mention. The Muslim turn/Malcolm X association, the loud mouth persona and the perception of a poor technical style and bad chin make him hated.

I cant think of a 5th fighter in the same league as those above. I suppose it would be a fight out between Marvin Hart, John Ruiz (if considered a champ) and probably Shannon Briggs simply because they were considered poor fighters. The Liston pushers are interesting also, and along the same lines of thinking there was a lot of hate for Tyson, and i think he takes the 5th spot, if you consider the full length of his career, particularly after the **** incident. Actually i am more convinced of it the more i think of it.

just remembered also, all the hate towards Jack Dempsey who was considered a draft dodger (at least i am pretty sure it was Dempsey. He was very hated for a while, wasnt he?

The only other fighter i would throw out for consideration is Joe Frazier. A long shot, but i can remember all the Ali Frazier toys and memorabilia, most of which probably came out after Ali won the third fight and was pushed by ali and my recollection was that in the general public Ali was painted as the hero and Joe as the bad guy, among the kids. If this is correct, i think that Joe would rank highly.

Anyway, my final decision(in order):
Schmelling, Johnson, Tyson, Sullivan, Ali

 

YES! 'Tis true, Janitor.......... BUT! "Unpopular" is not the same thing as being "Hated." You can still be hated while being a popular figure about town or in the press...... I think Jack Johnson was more so hated / despised by middle America in 1910-circa rather than unpopular.....

deal:hi:

MR.BILL

 

Liston

 

I am pretty sure it was Frazier whom there is a story about when he won the title and returned for his homecoming, he expected parades and celebrations in the street but when he got off the plane all he saw was a deserted runway. He was certainly far from popular.

 

Burns or Carnera.

 

I believe it was Sonny Liston. The sight of it broke him as he had expected that becoming the champ would turn his life around. Just now I watched a Floyd Patterson interview post-Liston I fight in which he encouraged people to give Liston a chance and forget about his past. No one did.

 

I would like to throw out the name Max Schmeling for consideration. He was disliked in the United States, at least in the part of the United States I knew about. He was a German...during a time when Hitler's Germans weren't thought too highly of around here...and he won the heavyweight title while laying on the canvas claiming a foul...beating an American. I guess he was well liked in Germany, though.

I understand Jack Johnson was disliked, too, for reasons previously discussed. Jack may deserve the nod here, being disliked in his homeland throughout his career.

 

How about Dempsey or Ali (first reign)?

 

never linear champ owned alphbet belt from sergay lehovivich how ever you spell it although a great fightr larry holmes never the most eye pleaseing an as youngster rember most rooting aginst him

 

Max Schmeling and Jack Sharkey both come to mind as being unpopular. Schmeling unjustly during his reign as champion because he was a "foriegner" and won his title in an unseemly way, via dq and later when he fought Baer and Louis both times because of the spectre of Nazism, which he was wrongfully judged by.
Jack Sharkey seemed to be a weird dude to sportswriters and the fans because of his being rather emotional and the fact that he was caught crying at various times, like after a victory. This didn't go over too well with sportswriters who were hard on Gene Tunney merely because he read books and seemed to be intellectual.