Here’s the list 1880s - John L. Sullivan 1890s - Bob Fitzsimmons 1900s - Joe Gans 1910s - Jack Johnson 1920s - Jack Dempsey/Gene Tunney 1930s - Joe Louis 1940s - "Sugar" Ray Robinson 1950s - Rocky Marciano 1960s - Muhammad Ali 1970s - Roberto Durán 1980s - "Sugar" Ray Leonard 1990s - Roy Jones, Jr. 2000s - Manny Pacquiao 2010s - Canelo Álvarez *The Ring Some things I don’t agree with: Ali defined both the 60s and70s, Tyson defined both the 80s and 90s,and Louis defined boththe 30s and 40s. Also, Dempsey and Tunney shouldn’t be tied for the 20s, Jack culturally defined that era far more. I also think Floyd did more to culturally define the 10s than Canelo did.
1880s - John L. Sullivan 1890s - Bob Fitzsimmons 1900s - James Jeffries 1910s - Sam Langford 1920s - Jack Dempsey 1930s - Joe Louis 1940s - "Sugar" Ray Robinson 1950s - Rocky Marciano 1960s - Muhammad Ali 1970s - Carlos Monzon 1980s - Mike Tyson 1990s - Henry Maske 2000s - Manny Pacquiao 2010s - Wlad
If "defining a decade" also means a boxer's popularity I think Tyson defined the '80s. In the 2010s I'd put Mayweather. I'd add that Dempsey was far superior to Tunney in terms of popularity. The '70s were also defined by Monzon, Duran was more popular in America and Carlos in Europe. For me it was more appropriate to put these two fighters here than in the '20s. In my opinion Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali are unrivaled in terms of popularity by any other boxer in history. Even many people who have never seen a boxing match know who they are, that's not the case for any other boxer.
Dempsey stands alone in the 1920s. The 70s and 80s are most arguable. I like Duran for the 70s but Ali was also making more headlines and far more popular. Leonard in the first half of the 80s and Tyson the second half of the decade. 90s is Roy Jones, Manny for the 2000s and first half of 2010s, Canelo second half of the decade. So far for this decade no one really stands out aside from Usyk. Crawford accomplished a lot but was never polarizing and he certainly isn't defining the decade now that he's retired. Ryan Garcia seems to have the momentum in popularity but it's only a matter of time before he takes another big loss and self implodes. If Fury comes back and remains active for a couple of years he could pull ahead if he keeps winning.
