Which boxers were great for boxing because of their character and why?

Joe Louis was the right man at the right time to dismantle the colour bar.

 

Boxers like Hector Camacho and Naseem Hamed came to mind after reading your post . They were both aragant and cockey. I'm a fan of neather but I guess someone has to be the bad guy or the guy we love to hate.

Also Arturo Gatti despite wining world tittles in two devisions , but he devloped his fan base by being a "blod and guts" fighter

 

Arguello, of course.


Also Barry McGuigan. Besides being a seemingly very nice guy, he had a real galvanizing effect on his country when he fought. His fights seemed to mean more even across the pond here, we knew what he was doing was transcending the sport. I remember watching his title fight with Pedroza here in the states, where it was aired during very late afternoon, heading right into the evening news, a very unusual time slot for the day. The fight was also reported on by ABC's World News Tonight, which was rare as well.

 

i think a real obvious one is mike tyson

 

Mickey Ward.

 

Greatest ever missed oportunity is Peter Jackson.

He might just have given us a Joe Louis back in the 19th century.

 

If any man could have made it ready for that it was Peter Jackson.

He was gracious, inteligent. Somtimes a person from an imposible background can be a symbol of virtue amongst those who are predudiced against them.

Look at Saladin for example. After the crusades he was held up as an example of civalry in the texts of British knights. We Britts even had a Saladin tank in the post war era.

 

Good analogy. Saladin was lionized during the crusades. Richard the Lionheart and he had a mutual admiration society although both were fierce enemies. During an ambush that Saladin engineered against Richard outside of Tyre I believe, he was impressed with the fighting prowess of Richard who was killing Saladin's elite fighters (they were probably janissaries) right and left before he even got his armor on. Richard's was forced off his horse and Saladin had a servant bring one down to him out of respect.

My favorite of your kings is the Lionheart -who may have been the greatest British warrior this side of Boudicca. In fact, "Lionheart" is often used to describe American boxers today. Leonard said it about Davey Moore and Holyfield epitomized it.

 

Anyway, I would say that the great Mexican boxers throughout history have rallied their nation and others due to their character and willingness to go through hell to wave that flag in victory.

We all owe Chavez, Morales, & Barrera much because they have rallied a whole ethnicity and kept boxing afloat during what otherwise may be hard times.

 

I have never heard any convincing evidence of that.

However Jack Johnson certainly offered to help Jimmy Braddock fight Louis in his title defence.

Initialy they were friends and Johnson hoped he might get to train Louis but Louis's managers were having none of it. Whats more they made no secret of the fact that they were making Louis the anti-Johnson.

After that Johnson was verry bitter.

 

Do you suppose Napoles should get a mention by virtue of having adopted Mexico as his country after leaving Cuba? We did not choose where we were born, but Napoles did chose where he lived later.

I consider Peter Jackson to have been at least a co-world titlist. He was recognized as champion over far more of the globe as British Empire and Commonwealth Champion, than Sullivan was as merely the United States Champion. (The Union Jack flew over a quarter of the planet when Jackson dethroned Paddy Slavin.)

 

Napoles fought at a time that boxing was still a major force in the public imagination, I mentioned the later three because they came along when boxing had more black eyes than 19th century battle royals... and I think that they did much to carry the sport by exporting the enthusiasm of Mexico to Mexican-Americans (and illegals) and thus to more Americans than would otherwise notice -especially on the west coast. God bless Mexico. Seriously.

As for Peter Jackson, I'd consider him not as a co-world titlist, but as a victim of racism and bad luck. Had he come along just a little later he may have been Jack Johnson's foil if he wasn't avoided by Johnson too -but the fact that he was not American excluded him. John L. wasn't going to give him a shot either, and if that's a fact, shame on him.

As it is, I avoid conjecture that gives too much leeway to imagination -Jackson didn't rally an empire or a nation like others did and I can't say that he was allowed to make a difference and therefore be "great for boxing." Dems da breaks.



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john l. hasnt been mentioned yet and his personality started the boxing phenomenon.

 

I have heard that Jack Johnson had some adamosity toward Joe Louis but I don't know more than that.