Which Fighters would have transcended the sport had they part of the TV Era

Jack Dempsey was a media star before television.

Jack Johnson would have a huge following because of his talent and attitude.

Greb and Walker because we love the tough guys of the tough sport.

Sandler and Pep battles would be top tv sports stories.

 

Tom Cribb (the first unified world champion. Received more colum inches than the battle of trafalgar when he fought Molineux to unift the British and American titles)

John L Sullivan (created the sport as we know it)

Terry McGovern (the first wrecking machine in boxings history)

Jack Johnson (imagine the campaign against him caried out through the TV media)

Jack Dempsey (no explanation required)

Greb and Walker as others have said (imagine Walker holding Jack Sharkey to a draw on pay per view)

 

Ray Robinson. Because he was the best, he was exciting, he had charisma, good looks. He is the first that comes to mind.

 

Hate to say it, but a few of the Pep Saddler battles WERE on TV in the 50's.

 

Maybe a better question would be which fighters would have even been known to the general public prior to the advent of the telly.

In addition to those already mentioned, Max Baer indeed did transcend the sport before television came along. ("The Prizefighter and the Lady." Indeed, consider all the champions who appeared in that flick.) As a matter of very well-known fact, Maxie's first matchup with Lou Nova was the first televised bout.

Jess Willard starred in the silent film, "The Heart Punch," while Dempsey starred in "Daredevil Jack," among others. What about the 1940 portrayals of Corbett by Errol Flynn, and Sullivan by Ward Bond in "Gentleman Jim"? (Many consider that to be Flynn's greatest portrayal.)

A real argument could be made that many, if not most, boxing champions did indeed transcend the sport before television. Actually, it can be argued that more of them transcended the sport before television than have transcended it during the 12 round era.

A surprising number of girls who grew up before television were aware of boxers and boxing for the simple reason that fighters were the best at skipping rope, a popular pastime among young females of the day.

Gone are the days when the character Shelly Winters portrayed in 1952's "Phone Call from a Stranger" could make a conversational reference to Sugar Ray Robinson, and have the entire movie going audience know who she was referring to.

Does Time Magazine cover boxing on a weekly basis anymore, and when was the last time they pictured a boxer on the cover? When was the last time you picked up a newspaper and saw a boxing story on the front page, let alone headlining it?

Check out Jack Johnson's clip introducing and conducting a jazz orchestra in 1929.

Contemplate Braddock, Carpentier, Galento, Nova, Conn ("The Pittsburgh Kid"), Schmeling (who in Germany helped maintain the prestige and popularity of boxing during the Hitler regime, as did Carnera in Fascist Italy), Tunney (who was popular with the literati and Vanity Fair set), Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom, and Rocky Graziano (who was the first champion to maintain his stardom in retirement through television on long-time collaborator Martha Raye's TV show, and whose life story made Paul Newman into a star). Anybody remember the Polident commercials Graziano made with Martha Raye decades after he retired from the ring? These boxers were too colorful, too glamourous, too distinctive, too compelling, too iconic to be ignored.

John L. Sullivan hobnobbed with the Barrymores, while Marciano was drinking buddies with Mario Lanza. Tunney used to spar with George Bernard Shaw, who cabled Carpentier after his loss to Dempsey to reassure him that, "I admire you more than ever!" Bertrand Russell had a correspondence and friendship with Ali. Do you suppose Hawking has a similar relationship with Tyson, DLH or PBF?

Go to a local library, and check out some newspaper microfilm covering major boxing events of the pre-television age, and you will discover that today's biggest boxing stars are a mere blip on the radar compared
to yesteryear, gnats on today's cultural landscape.

How big was Terry McGovern? Considering the fact he was Nat Fleischer's hero, he must have been awfully significant. (How big would a non-heavyweight have too be in that age to have a film of him in action be shown in nickelodeons?)

 

Dempsey. Unequivocally. He was a global superstar before television.

 

Young Griffo.

His antics inside and outside of the ring would make him huge.

 

Enjoyed reading this post...:good

 

Henry Armstrong
Sam Langford

 

Good picks.

Apart from their boxing ability their personalities would make them verry popular. They would be on dancing with the stars and all the reality TV series.

 

These two

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He's part of the TV era.
He fought on TV all the time, prime time network, and more people in America saw him fight on TV than would buy a Mayweather PPv nowadays, I guess.

 

Billy Conn had the looks and swagger.

It would have been Conn-Paris Hilton, Conn -Spears, or Conn-Lopez on
Entertainment Tonite.

 

John Sullivan. God knows how much larger than life he would have became through the benefit of television.

On a side note, just think of all the bar room brawls that would have occurred after the alcohol had 30 or so rounds to finally do its number on thought processes.