Who is the nicest fighter in History?

I think most top fighters know a few 'very dodgy people' and wouldn't be happy if you '****ed them off'.

 

I know about conteh becuase i have heard alot of stuff about what has happened to people that have ****ed him off.

 

Apparently he even trained at Larry's for about a month, then said it was too cold and left. Ive always read and heard he's a class act, I would like to meet him, I doubt I will, but you never know.

 

Rocky Marciano is anoter mention. He supposedly (spelling, I can't spell today) never refused to give an autograph.

 

He said Mancini loving his father is a beautiful thing, hugged him and offerd to help them anyway he could.

 

Thomas Hearns always seemed like a great guy win or lose

 

Randy Shields, Stan Ward, Alex Ramos and Gerry Cooney are all great guys. Cooney and Ramos run the Retired Boxers Foundation that helps ex-fighters who are down on their luck.

For the old timers the Blonde Bomber Billy Walker is a true gent. Billy was an all-action English heavyweight who headlined in the 1960's.

 

Most fighters are friendly people outside the ring. Shane Mosley was quite nice.

 

Max Schmeling- was always a gentleman, cared about and helped out his opponents, helped shelter potential Holocaust victims, and when he died I believe he left nearly all his estate to charity. Emmanuel Augustus seems like a really nice guy, as well, and showed a lot of class when he refused to throw head shots at Ray Oliveira after Oliveira injured the back of his neck. Marciano was an extremely gracious champion, always treated the little guy with respect and made personal friends with dozens and dozens of small-town Joe Schmoes, and purportedly never turned down an autograph request.

In my personal experience, Joe Frazier was extremely kind, open, gracious, and helpful to me.

 

Anyone ever meet Hagler? I'm just curious because he is my all time fav. I have heard that nowadays he is great with autographs and fans, as compared to back in the day (when I hear he would give the cold shoulder more often than not)

 

Playing Devils Advocate, Schmeling was superb at spin and did not mind giving Hitler a foot hold in a great sport in America, by being seen with him in the mid 30s.

And before we get the well he had little choice but to go along with Adolf excuse, unlike many Germans (mainly Jews) he had the means to criticize Hitler at that time, and stay relatively save in the US with his family. I have little doubt it would of taken great courage to do that, but if the stories of Schmeling heroics in WWII are true he had courage, and choose not to use it...

 

Marcel Cerdan

 

Mike Weaver, Julian Jackson, Gene Fullmer, Ken Norton, Emile Griffith. All good guys.

 

I think Max Schmeling wins this thread, as much as I'm sure there are lots of nice boxers.

It was obvious that Max didn't like what Hitler was doing in turning his rematch with Louis into a race war. I believe his family were under 'observation' by the gestapo, in case Max didn't fight. The Nazis shut off the live broadcast in Germany when Max lost.

If Hitler and Max had been buddies, Max wouldn't have ended up taking part in highly risky operations as a paratrooper. (I heard once that he was in the bloodbath at Crete...can anybody confirm this?)

I have no reason to disbelieve the stories that Max protected some Jewish friends from the Holocaust at tremendous personal risk.

What hasn't been mentioned is that Max was a true friend to Louis, who half-killed him in their historic rematch. Over the years, Max often helped out Joe financially, when Joe was in trouble with the tax man. Wasn't Max one of the pall-bearers at Joe's funeral?

 

Yes Schmeling saw action in Crete. At some point in the action he re injured his spine where Louis had fractured it and was mediced out.

That injury might just have saved his life.