Who is your personal favourite boxer of all time and why...

Max Schmeling.
Unusual style that never existed before or after. He tuned the book upside down, when you were supposed to thow a jab, he would throw a right hand and so on. Very hard to figure out. Very methodical, a thinker and one of the first who analyzed his opponents with film. Great fighter with perhaps the best right hand in the heavyweight division.
His life was a success story. Coming from a humble background to become world heavyweight champion, after that (and WW2) starting two successful businesses (vineyard and sable breeding) before taking over Coca-Cola Germany, making it a huge success story. No matter what he did, he gave his best and had success.
He was loyal and stood to his convictions - stood up against Hitler when he wanted him to part fom his Jewish manager, against Goebbels when asked to divorce from his Jewish wife, against Himmler when he wanted to make him a honouable member of the SS, volunteeed for the German Luftwaffe and fought for his country - always humble and respectful to everybody and very dedicated - worked past the age of 90. And he was a very good person - rescued a few Jews during WW2, gave Joe Louis money at times and paid for his funeral, also paid some of the late Sam Langford´s medical bills, and after his wife died he gave nearly everything - and he was very rich - to charity. But he was not a white knight, he had a dark side. When he wanted something he got it. His post WW2 fights were probably all manipulated - there was even a hearing due to that but the people who were members of the board were all his friends for years - and he used that money to start his businesses - he lost everything in WW2. He let the nazis use him as a symbol for nationalsozialism to promote the Olympics in ´36. And while he was always faithful to his wife, even after her death and she died about 25 years before him, he was apperently quite a womanizer before - not necessarily a bad thing though :hey
Great fighter, great businessman and an even greater person who was very human.

next would be:
Roberto Duran
Bernard Hopkins
Floyd Patterson
Jack Johnson
Barney Ross
Manny Pacquiao
Gustav "Bubi" Scholz
Dick Tiger
Joe Fazier

 

Hopkins is my all time favourite. Followed by Gatti and Whittaker

Hopkins because of his ring awareness and pure boxing ability. gatti for his fights he has been in and the heart he showed. Whittaker well him for obvious reasons a master at his own craft

 

:good

 

Can't pin it down to one, there are so many that captured my interest and really got me hooked on boxing

Initially:

Tyson
Benn
Eubank
Lewis
Neary
Naz
Bruno

Recently:

Mayweather
Hatton
Cotto
Haye
Hopkins
Froch
Pac

And I make no apologies for the Brit influence - cos thats just how it is :bbb

 

tito because one im rican and two it was like no other bein in the msg when tito was fighting and hearing that tito tito tito chant miles away! not to mention the exciting fights

 

Thank you for the read! We have similiar fighter tastes, Hopkins is in my top 5 and Schmeling is in my top 10

 

<----- Warrior

 

Marvellous Marvin Hagler. One of toughest SOBs ever in boxing, and you had to love how he ruled the Middles with an Iron Fist after paying his dues for so long. Plus, he was the victor in one of the greatest short fights ever.

A glove that he's signed is one of my most prized possessions. :bbb

Second would be David Tua; I'm from NZ and in the late 90s, everyone loved Tua as he was the classic rags to riches (he was a dishwasher before turning pro) story that NZ eats up.

Besides, when he was on Wheel of Fortune, he asked for an "O for Awesome"! What's not to love about that?!

 

Muhammad Ali with Mike Tyson as a close second

 

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Smart in the ring and entertaining outside of it, something most boxers don't excel at.

 

Joe Louis, for the reasons mentioned by others and also because we share a Detroit connection. Always carried himself with class and dignity, inspired an entire nation in a time of war, and was a great boxer on top of that. One of the most devastating punchers in history.

His destruction of Max S. remains my all time favorite fight.

Also on the list are Hopkins, Hearns, Hank Armstrong, Sandy Saddler, Wilfredo Gomez, Azumah Nelson, and Ricardo Lopez.

 

Well said.

 

Shameful lack of geography knowledge though.

 

Henry Armstrong! Homicide Hank!

His crazy antics outside of the ring were interesting, and he was definitely the most exciting fighter of all time. Looked at his opponents feet the whole way through the fight, but still managed to slip punches, and batter and bruise his enemy.

All of his punches were complete - a short, shotgun jab, poker right hand, left hook bomb, curling right hook, and two explosive uppercuts from Hell!

He would swarm all over you, throwing hundreds of punches a round without getting tired, constantly bobbing and weaving, all the while throwing destructive punches so hard that a glancing blow would kill the average man. He had a cast iron chin and was rarely knocked down, and when he did he always got back up. I swear, his chin was laced with unbreakable steel!

His will, the fire in his heart to keep fighting, no matter the bruises or cuts was admirable - on a Gatti type level. Not to mention the small subtleties such as his pirouettes in the ring, beautiful footwork, etc. He would often circle an opponent and then jump in with a popping left hook, followed by a right uppercut, continued with an unstoppable combination unleashed from the ninth circle of hell!