Who was the most popular boxer to never win a world title?

It was probably worse when Lewis defeated Bruno.

I don't recall it being that bad when he beat Mason at all.

In general the British public backed Lewis his entire career (barring the Bruno fight) - though there were a few cynics that never really took to him, for obvious reasons.

 

As much as I shutter to think about it, this is probably a good call. Even though Cooney was not championship material, his ungodly amount of hype during the early to mid eighties drove his popularity through the roof. Even after he was beaten badly by Holmes there were many who still had high hopes for him capturing a strap of some sort at some point.

I like Gerry Cooney, but he was arguably the biggest hype job in heavyweight history.

 

Thanks,

I don't really know what British fight fans thought of Gary Mason, but he obviously wasn't too terribly popular. As an American fight fan myself, I have heard plenty about Frank Bruno, Lennox Lewis, Henry Cooper and yes, even Joe Bugner, but Mason seems to be little more than a footnote in European boxing history.

 

Mason was pretty popular, he knocked plenty of guys out and all, but at the time Frank Bruno was firmly established as a potential world title challenger, and as good friends, it wasn't an option for them to fight each other.

I would guess that part of the reasoning for Bruno turning in a career best performance (albeit in defeat) against Lewis was because his friend was beaten into retirement, barring a brief comeback, by Lennox.

Looking at his resume though, he never really defeated anybody of note - a couple of wins for the British title, but the one better than average fighter he faced defeated him.

 

True,

Interstingly enough, ( and perhaps you can verify this ), Frank Bruno, Gary Mason and Horace Notice were all stable mates at the world famous Terry Lawless gym. I think the three of them even sparred from time to time.

 

Yes, that is true.

The Terry Lawless gym, where the main trainer was an old guy called George Francis, was generally the home for black boxers in the UK during the 1970's and 1980's... before other trainers such as Brendan Ingle became more high profile for their work with ethnic minorities.

From memory, John Conteh trained down there for a spell.

The Ingle gym these days is as much of a life and social skills centre as it is a boxing gym. Brendan is still a lecturer at Sheffield university, and is well known in the area for his work outside of boxing, whilst a lot of the boxers come from disadvantaged backgrounds and earn a comfortable living as a journeyman.

 

Alan Rudkin

 

Tommy Morrison.....

 

Jerry Quarry.

 

McVey is right, it would have to be art aragon the original "golden boy". incidently, just found out a few months ago that art aragon is the WBHOF. i know it isn't the IBHOF but it's still an accomplishment for never winning a world title.

 

He was always in the shadow of Bruno.

 

Good shout

 

I seem to remember there was a grudge or a bit of bad feeling between Mason and Bruno in the early 90s.

Mason suffered from being Bruno's "stable-mate" for years, and was never given much mainstream attention, despite the fact that he was just as personable and actually more genuine and intelligent than Bruno and ready to appear on TV shows etc.
He filled the gap when Bruno retired following the first Tyson fight, but was never considered elevated to the status Bruno had, and then he had to watch that Canadian Olympian come over here and get equal attention too.
Mason finally got his dues to some extent when he was favoured by many to beat lewis with his experience, but later on that year the gulf between Mason and Bruno was illustatrated when Bruno came back to beat a nobody from Belgium amid a load of fanfare on prime time weekend TV, more attention than Mason ever got.
I remember at this time, Bruno and Mason were bad-mouthing each other a bit in the press, Mason basically saying Bruno's not good enough to be champion and isn't fighting anyone worth talking about.

To be fair to Mason, he didn't need the "Bruno sparmate" and "Frank's friend" publicity that he received from around '86 onwards. And if he'd had come along before Bruno, the roles would have been reversed exactly. They were both built up on the same steady diet of stiffs and has-beens and both had personalities that would gel with average 1980s Britons. If anything, Mason would have been seen as just as funny and likeable but not as thick as Frank was, and respected more by black people.
It's a matter of timing. Frank came first.

Having said that, I think Bruno was the better boxer.

 

I don't recall Mason being as big a household name as Cooper & Bruno, who were known even by non-boxing fans. Doubt many people in the UK would remember him much today,whereas Cooper & Bruno in their heyday, were regular guests on TV shows as was another 60's British heavy Billy Walker.

Mason came from the Terry Lawless stable which was well known for building up fighters against non-threatening opposition. He was favoured to beat Lewis when they met, though I never knew why.

A lot of Bruno's popularity stems from his appearances on the BBC, who showed all his fights, many live. His knockabout relationship with commentator Harry Carpenter also helped. Carpenter tended to exaggerate the importance & calibre of his opponents which tended to turn Bruno into a world beater in the eyes of casual fans.

Cooper was very popular, a sort of housewives favourite. He was indeed a modest nice guy. He was well know long before the Ali fight though his knockdown of the great man turned him into a national icon. It was really the highlight of his career. His fights were regularly on TV which helped. In fairness he was a very good boxer & did have a knockout left hook. Unfortunately he was far from durable, cut easily & was knocked down many times in his career . I think the highest he was ever rated at world level was 2, though he was never good enough to match the leading US heavies. Definitely too good for the British & European crop of his era though.

The Bugner fight was a bad decision, most including myself thought Cooper won & poor old Joe, who started out popular but quickly became unpopular because of his cautious style & inablity to really deliver never recovered.