In terms of being known on a global level and known to casual fans which 5 middleweights were the most widely known of all-time?
1 with a bullett - Ronnie Harris 2. Pipsqueak Von Ridlenek 3. Jimmy Ellis 4. The Weaver triplets 5. Ricky Whitt
In no particular order I’d say Jake Lamotta, Sugar Ray Robinson, Roy Jones Jr, Marvin Haggler and probably Canello
Hagler was more globally famous than Jones or Hearns, Jones fights weren`t shown on free TV in Europe due to him fighting during the PPV era, I live in the UK and watched Hagler`s fights on free TV during the 80`s, there were only four channels on British TV back then meaning boxers were more well known because they got higher viewing figuers than PPV figures can muster, after Hagler stopped Hearns, the fight made the front page of a leading UK newspaper, Jones`s fights never made the front pages in Europe and Hagler`s fight with Leonard was bigger in the UK than any of Roy`s fights, the average person in a European country would never have heard of Jones during his prime. I once read about Hearns in the ring magazine, the=at he was only a superatar when there wws a superstar in the other corner, Monzon`s fights were also on free TV, boxing wa far bigger during the 70`s and 80`s in the UK than it is now. Silva is completely unknown to casuals in any other country than the US, in the UK most people have never heard of the UFC, Conor is by far the most famous UFC fighter globally of all-time, mainly due to the hype surrounding his fight with Floyd.
Canelo is only known to casuals in Mexico and the US, his fights get pretty low figures in Europe and where I live in the UK most people have never heard of him.
GGG is completely unknown here in the UK, Hearns v Hill was not shown live in the UK and when they showed it some days later, it was shown on sky sports which was just a new channel in the early 90`s with far less viewers than it has today, I don`t know how big the channel RTL is, but it`s not really shown in the UK and if it is then it would just be a part of some obscure package you can buy on cable, Jones is almost completely unknown here in the UK unless you are a boxing fan. Leonard was very famous in the UK specifically his figt with Hagler. Hopkins is completely unknown in Europe. This content is protected
In no order Carlos Monzon Marvin Hagler Canelo Alvarez Ray Robinson Maybe Jones Jr due to winning the Val Barker trophy in the olympics, and the mystical, god like legend during his run at 160/68. Both Leonard and Hearns made their name in lower weights.
I don`t know much about German channels, that`s pretty interesting however Hearns didn`t very hard in his rematch v Barkley at 175 and Andries took Tommy`s shots better than fighters at the lower weights could, Kinchen also took Hearns blows very well at 168, Hill was rated among the top 12 P4P fighters in the world by boxing mags when he fought Hearns and was the favourite to win that bout, Tommy was less efeective the heavier he got and wasn`t very good above 160.
It wasn't just the Val Barker trophy, the controversy surrounding the loss in the gold medal match was heavily publicized. Not sure where you're getting at though, Roy Jones was the p4p number 1 and the face of boxing during the end of his 160/168 run. Just because some guy in some random European village doesn't know who he is doesn't really hold much weight. Other than the 4 mentioned above and possibly LaMotta who had a movie about him starring Robert Dinero, you can't get much more famous than Jones Jr was before he moved up to LHW.
It's a difficult question because boxing may not be popular in different parts of the world at different times. For most of the 20th century, the former Soviet Union countries didn't pay much attention or report on weekly pro boxing cards at all. Same in the Middle East, Africa, etc. I think you'd be hard pressed to find five middleweights who were known by casual sports fans all over the world while they were fighting. You'd probably just have to pick who was well known by the largest sections of the world either during their day or because they are mentioned a lot now. You said you didn't think Canelo was well known by UK fans, which I'm not sure is entirely accurate. But I know, from boxing sites in Russia and across Asia, he is, not to mention in North and Central America. On the other hand, I think most boxing fans across Europe knew or had heard of Felix Sturm and Arthur Abraham during their peak years, but neither was featured on television much at all in the U.S. Hell, Gustav Scholz may have been more well known in the U.S. during his day than Sturm and Abraham were in theirs. And Ryota Murata might be more well known by boxing fans in Asia today than Carlos Monzon or Bernard Hopkins ever were in those countries when they were fighting. I'd say the most well-known today, just because their names get brought up and their fights are easily seen, are Hagler, Canelo, Robinson ... the rest of the top five depends on where you live.
You can't possibly list Monzon. The guy was a God in Argentina, but never crossed over as a global star.
Reminds me of a conversation I once had with a friend who you would definitely say was a causal boxing fan. “what’s your favourite boxing movies?” Friend - “It’s gotta be Rocky, right? Rocky Balboa, Apollo Creed, Mr T, Drago, yeah they were great” “What about Raging Bull? You remember that?” Friend - “Oh yeah, I remember that, Rob DeNiro, that was a great movie too” “You remember the name of the boxer DeNiro played in that?” Friend - “The name of the boxer? Hmm..... uh, let me think, it’s been a long time since I saw that movie, uh, I can’t remember off the top of my head, uh, um, was it ....... Raging bull? Heh, sorry I really can’t remember at the moment” “Lol, yes you are definitely what I would call a casual boxing fan”
