Smokin Joe- Brave, honourable, humble. A mans man and a fighters fighter. Big George- An inspirational example of how a change of mindset can lead to wonderful life altering things. Reggie Johnson- This content is protected Enough said. Total class. Alexis Arguello- The epitome of sportsmanship. Ali- Polarising to an extent (especially early in his career) but became a figure for good in the world and deserves credit for that. We need someone like Ali now.
Besides Floyd Patterson, I've always admired, and had some sympathy for Eddie Machen...I'll always admire his fearlessness vs a prime 1960 monster named Sonny Liston. Jimmy Young of course is a boxing hero of mine...the master of George Foreman in his cool, understated way.. Young was the low keyed, "anti badass" who made the behemoths, i.e., Foreman, Norton, Lyle, Cooney and Ali look so foolish. Harold Johnson and Ezzard Charles were both classy, cool guys...and so was Harold's successor, Willie Pastrano...I mean, who could not like "Willie the P"? Billy Conn, Tommy Loughran, and Billy Graham...3 class acts...and great, great boxers... This brings me to The Great Untouchable Nicolino Locche...who seemed to me to be a real wizard, much in control of his magic defensive powers. Gene Tunney...much maligned and disliked for a myriad of reasons..but to me one of the greatest boxers of history' Nino Benvenuti and Emile Griffith have always been favorites of mine...both a credit to the sport of boxing... I'll probably think of more. To defy and enrage just about everyone, I'll add the great Carlos Monzon to my list because he was the "Clint Eastwood of boxing"...and not because he had a warm and fuzzy personality like Duran and Tyson have.
I know I've left a few out...so I'll be back with some more good guys of mine....like Joey Giardello, Dlck Tiger and Gene Fullmer.
Max Baer Tony Galento Tony Zale Benny Leonard Gene Tunney Jack Dempsey Marcel Cerdan Greatest Willie Pep Rocky Graziano Jackson Johnson Sugar Ray Robinson Ali Holmes Ezzard Charles
Don't know all about him but I always liked Joe Frazier s tenacity and will Pernell Whitaker is also a good one. I like how confident he was, witty and playful enough to be fun without being an attention wh... GGG among the current ones, for being the nice humble guy who turns out to be a wrecking ball in the ring And of course my man James Toney because he is funny af
Blimey. I always liked Reggie Johnson but hadn't realised what a nice guy he seems to be. I'd add Arguello too. Then my usual staples - Charles, Patterson, Spinks M, Billy Graham, Joey Giardello, Michael Watson, Johnny Owen. As a Brummie in the UK, one of our own - near enough - is 90s middleweight Richie Woodhall. What a lovely humble gentleman he always appears to be.
