Media Top10 Most Iconic Boxers Ever

UK only:

Cooper
McGuigan
Minter
Benn
Eubank (snr!)
Bruno
Hatton
Hamed
Joshua
Lewis

Excluded:
Calzaghe - love him / hate him character who shunned limelight - not iconic
Froch - my personal favorite, but not an icon for most due to dire on screen personality
Fury - not an icon, yet....
 
Ali
Louis
Robinson
Tyson
Dempsey
Floyd
Chavez
Leonard
Johnson
Canelo
 
Hmm.

Roberto Duran
Mike Tyson
Jack Johnson
Ray Leonard
Manny Pacquiao
Ray Robinson
Muhammad Ali
Jack Dempsey
Joe Louis
Rocky Marciano

Wasn't my time, but was Duran really that big? I can't imagine that he was compared to Joe Frazier, George Foreman, or even Holyfield who was part of big fights vs Foreman, Bowe, Tyson & Lewis.

Holyfield made headlines worldwide... Duran? Again, not my time.

Floyd too... His fights vs Oscar, Pacquaio and McGregor were huge.
 
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Clinton Woods
Peter McNeeley
Kubrat Pulev
Ricardo Mayorga
Spider Rico
David Price
Conor McGregor
Glass Joe
Audley Harrison
Adrien Broner
haha my sarcastic response was going to be "what no Broner?", then I finished your list.
 
haham my sarcastic response was going to be "what no Broner?", then I finished your list.

Whatever the list, he’ll always be a bottom.
 
^ This seems right to me.

I might replace somebody with George Foreman. But I can’t decide who, so maybe not.

Yeah, he immediately crossed my mind, of course, but yeah, for me he doesn't quite make the cut this time around.
 
^ This seems right to me.

I might replace somebody with George Foreman. But I can’t decide who, so maybe not.
Willie Pep, perhaps. He was one of the few non heavies to really capture the fans attention.
 
Willie Pep, perhaps. He was one of the few non heavies to really capture the fans attention.

Maybe, I think it depends on whether we are judging them on their current status or at their peaks. In modern culture, I’d put George Foreman on that list in a heartbeat. His comeback and his grill put him right at the top of boxing icons in mainstream culture, likely permanently. But maybe at Willie Pep’s peak he was more transcendent? I don’t really know.
 
Ali
Tyson
Joe Louis
Foreman
Floyd
SRL
Pacman
SSR
Jack Johnson
Marciano
Dempsey


There are 11, I tried to put them in order also, but it is so close for all of them outside like the top 4.
 
Wasn't my time, but was Duran really that big? I can't imagine that he was compared to Joe Frazier, George Foreman, or even Holyfield who was part of big fights vs Foreman, Bowe, Tyson & Lewis.

Holyfield made headlines worldwide... Duran? Again, not my time.

Floyd too... His fights vs Oscar, Pacquaio and McGregor were huge.

Yeah, the key word here is indeed "worldwide."

Duran was absolutely legendary, and he transcended the sport in ways that few fighters have. Very charismatic, capturing the imagination of the mainstream public on several continents. And very unique - not someone you'd ever confuse with anyone else. Nick Cave even wrote a poem about "Hands of Stone." No one in the arts writes poetry about Evander Holyfield.

And while Evander was big, he was - despite beating the man twice - never even close to being the icon that is Mike Tyson. He was always secondary to Mike, and can even thank Mike (and to a degree Rocky Balboa, probably) for putting the HW division on people's maps again - something that certainly helped him make as much money as he did.

And apologies for stating the painfully obvious, but Mike Tyson's worldwide fame and notoriety pretty much wipes the floor with anyone in combat sports post Muhammad Ali. Everyone knew who Mike Tyson was, and he was probably as much of a symbol of the sport as anyone before or after Ali. Tyson made all his contemporaries secondary to him, even when he was losing to some of them. If they got famous, it was often thanks to him. He was a legendary figure by his early twenties. (First time I went to Brazil, I smoked strong spliffs called "Mike Tyson." As a musician, I've played synthesizers that had bass sounds named "Iron Mike." He stands head and shoulders above the majority of the competition. How many other people named in this thread have drugs and synthesizer patches made after them?)

So anyway, bla bla bla. I do think Duran belongs in the top ten, but I'd have major issues with anyone putting him in the top five, of course. Had he fought in this day and age, though, his social media numbers would probably be insane, as would his personal income. Evander Holyfield, who I've been a huge fan of since starting boxing in the late 80s myself, doesn't really belong in the discussion here.

Foreman and Frazier did cross my mind, of course, but I don't really think they'd out-icon anyone that I listed. Foreman possibly. He was indeed huge. But during his first career he was secondary to Ali, and during his second he was - like everyone else - secondary to Tyson. He's definitely a charismatic and fun guy, and he sold shitloads of grills, but most of his lasting fame outside the US is probably as Muhammad Ali's opponent. He clearly deserves "icon status" but is probably not in the top ten, I think.

Floyd: Has to cross your mind in this discussion, but his superstardom is such a strictly US thing that I can't see how he'd make the top ten - although he may not be that far off. I don't know. He did make more money than anyone else, which is noteworthy, of course (and there is probably such a thing as "money charisma"). It's just that outside of America and certain demographics (those that don't go a big yaaaaaawn at his "look at all my money" schtick) he never really caught the mainstream's attention. And even with his much (self-)publicised spending, he's just too bland and unmemorable outside the ring to be a true icon of the sport. Certainly in a historic perspective he's not. He'll most likely be forgotten by the mainstream somewhat quickly, and he seems to be fairly aware of that fact himself. People in the sport, along with true boxing fans, won't forget, obviously - but that's not really what we're talking about here.

As for Floyd's fights against De La Hoya, Pac and McGregor being huge, you'd have to consider that Manny Pacquiao and Conor McGregor are bigger stars worldwide than Floyd will ever be, and De La Hoya was huge in the Americas (and hardly unknown elsewhere), so I wouldn't give Floyd all the credit for setting those PPV records. When he wasn't fighting big names his fights weren't actually getting much attention at all in non-American media, and even PPV numbers - a US thing - weren't terribly impressive. So... Biggest earner, for various reasons. But not top ten here.



As for some of these other names mentioned / running through my head...

Hagler: No, just no. Absolutely not top ten of all time on a list like this, sorry. Fantastic fighter, but that's not enough. A bit too plain, to be frank. And how much money did he even make when he wasn't fighting another big name?

Lennox Lewis: Forget it. Not top ten. Easily top ten best heavyweight of all time, quite possibly top three, but not top ten icon of the sport. Locally speaking, like with Floyd in US, perhaps - we might be able to put him on a British list. I think so. Or, um, a Canadian one. Like Jeff Fenech in Australia. Or Sven Ottke in Germany (I'm not even joking, I think...). But that's not the list we're talking about here. Lennox didn't have enough of that elusive X-factor. Too bland. Just a great, great heavyweight, which is not enough to make the cut. Larry Holmes was a great, great heavyweight too, but when do you ever get a casual boxing fan walking up to you and asking about him?

JCC: No, not top ten of all time. Would he make top twenty? Haven't thought about it, tbh. He's definitely a legend of the sport, but I may also be overrating him a tad here due to following him when I was starting out myself. He was arguably number 1 pound of pound at the time, and unbeaten in 80+ fights (possibly minus 2, which were alleged to have never taken place).

Canelo: On a top ten all time list? At this stage? Canelo Alvarez? Not in my world. Very, very famous right now, yes. But that's right now. A massive icon in a historical perspective? No. Let's see what the future holds, though.

Oscar De La Hoya: Not top ten. Top twenty, though? He did cross my mind there for a moment, but I may be the victim of recency-bias here.

Spider Rico: Not top ten, but easily top 11, yes.
 
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Floyd: Has to cross your mind in this discussion, but his superstardom is such a strictly US thing that I can't see how he'd make the top ten

This goes for severel boxers in your top 10. Jack Johnson and Dempsey outside the US? I don't know... But again, not my time, LOL.

This brings me back to Foreman, who is definitely known outside the US. You're right that its mostly because of his fight against Ali, but it doesn't change the fact that he possibly easily hits the top 10... Him capturing the heavyweight championship at 45 probably didn't go unnoticed worldwide as well.

As for Floyd's fights against De La Hoya, Pac and McGregor being huge, you'd have to consider that Manny Pacquiao and Conor McGregor are bigger stars worldwide than Floyd will ever be

Don't agree with that. I don't think Pacquaio is a bigger star than Floyd, and McGregor is arguable too. Both needed Floyd to score their biggest payday of their lives.
 
UK only:

Cooper
McGuigan
Minter
Benn
Eubank (snr!)
Bruno
Hatton
Hamed
Joshua
Lewis

Excluded:
Calzaghe - love him / hate him character who shunned limelight - not iconic
Froch - my personal favorite, but not an icon for most due to dire on screen personality
Fury - not an icon, yet....

I think that’s absolutely spot on! And I also agree with calzaghe and froch. Better fighters than most on that list but not iconic in over here
 
UK only:

Cooper
McGuigan
Minter
Benn
Eubank (snr!)
Bruno
Hatton
Hamed
Joshua
Lewis

Excluded:
Calzaghe - love him / hate him character who shunned limelight - not iconic
Froch - my personal favorite, but not an icon for most due to dire on screen personality
Fury - not an icon, yet....

No Ken Buchanan?
 
This goes for severel boxers in your top 10. Jack Johnson and Dempsey outside the US? I don't know... But again, not my time, LOL.
Heh, not my time either, thankfully. But Jack Dempsey seems to have been huge outside the US too. Well, at least in Europe. I remember hearing his name many times as a little kid, before I got into boxing myself, and I was born in 1975, decades after he fought. The guy is a real legend. A part of American culture, which of course most of us have some kind of relationship with. It would feel like something major was missing if his name was not on the list.

Jack Johnson is possibly more debatable, but still... He is iconic in large part thanks to being the first African-American champ, of course, with everything that surrounded that, and while, yes, you could say that this was very much a US thing, there are of course parts of US history that in a way now feel like they belong to all of us (or at least you could of course say that much of it is world history) and that whole part of slavery and systematic racism is one of them. Jack Johnson arguably transcended sport in ways that most of the others on my list did not, and was perhaps a more important figure historically than the majority of them too. I think he belongs in the top ten.

Imagine there was a movie made in 2019 based on Jack Johnson's life. Then imagine one made about George Foreman, or Floyd Mayweather Jr. Which one do you think would get more attention in non-boxing circles? Which one would win more Oscars?

Go 100 years into the future. Who is closer to being in the history books at schools around the world (well, um, history holograms)? Jack Johnson or George Foreman? How about Pretty Boy Floyd? Evander Holyfield? Who is closer today? Not an unbeatable argument, I know, but I think it means something.

There's of course also something about pioneers and names that have been around for a very long time. Johnson and Dempsey are big names in part because they've always been big names, and they've always been there to compare against those who came after them. They're immortal legends, even if they'd get absolutely slaughtered fighting some more recent HW champs.

This brings me back to Foreman, who is definitely known outside the US. You're right that its mostly because of his fight against Ali, but it doesn't change the fact that he possibly easily hits the top 10... Him capturing the heavyweight championship at 45 probably didn't go unnoticed worldwide as well.
He is definitely known outside the US, that is true. And huge in the US, obviously. He's very close to the top ten for me in terms of icon status, but again, on my list I just don't know whose spot I'd give to him.

And you're right that him winning the championship at that age didn't go unnoticed worldwide, but that was kinda for the wrong reasons too. To a slight degree, the fact that a "fat, old man" could become a world champion discredited the sport. And there was definitely fear in the sport even before he fought Holyfield that he would win, and how that would "look." I remember there being a wee bit of embarrassment around the whole thing. Nothing major, but there was some chatter and articles written, for sure. Pre-internet days, though, obviously. Today you'd probably have a bunch of desperate kids on the UFC section here trying to turn it into a "boxing sucks" thing.

Foreman's second career is definitely "my time" as I got into boxing around the time he started it, and I was still active for a good while after his final retirement. My best years, heh. And I was still young enough to care quite a bit how the general public felt about my sport, and Foreman knocking out Michael Moorer was a bit of a mixed bag in terms of how I felt about it. For the most part I thought it was awesome, though, and I don't think it damaged the sport. This sport is quite resilient.

The whole thing about Foreman being the oldest HW champ ever gets a bit too detailed for the general public, though, I think. It's not really what fires people up. So he gets the thumb down signal from me with regards to what we're talking about on this thread. He's outside the top ten AFAIC. But only just.

(Sorry for the rambling, I'm multitasking here tonight and it's not really working out for me.)
 
Imagine there was a movie made in 2019 based on Jack Johnson's life. Then imagine one made about George Foreman, or Floyd Mayweather Jr. Which one do you think would get more attention in non-boxing circles? Which one would win more Oscars?

Probably the best movie would get the most accolades. But those type of boxing flicks never had much to do with the Oscars anyway, so I guess that none of them would win at that event.

Also Biggie Smalls would be too old now in order to play Jack Johnson, even if he was still alive.
 
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