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I was thinking about how Floyd is almost certainly an ATG and will go down as a legend.
But I can't think of anyone else who was hated like Floyd is, yet is still held in such high regard. Appreciating his ring talents is one thing, but pretty much everyone apart from Fifty Cent despises the guy outside the ring.
All of the others were heros, fan favourite legends.
Ali wasn't loved by everyone, Duran had his detractors, Mike Tyson isn't Universally loved
But to answer your question best Jack Johnson....absolutely despised
If you cant think of anyone else who was hated as Floyd, yet held in high regard as a fighter, then you dont know your boxing history.
I'm with Lyle, nobody was as despised (by white people) as Jack Johnson while he was champ. Even people as loved as Ali and Jack Dempsey were hated and reviled early on in their careers. Tyson (later on) and Liston (always!) were feared and hated for what people thought they were.
well there was young George Foreman, Larry Holmes, SRL gets it plenty, there are plenty of guys out there who get burned for having a quality that didn't fare too well with the majority of fans, Floyd isn't the only one nor is he some victim, it is what it is
I think Jack Johnson definitely tops the list.
The great thing about Jack Johnson is he rolled with it. He was one of those guys who didn't care who thought what of him as long as he got a reaction. He seemed to feed off of that more than anything, good or bad, he just wanted to be noticed. Nobody had thicker skin than Jack Johnson....maybe Joe Louis, but for a different reason of course.
Starting with Ali really, fighters started playing the victim. The whole Mario Balotelli persona "Why does everyone hate me?....It's because I'm great right? Feed my ego, please!". Certain fighters do that, I don't think Floyd does it as much as he used to, guys like Duran and Mayorga don't seem to give two shits about what people think of them (and yes I know it's blasphemy to mention those two in the same sentence). Larry Holmes strikes me as a guy who had an ego that needed to be validated but I don't hate on him because he was stuck between 2 very polarising yet popular champions in Ali & Tyson.
Sonny Liston was loathed by black and white americans alike. In that era, I'm not sure anyone was as hated as he was.
He was also fearedQuote:
Originally Posted by Rantcatrat
Putting my own personal spin on this, out of the HOF fighters named so far:
Floyd
Ali
Duran
Tyson
Foreman
Holmes
SRL
I myself hated Larry Holmes. I found him to be a whining, hyprocritical racist, who also made some enemies when he infamously stated that "Marciano couldn't carry his (Larry's) jock". I celebrated when Tyson KTFO'ed him, even though he was clearly over the hill.
Liston was before my time, as obviously was Jack Johnson. But from what I've read, I probably wouldn't have disliked either one.
There are more recent fighters who will someday probably warrant consideration for the HOF, who I would add to the hated list.
Hector "Macho" Camacho. His man skirts, arrogance and powder puff punching power led many to hate him, including his opponents.
And Ricardo Mayorga ;D;)
I forgot about Jack Johnson to be honest. Watched a fair few documentaries on him too. That was more race hate, people hated him because he was black, they then hated him more when he was knocking everyone out and basically unbeatable.
I didn't really think people hated Ali or Tyson as much, Tyson had a cult following and only really got hated towards the end (although his "end" did go a bit!)
I wasn't around during the Ali era, I'd always assumed he was a bit of a marmite fighter.