I would say the best examples of fighters earning fans the hard way are Chris Eubank, the most hated man in Britain during his prime years and Antonio Tarver. This poor guy beat Roy Jones ass three times (he won the first as well), defeated all the top contenders at 175 and even starred in a Rocky film, films which have made legends out of all the other fighters and yet people still hate his guts!

It don't get no harder than that to win fans than that people!