who is your favorite current or past fighter and why?

[Julius Rain]

past fighter: koysta - i like fighters that are not loudmouth, carry themselves well and accepts the fact that with great skills comes great responsibility. He had a devestating power and was amazingly accurate.

[DaxxKahn]

Lennox Lewis...He ruled in perhaps HW boxings second best era...beat everyone there was to beat...Avenged both his losses with authority....He improved everytime out...

He was a master boxer yet his punch was devestating...he was a thinking mans fighter...He could pick his opponents apart...

Regardless of opinions due to his 2 KO losses his chin was fantastic....

One of the best thngs about him is he knew when it was time to go...He knew he was starting to lose a bit of what made him great and refused to be one of those champions who would not retire until he was driven out of the sport by an embaressing loss....

Currently I would have said Margarito until the hand wrap incident...

So I have to go with Hopkins...

Again Master boxer...fantastic chin...will fight anyone...a thinking mans fighter

[Kel]

Lennox Lewis...He ruled in perhaps HW boxings second best era...beat everyone there was to beat...Avenged both his losses with authority....He improved everytime out...

He was a master boxer yet his punch was devestating...he was a thinking mans fighter...He could pick his opponents apart...

Regardless of opinions due to his 2 KO losses his chin was fantastic....

One of the best thngs about him is he knew when it was time to go...He knew he was starting to lose a bit of what made him great and refused to be one of those champions who would not retire until he was driven out of the sport by an embaressing loss....

Currently I would have said Margarito until the hand wrap incident...

So I have to go with Hopkins...

Again Master boxer...fantastic chin...will fight anyone...a thinking mans fighter

100% agree on that. Getting out when your on top must be so hard to do, but I suppose only those that have made huge money have that option.

[fan johnny]

My dad got me hooked on boxing watching Muhammad Ali, except he got so freakin' mad.... because he just wanted somebody to hit him....so he would shut the hell up!. He got so into the fight that my mom even got excited... and she was always so calm.... she'd be shouting "hit him! come' on! just hit him...

My favorite though was Roberto Duran. I used to watch him KO guys after playing around. I was the one shouting for Duran to KO Leonard. I guess I'm partial to the brawler style rather than the boys that dance.

I've been hooked on Manny Pacquiao since 1997 in the Philippines, seemed like he was knocking everyone out in the first round. I hadn't been following boxing from the mid 80's till I start watching Pacquiao because of a lot of overseas work.

[Andre]

Tszyu great fighter, chose a style that came to to do the job above some of the other boxing skills we all knew he had, nice bloke ,honest ,no excuses.

Latley since Tszyus retirement Mosley another nice bloke who comes to play hard. I remember years ago he gave a good mate of his a go at him in an interm fight, fought for a while and then koed him. All business.

[C-Lo]

I honestly can't tell if I like Muhammad Ali or Sugar Ray Leonard more. I liked how fast and slick Ali was. He talked A LOT but he backed it up EVEN MORE! He beat everyone worth beating while he was fighting.

Sugar Ray Leonard could frustrate you by flurrying then popping out of there and he could slug it out if he wanted to. No need to mention the names he took out, because he beat EVERYONE in one of the BEST if not THE BEST era of boxing.

Current Favorites: Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto, Kelly Pavlik, Sugar Shane Mosley, Floyd Mayweather, Jermain Taylor, and as much as I don't want to admit this, I like Wlad as well...

[Spicoli]

One will just not do the question justice....have to list

Saad Muhammed:Passion,desire,internal fire,tenacity and self belief.Left hook from hadies,pressure....stayed around way to long

Azumah Nelson:Calculating,deceptive in pressure,accurate combination puncher,very low key,true thinking & instinct on timing fighter

Nigel Benn:Nuff said

Evander Holyfield:Get past the 'needs to retire' stuff,thats obvious and agreeable.Warrior personified.Underrated on nice left hook,zero self doubt,great counter/combination puncher,love the bounce...constant positioning,balls to the wall at best that would insist on giving more than he had taken

Bernard Hopkins:Complete transition from youth,all out onslaught to One of the best boxing 101 minds I am privledged to have witnessed.Will not win marks for best attitude or fan relations but a ring general to learn much from.Absolutly cleaned out his division...at time to boredom yes....but proved himself a very wise ATG with execution going on close to 4 decades wise now

[rjj tszyu]

it always interests me to hear what makes a fighter somebodys favorite. wether its their style or just the way they conduct themselves in or out of the ring. itd be good to hear your views. i love asking fellow boxing fans this question.

Mine is Roy Jones Junior, Simply because he is the greatest fighter I have ever been lucky enough to see the entire career of! For me he is the fastest and hardest hitting middleweight of all time, the best supermiddleweight of all time (although the greatest SMW is Calzaghe due to his longevity), without doubt the greatest light heavyweight of all time and though he never actually really beat the man (Lennox) at Heavyweight, it was still a huge achievement when the former 154lbs fighter stepped up into the heavys and gave John Ruiz a beating only David Tua has bettered to take away the WBA strap.

[X]

Good thread - and there's some good posts on here:

For me, in no particular order:

Roberto Duran - Hands of Stone was everything a fighter should be .... he came up the hard way, no olympics and multimillion pound debuts. He has terrific presence, was the no1 fighter on the planet in the late 70's and early 80's. He cleaned out the lightweight division and never really had a hard fight there. Got his recognition for moving up in wieght and challenging the bigger, younger Leonard, Hagler and Hearns's of the world. A wild and tumultuous life outside the ring. Fantastic. A True Champion.

Marvin Hagler - the real thing. Undisputed champion who took on all comers at a time of great middleweight strength. Again, blue collar and gor his fame and glory late in his career after he paid all his dues on the way up. Great technique, good power, good balance, always fit, ampidextrous, concrete chin, genuine hard man. The best middleweight I have ever seen ... the complete package.

Muhammad Ali - introduced me to the sport. So much natural god given talent, unorthodox, so so so fast, big and rangy, every punch in the book (except infighting) The ego and confidence revolutionised the sport and every fighter since owes him a debt. It's because of him that the top fighters are so well paid. It was only later on that we realized that he was also very intelligent in the ring, a superb tactician, with brains nerve and guile ..... and he had the bravery and chin that ranks with anyone else who stepped into a ring.

Mike Tyson - rescued heavyweight boxing after the fat boring era of Witherspoon, Tubbs etc. His highlights reel look like a Rocky film, with him absolutely obliterating his opposition like Sherman marching through Georgia. A fascinating character, a great story with D'Amato rescuing him from the ghetto. Fit and awesomely muscled, he allied fantastic speed with good technique and shattering power. He terrified his opponents like nobody since Joe Louis. Later on we found out that he had a very good chin, and that his character was even more labyrinthine than we had thought. His tragedy was his self-loathing caused him to listen to all the wrong people until he fell out of love with the only thing he was good at. A true Shakesperean tragedy ...... but during his brief peak he was one of the most electrifying performers that has ever stepped between the ropes.

[:::PSL:::]

Mike Tyson coz I love the way he knocks people out. He was just vicious mean muffukker back in his prime.

[saad79]

I always liked Cornelius Boza-Edwards. He exhibited class outside the ring, and was a true warrior inside the ring. His fights were truly exciting and memorable.

[Violent Demise]

Terry Norris and Ricardo Lopez from the past. Current are Joel Casamayor and Rafael Marquez

[Manuel "Chubby" Medina]

Past-Erik "El Terrible" Morales
Present-Humberto "Zorrita" Soto