who is your favorite current or past fighter and why?

[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.