James "Cinderella Man" Braddock
Hatton. There have been better fighters before, (even in Britain) and after, but nobody pulled so many casual fans in alongside for the ride and made so much out of an under rated but still limited ability and maximized there potential so unconventionally.
It sounds plain wrong because the guy obviously threw the between fight conditioning rule book out of the window and gave himself a mountain to climb even before he stepped into the ring but strangely it seemed to add to his appeal. It was not just his everyman likability as someone you could see yourself sharing a pint with, but the ferocity with which he threw himself at life whilst at his peak. That same grit and bulldog determination helped him walk through walls in the ring, that would have been insurmountable mountains for other men.
He made you smile at press conferences and had you on the edge of your seat during fights. He knew he was no Duran but he loved the guy and Hearns the real Hitman,and you could see that love of boxing running right through him like the Blue Manchester City colouring in a stick of northern rock.
Cooper,Turpin,Benn,Bruno,Buchanan,Honeygan and Lewis made you proud to be British and Calzaghe painted with a different brush but Ricky represented the English spirit magnificently, warts, piss ups, bad singing, crap shirts and all. Legend.
Saad!...this day anyway
Tszyu I liked him all along right from the world amatures when he gave Vernon a lesson,then when he turned pro he dropped a lot of what he could do and became a stalker and a head hunter, a good one.
As a Nationalist I suppose old school would be Dixon and Langford with modern day being
Chuvalo and Gatti. I leave out Lennox because I'm not sure he's Canadian
I'd love to give a shout out to the Hiltons but unfortunately they are a gaggle of scum bags.
@Master I cant do this question very well and have already failed it cause you asked for one
One of the downfalls of following the sport pretty close most of my life. Its almost like trying to pick a favourite taste. Immediately Roy came to mind. I mean we will most likely never see anything like him.
But is it fair to pick him is the question I asked myself. Almost as fast to mind was Greb and I have only seen the footage available which is not much and I formulate my opinion based on the consistent testimony of historians, other fighters and news accounts of the man along with a couple of books. So it does not really pass the litmus test.
I actually think its a sport where we are allowed to have more then one favourite so I'm going to throw a twist to the question and hope you do not mind.
Min/Jr Fly-Ricardo Lopez
Flyweight-Jimmy Wilde
Jr.Bantam-Christian Mijares
Bantam- Eder Jofre
Jr Feather-Erik Morales
Feather-Hank Armstrong/Sal Sanchez..........oops
Jr Light-Alexis Arguello
Lightweight-Benny Leonard
Jr Welter-Ricky Hatton
Welter- Tommy Hearns/Tito
Jr. Mid -Tommy Hearns
Middleweight-Harry Greb
Super Mid-Joe Calzaghe
Light hev-Roy Jones/Ezzard Charles
Hev-Louis/Lewis
So after this long winded diatribe and exercise I end up exactly where I started. Roy and Greb with Sammy Langford bringing up the rear.
Bold = borderline man crush
Name one @IamInuit
Do not let success go to your head and do not let failure get to your heart.
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