Cheers to the most feared, the meanest and the bravest
November 22nd, 2010
By Gerardo Granados: The core of the boxing hall of fame or the personal top ten all time greats list are the bad to the bone prizefighters, call them greats or legends, it’s your choice. There are sublime pure boxers that are so rare that you will enjoy until your memory leaves them behind. But there are some mean, tough and relentless sons of boxing that you can not ever forget. Since the first time you saw they fight to the last bout that they engaged you knew that these men step into the ring with a killer instinct and always try to demolish their opponent.
No need to say that these are no model citizens, perhaps some of them had trouble with the law or party out loud. But what would we have done without them, I bet boxing would not be as it is. Which was your impression when you saw Duran for the first time, boy the charisma these mate still has, the way he looked and the way he fought hooked many to boxing ever since; Iron Mike in his early years, you could tell right away he was bad to the bone. Hatton still has it isn’t he; Wladimir looks like a nice guy outside the ring but inside it’s a different story. The ones that got the chance the see LaMotta or Dempsey were lucky. All of these fighters have achieved big things, and there is no doubt that these fighters are the ones that keep boxing alive and are responsible for the greatness of the sport.
Nowadays professional boxing has some issues that need to be fixed, but this is not new. Boxing as a sport will never die neither professional boxing but it is quickly becoming a show than a real competition, blame it on promoters (you name the worst), boxing organizations or to the main television networks, the revenues are really big so forget about any chances to improve the quality of title fights and competition; PPV will never go away. It´s sad that the hard core boxing fans are the only ones who are aware that changes must be implemented. Other fans, the ones that only gather when there is a big fight that was heavily promoted, will eat anything that is on the table; they don’t mind if the fight is really competitive all they want is to see one guy get utterly beaten.
Valero and Sal Sanchez left too early, others don’t fight anymore but there are good fighters left that will become the next generation of the most feared, the meanest and the bravest fighters that we all will enjoy. But who are these upcoming fighters? What about Marcos Maidana, Dimitry Pirog, Saul Alvarez, Juan Manuel Lopez, Kell Brook, Luis Garcia, Alexander Frenkel, Ruslan Provodnikov, Wilfredo Vazquez Jr and Roman Gonzalez; time will tell if they are able to accomplish what is expected of them.
If the reader by any chance has a bottle of beer or a glass of whiskey on his hand lets raise our drinks and say cheers to all these mean sons of boxing who are the only ones that make boxing what it is.
Tags: 26 Responses to “Cheers to the most feared, the meanest and the bravest”
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I don’t understand why you have Ricky Hatton on the list, another is Juan Marquez, Valero is good, Klitschko is a joke… you trying to be funny? Where the hell is Ali and Lewis? Get your facts straight Gerardo because you’re making a fool of yourself with this hastily made article, there are more deserving boxers in history than your list.
How can the long list of the meanest and bravest in boxing start without Muhammed Ali. Surely Ali was the face and representaion of boxing for so long. Gatti is also a big miss.
Nice change in topic for once, no motives, no tunnel vision, just something different.
Its true, Pacquiao only fights boxers who are comming off of serious losses and are weight drained.
Martinez, ony takes on fighters who are comming off of a long winning streak.
Margarito had no business being in the ring with Pacquiao as he had just come off a brutal loss to Pacquiao.
“McGoo says:
November 22, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Nice article. I could name a few you missed (most importantly Eubank and Prince Naseem)”
eubank? you must be joking. if you’d said steve collins then maybe…but eubank?
“Elgato says:
November 22, 2010 at 11:48 am
These don’t belong:
Wladimir Klitschko, Hector Camacho, Roy Jones Jr, Jorge Arce, Ricky Hatton.”
i agree with all except hatton. hatton was a warrior & his fight with kostya is exactly what this list is about imo.
Nice article. I could name a few you missed (most importantly Eubank and Prince Naseem) but that would be nit picking. Keep writing!
Come on man no cris eubanks he was the man in britian you got to put his name up there
@ John Peter
Nice one!
I don’t see the point of this article. Just a waste of time reading this.
Nice 1,
I think a few more should be on it though,
Arturo Gatti, Naseem Hamed, Ali, Chris Eubank, Lennox Lewis,
Holyfield.
As far as the meanest and most feared, I have to put Jack Dempsey, Sonny Liston, George Foreman, Mike Tyson and Roberto Duran.
Now as for the bravest I would say Sam Langford, Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield, Alexis Arguello, Julio Caesar Chavez, Henry Armstrong, Arturo Gatti, Bob Foster, and Archie Moore.
Very good article !! Surely there are some more names, but very good comment.
FELIX TRINIDAD!!!!! that boy fought who ever and banged out with who ever was willing to trade with him. He definitely deserves to be up here. other than that, thanks for not writing about Mayweather or Haye. Boxers like them are the reason why Boxing has been slacking the past few years.
Boxing is hot on a seasonal level. One moment there are no fights then the next thing you know you got 10 great fights back to back. Die hard fight fans keep there ear to the streets and know what’s happening. Other sports get so much attention you don’t have to follow them. You just turn on sport center and get a 30 second clip. Boxing is the sport of kings but lately its been watched and commented on by peasants. This will pass just like all the fighters mentioned. Boxing has the best fans by far.
so, what’s your point, mr. granados? long article over nothing.
that was a well put together article and some great hard fighters named but adding ricky hatton was a over statement . apart from that well said.. good to read an article thats not about pacquiao fighting at a catchweight or running pacquiao down.. so thanks for the change ..
I agree with some of the comments. Firstly why is Ali not in there? the only logical explanation is clerical error and yes if you got Hatton and JMM why is the Pac man not there?? doesn’t make sense.
Roy Jones never traded punches with anyone. He was a bully. Roy Jones didn’t even trade with a smaller younger Hopkins at the time they fought.
Roy Jones fought slow fighters who weren’t good.
Roy Jones was a boxer not a fighter. As he got old and lost some speed fighters could catch him.
How about Goldie…lol..
so Virgil Hill, James toney, montell griffin, Bernard Hopkins, are bums right the correct criticism of jones is he did not fight all the best fighters out there but he did not fight bums all the time or he would have never lost like calazaghe
ha! ya pacquiao got hatton unconscious in the ring and floored juan manuel marquez four times. and yes it’s good for boxing when you have a boxer who bites the ear of his opponent or tell his opponent that he’s gonna eat his children. and yes it’s good for boxing to have a boxer who takes drugs, beats his wife and then kills himself. THAT’S GOOD FOR BOXING. that’s the reason why MMA will eradicate boxing someday because of stupid sportswriters like you!
i wouldnt say wladimir klitschko is one of the meanest or bravest boxers, very good at winning his way but not exciting and entertaining
was the harrison haye fight big news in america
why isn’t audley harrison on the list ??? he has courage and bravery by the bucket load and sarcasm is a great trait of the english, haha !
Good article.
These don’t belong:
Wladimir Klitschko, Hector Camacho, Roy Jones Jr, Jorge Arce, Ricky Hatton.
Camacho was a runner, Roy fought bums, Ricky was a grappler not a boxer.
How is Ali not here or the “real deal” holyfield, Arturo Gatti…Armstrong..
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