Over the years, boxing has had some fans’ favorites as far back as when Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney drew 120,557 fans at Sesquicentennial Stadium in Philadelphia on September 23, 1926, for Dempsey’s Heavyweight title.
Though Dempsey would lose back-to-back fights to Tunney including the rematch referred to as ‘The Long Count’ when the new rule was when a boxer is knocked down the one who initiated it had to go to a neutral corner. Dempsey stood over Tunney for some 15 seconds before the count started.
Dempsey, though in defeat, was a fan favorite. It wouldn’t be until ‘The Brown Bomber’ Joe Louis became champion in June of 1937, when he took the heavyweight title from ‘The Cinderella Man’ James Braddock by knockout in Chicago. The following year, Louis got revenge for his only loss to Germany’s Max Schmeling. He said ‘until I beat Schmeling, I’m not champion’.
At Yankee Stadium, this he did in the first round. He was the first active champion to enter the military. Along with Louis was whom most considered the best pound-for-pound boxer ever, ‘Sugar’ Ray Robinson, holder of both the welterweight and middleweight titles another fan favorite.
Along with Robinson would be Henry ‘Homicide Hank’ Armstrong, who held the featherweight, welterweight, and lightweight titles all at the same time. They would meet when Armstrong was a bit past his prime, with Robinson the winner.
Next would be heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano, who was behind on points, knocked out champion ‘Jersey’ Joe Walcott. The punch he ended the fight with has been seen all over the world as Walcott’s distorted face showed the power Marciano ended the fight with in September of 1952 at Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia, in the thirteenth round, too far behind in points to win a decision.
Marciano would end his career at 49-0, a record that held up until 2017, some sixty-one years, when Floyd ’Money’ Mayweather increased his record to 50-0, defeating Connor McGregor, making his debut.
Another heavyweight named Muhammad Ali would be loved and hated by many, but the most well-known around the world.
Then along came a six-division world champion starting at flyweight all the way to light middleweight named Manny ‘Pac Man’ Pacquiao from the Philippines. He retired with a 61-7-3 record in June of 1921 only to return to the ring some four years later at the age of forty-six to gain a disputed draw in July for the WBC World title though while looking like a sure winner at the end when it was announced a majority draw against champion Mario Barrios in Las Vegas in July of 2025.
Who is your choice as your all-time favorite boxer if not the ‘Pac Man’?