Which Boxers Were The Face of World Boxing?

[keithmoonhangover]

It's a bit harder for fighters who were around before our time, but it's safe to say Dempsey was a huge world star, who was once the most famous person on the planet.

You can only have one face of the sport, so in my lifetime, in my opinion, it was Ali then Leonard, then Tyson, then Foreman then De La Hoya, then Mayweather.

Anyone else got a different list?

[Tony1244]

Excellent question.

Different eras and in different places, but the boxers who would pass muster on this are:

John L. Sullivan-Read books that this is the guy all schoolboys talked about over 100 years ago.
Jack Dempsey-He was boxing. Any male born around 1900 will follow his name with the phrase "ferocious puncher."
Jack Johnson-Arguably the first African American hero.
SR Robinson-The face of boxing in the 1940s and 1950s.
Muhammad Ali-No explanation necessary.
Manny Pacquiao-Any small Filipino boxer who can sell tens of thousands of tickets in Dallas deserves to be on this list.

Must add Joe Louis & Max Schmeling. You know, the WW2 Thing.

[Bodyshot3]

Marciano was very, very famous for a while and Joe Louis of course.
Being the undisputed heavyweight champion was good for them but elevated the sport in general.

Rocky and Joe were known around the world.

[Kalan]

Fighters who were the "Face of Boxing" were the following...

John L Sullivan... Jim Corbett... Jim Jeffries... Jack Johnson... Jack Dempsey... Joe Louis... Sugar Ray Robinson... Floyd Patterson... Ingemar Johansson... Sonny Liston... Muhammad Ali... Sugar Ray Leonard... Mike Tyson... George Foreman... and Floyd Mayweather... The Face of Boxing wasn't the best fighter ... but the most famous boxer who the general public associated the most with Boxing as an enterprise and sport.

The next Face of Boxing may be Anthony Joshua ... and he would be the 2nd foreigner to assume that role... Johansson's reign as the Face of Boxing was very short and over commercialized... Anthony Joshua is 100 X the fighter so I expect him to be there for a while if his star continues to rise for the next 2 years.

[ClivePatrickLyons]

Excellent question.

Different eras and in different places, but the boxers who would pass muster on this are:

John L. Sullivan-Read books that this is the guy all schoolboys talked about over 100 years ago.
Jack Dempsey-He was boxing. Any male born around 1900 will follow his name with the phrase "ferocious puncher."
Jack Johnson-Arguably the first African American hero.
SR Robinson-The face of boxing in the 1940s and 1950s.
Muhammad Ali-No explanation necessary.
Manny Pacquiao-Any small Filipino boxer who can sell tens of thousands of tickets in Dallas deserves to be on this list.

Must add Joe Louis & Max Schmeling. You know, the WW2 Thing.

That's a great list

[Tony1244]

Excellent question.

Different eras and in different places, but the boxers who would pass muster on this are:

John L. Sullivan-Read books that this is the guy all schoolboys talked about over 100 years ago.
Jack Dempsey-He was boxing. Any male born around 1900 will follow his name with the phrase "ferocious puncher."
Jack Johnson-Arguably the first African American hero.
SR Robinson-The face of boxing in the 1940s and 1950s.
Muhammad Ali-No explanation necessary.
Manny Pacquiao-Any small Filipino boxer who can sell tens of thousands of tickets in Dallas deserves to be on this list.

Must add Joe Louis & Max Schmeling. You know, the WW2 Thing.

That's a great list

[Ambling Alp II]

I think it would go something like this:
John L. Sullivan
Jack Johnson
Jack Dempsey
Joe Louis
Ray Robinson
Muhammad Ali
Ray Leonard
Mike Tyson
Oscar De La hoya
Manny Pacquiao

There were periods where no one guy really stood out; such as the early 1930s.

[actjac]

I think it would go something like this:
John L. Sullivan
Jack Johnson
Jack Dempsey
Joe Louis
Ray Robinson
Muhammad Ali
Ray Leonard
Mike Tyson
Oscar De La hoya
Manny Pacquiao

There were periods where no one guy really stood out; such as the early 1930s.

A good list but would take exception with Jack Johnson. . . He was not considered the face of boxing but was distained and turned off fans. It was not until Jack Dempsey came along that boxing again soared in popularity.
Leonard was a good ambassador but will be forever linked with Hearns, Duran and Hagler.
Oscar was a good boxer coming out of the Olympics but with him Top Rank shifted their marketing toward Hispanics and away from the general U.S. boxing public and rode it for years driving it into a niche sport.
Pacquiao/Mayweather together were the face until.the Marquez knockout of Manny.

[brilo33]

i think pacquiao in the 2000s , but bruno in britain in the 90s , think barry mcguigan was also a big name,iam to young for barry but my mum knows him

[Tomasino]

When Ricky Hatton was winning, he was famed over the globe. His support dwarfed Floyds. Not saying he was up there with those mentioned in the previous posts, but he was massive when undefeated.

[Ambling Alp II]

I think it would go something like this:
John L. Sullivan
Jack Johnson
Jack Dempsey
Joe Louis
Ray Robinson
Muhammad Ali
Ray Leonard
Mike Tyson
Oscar De La hoya
Manny Pacquiao

There were periods where no one guy really stood out; such as the early 1930s.

A good list but would take exception with Jack Johnson. . . He was not considered the face of boxing but was distained and turned off fans. It was not until Jack Dempsey came along that boxing again soared in popularity.
Leonard was a good ambassador but will be forever linked with Hearns, Duran and Hagler.
Oscar was a good boxer coming out of the Olympics but with him Top Rank shifted their marketing toward Hispanics and away from the general U.S. boxing public and rode it for years driving it into a niche sport.
Pacquiao/Mayweather together were the face until.the Marquez knockout of Manny.

I counted Johnson becasue as the "face" because he was the most well known.
I guess you could say that Leonard is "linked" with Hearns, Duran and Hagler. However, you could say that with the other fighters as well. They all had their rivals. That helps them become even bigger.
Hearns, Duran, and Hagler were way bigger names because of Leonard than they would have been had Leonard never existed.