Most influenctial boxer

[kick asner]

What fighter in the history of boxing had the biggest influence on the sport? I know their have been many a man who have left their mark, but if you had to narrow it down to a single fighter who would it be? Maybe someone from the late eighteen hundreds who might have been an early pioneer. Or maybe someone at the turn of the nineteenth century when boxing started to come into prominence who may have shaped the future of modern boxing. Or you might be thinking of someone more in the modern era. Would be interested in hearing your thoughts.

[Dentsun4228]

Hard to say. If I had to venture a guess, it would be Muhammad Ali...however, that's just within the last 40 years. Before that, Joe Louis captured the public imagination like no fighter ever before him. Jack Johnson had an incredible impact on boxing and American society as a whole at the turn of the century...His fight with Jim Jeffries resulted in a race war throughout the country. Jack Dempsey was immensely popular as well. He was the Tyson of his day... A badboy who married movie stars and flouted public opinion. Then there is Tyson of course, an American archetype whose influence runs pretty deep even today. I think Sugar Ray Robinson had the most lasting impact. Many greats patterned their style after him, including Ali, Leonard and a long list of others who benefitted from the skills he innovated. Outside of the ring, you have guys like Don King who essentially changed the face of boxing. A lot of bad things have been said about King, but on the positive side, he did make fighters richer than ever before, gave them more control over their careers and made boxing safer.

[Borinken25]

Ali

[Aldo Pravisani]

Mohammad Ali no doubt about it.

[Ezzard]

I'd say...

Johnson
Dempsey
Louis
Ali

[Chuck1052]

The most influential boxer in history was John L. Sullivan,
who may done more than anyone else to make boxing
under the Marquis of Queensberry Rules very popular,
displacing boxing under the London Prize Ring Rules.
As a result, Sullivan was able to pave the way for boxing
to have a shot to be a major sport during the Twentieth
Century. One also should remember that the world
heavyweight title was the coveted and most lucrative
sports prize for many decades after Sullivan retired
as a boxer.

- Chuck Johnston

[iceman21287]

The most influential boxer in history was John L. Sullivan,
who may done more than anyone else to make boxing
under the Marquis of Queensberry Rules very popular,
displacing boxing under the London Prize Ring Rules.
As a result, Sullivan was able to pave the way for boxing
to have a shot to be a major sport during the Twentieth
Century. One also should remember that the world
heavyweight title was the coveted and most lucrative
sports prize for many decades after Sullivan retired
as a boxer.

- Chuck Johnston

John L. was definitely the most influential in terms of "modernizing" the sport. The techinical aspect of boxing. Although I believe something should be said for Corbett as well.

In terms of cultural influence, Sullivan is still up near the top, but I think Jack Johnson needs to be given more of a voice than he has thus far. Did he truly break the (heavyweight) color line? That's a question that could be debated forever. He did in the sense that he was black and won the heavyweight title. But he did a disservice by not giving fellow black heavyweights title shots. He was, however, incredibly influential in the world of boxing, and the world of sports as a whole. Johnson, a black man, was the king of the sports world for a time. Years before the Negro Leagues became legitimate professional leagues, a couple decades before the years of Oscar Charleston and Josh Gibson and Jesse Owens, nearly half a century before Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color line, Johnson was on top of the sporting world. Something has to be said for that.

[TheRiverCityHippy]

jem mace was known as the father of modern boxing so he must have been pretty influential in his day.

[yiddo14]

True pioneers of the sport are guys like James Figg and Jack Broughton.
James Figg is THE father of boxing.
These guys were making the sport known years before John L.Sullivan's grandfather was born!!!

Modern day....the most influential fighter is without doubt Muhammad Ali.

[Parm]

It's 2:00 AM, and I can't sleep. What else to do but put together a list on the top of my head?

• The Walker Law/Jack Dempsey
• Queensbury Rules/John L. Sullivan
• The Color Line/Rocky Marciano
• TV/Rocky Marciano
• Defense/Jack Johnson
• Combination Punching/Joe Gans
• Boxer-Puncher/Sam Langford
• Defense/Benny Leonard
• Heavyweight Defense/Gene Tunney
• Marketing Smaller Fighters/Sugar Ray Robinson
• Modern Marketing/Sugar Ray Leonard
• Fierce Determination/Roberto Duran
• Heavyweight Footwork/Muhammad Ali
• Redefining the Champion Post-Marciano/Muhammad Ali
• Dehydration and Rehydration/Gerald McClelland
• Putting it All Together/Roy Jones
• Putting it All Together/Floyd Mayweather

How is Rocky Marciano the most influential in terms of the colour line? I would think that Jack Johnson undoubtedly would be the most influential in terms of this.

[pundit]

The most influential boxer in history was John L. Sullivan,
who may done more than anyone else to make boxing
under the Marquis of Queensberry Rules very popular,
displacing boxing under the London Prize Ring Rules.
As a result, Sullivan was able to pave the way for boxing
to have a shot to be a major sport during the Twentieth
Century. One also should remember that the world
heavyweight title was the coveted and most lucrative
sports prize for many decades after Sullivan retired
as a boxer.

- Chuck Johnston

Well, if you list Sullivan you have to mention his succesor Jim Corbett as well. Sullivan made the Queensberry Rules popular, but stylewise he was still a London Prize Ring Rules fighter. It's Corbett whose fast counterpunching style changed the character of the sport.

[delisa]

I agree with Chuck -- John L. Sullivan is the most influential.


Ali really didn't influence the sport at all -- unless dropping your hands and leaning backwards is seen as an influence.

[The Great John L]

I agree with Chuck -- John L. Sullivan is the most influential.


Ali really didn't influence the sport at all -- unless dropping your hands and leaning backwards is seen as an influence.

And he was hardly the first to do that.

I'll go with Sullivan as well, and I assure you that I am completely unbiased.

[yiddo14]

The most influential fighters in history,are those that made the sport popular when it began.
Without James Figg then Jem Mace,John.L.sullivan,Jack Johnson,Jack Dempsey,Joe Louis,Rocky Marciano,Muhammad Ali,Larry Holmes,Mike Tyson,Lennox Lewis etc would'nt have even come about.

Of course,the guys I mentioned all done their bit,by making the sport popular during their respective reigns,but Figg is the daddy of it all.

[The Great John L]

Ali really didn't influence the sport at all -- unless dropping your hands and leaning backwards is seen as an influence.

He took on all comers, and didn't hide behind his title the way so many heavyweight champions have.

Yes he did, but that doesn't seem to have influenced the HW division much has it?

[elmersalsa]

I think there are a lot of boxers that influenced the sport. Their contributions and influence speak for itself:

Marvin Hagler
Muhammad Ali
Archie Moore
Roberto Duran
Jack Johnson
Ray Leonard
Oscar De La Hoya
Mike Tyson
Ray Robinson
John L Sullivan
Jack Dempsey
Joe Gans
Tommy Hearns
Joe Frazier
Larry Holmes
George Foreman
Rocky Marciano


all these fighters contributed and influenced the sport in one way or another in my opinion.

[kick asner]

Another way to look at it would be if you took one fighter and eliminated him as if he was never born, who would have left the biggest void? Say where his lack of existence might have set the sport back for years. Is their any one such fighter by removing his existence from the pages of history that boxing might have been set back a number of years?

[torodecayey]

so many but a few of them are; jim corbett jack dempsey benny leonard ray robinson kid chocolate ali max baer

[Knightmare.]

A very simple answer.Jack Dempsey was the fighter who brought more fans to live gates than any other fighter in history.

Dempsey's exciting style coupled with his killer instinct and natural charisma took boxing to its highest pedestal in terms of fan numbers attending fights and crossover appeal.Everything else worldwide was a knock on effect of Dempseys impact on the game.

Dempsey set the foundations for superstardom and in insuring boxing as the top sport from the 20's to 60's ,not only in the U.S but worldwide

[Chuck1052]

I agree that Jim Corbett was an important early
figure in the early days of boxing under the
Marquis of Queensberry Rules, but there were
other skillful boxers who came along about the
same time. For instance, Peter Jackson came
along even earlier than Corbett. In other words,
I feel that boxing under the Marquis of Queensberry
Rules would have evolved like it did without Corbett.

- Chuck Johnston

[iceman21287]

No offense to the posters naming Jem Mace, Jack Broughton, etc. as being the most influential boxers of all time, but I don't think you can really take them into account. Their "sport" was nothing like the sport we have today. It wasn't the same sport. They were influential in their own right, but to say Jack Broughton is the most influential boxer would be akin to saying the founder of Rounders is the most influential baseball player. London Prize Ring, though similar to Marquis of Queensbury, is simply not the same thing.

[Tantum]

[quote="Decagon"]It's 2:00 AM, and I can't sleep. What else to do but put together a list on the top of my head?

• The Walker Law/Jack Dempsey
• Queensbury Rules/John L. Sullivan
• The Color Line/Rocky Marciano
• TV/Rocky Marciano
• Defense/Jack Johnson
• Combination Punching/Joe Gans
• Boxer-Puncher/Sam Langford
• Defense/Benny Leonard
• Heavyweight Defense/Gene Tunney
• Marketing Smaller Fighters/Sugar Ray Robinson
• Modern Marketing/Sugar Ray Leonard
• Fierce Determination/Roberto Duran
• Heavyweight Footwork/Muhammad Ali
• Redefining the Champion Post-Marciano/Muhammad Ali
• Dehydration and Rehydration/Gerald McClelland
• Putting it All Together/Roy Jones
• Putting it All Together/Floyd Mayweather

I really hope that atleast half of this stuff was induced by overtiredness.

[barry]

I would have to say John L. Sullivan or Jack Dempsey.

[The Great John L]

Pre-Johnson it was a noble show of the white mans superiority, post-Johnson it was indicative of the natural ferocity and animal nature of the negro man.

OK...

[pundit]

Jack Johnson, in terms of technique and significance, gets my vote. He made some of the other fighters look like bar-room brawlers and for the rights and wrongs of his negro peers not getting a chance he got his chance and changed the way boxing was preceived by the upper-classes.

Pre-Johnson it was a noble show of the white mans superiority, post-Johnson it was indicative of the natural ferocity and animal nature of the negro man.

It always depends on what one has in mind with "influential". Jack Johnson was socially very influential as the first black heavyweight who broke through the colorline (but then, so is Joe Louis who broke through for good).

In terms of boxing technique, however, Sam Langford was more influential than Jack Johnson. Johnson was a defensive master, but at the time most boxers fought defensively, Johnson was simply a bit better at it than the others. Langford, in contrast, was an aggressive boxer-puncher, a style that had come out of fashion after John L. Sullivan. Defending and counterpunching, as Sullivan's conqueror Corbett had demonstrated, seemed like the superior fighting style.

Jack Dempsey and Harry Greb are often credited with making swarming and mauling again a part of the game at the highest level, by combining aggression with bobbing and weaving and good footspeed that made them hard to hit cleanly. But the fact is that Langford fought this way 10 years earlier, and he was no less ferocious and succesful at it.