BoxRec

WHICH HEAVYWEIGHT BOXER OF THE PAST THAT YOU CAN RECALL, THAT HAD THE BEST HEART?

They all had great great hearts, but after rewatching the Thrilla in Manila and the whole story behind it, I'd find it hard to pick anyone over Ali and Frazier. Ali even more so due to the fact his career went on longer....

The Thrilla in Manila is one of those classics. Watching Frazier walking into punch after punch was painful to watch.

I admire Smokin Joe for keeping it up all night, he took a beating that most guys would have crumbled from.

Ali fought an incredible fight that night and when Frazier's corner pulled the plug The Great one collapsed in mid ring exhausted himself.

Watching those two gladiators that night was an incredible night of endurance and the heart on both men was never called into question.


Others include Marciano, when the chips were down and he was cut to shreds he still found the punch to end a fight

CLEVELAND WILLIAMS

I forgot to add the Big Cat. This man was phenomenal. To come back from a bullet in the gut to fight for the Heavyweight Championship of the World is something in my book.

A few Ali/Frazier victims with great heart: George Chuvalo, Jerry Quarry, Oscar Bonavena.

Also, Ron Stander. I saw him take one of the worst beatings ever adminisrered against Jeff Merritt at the old Cleveland Arena. He got beaten and knocked down several times. but never quit. Damn, could Merrit punch!!

Muhammad Ali without a doubt... in his later career he was in some real wars which most other fighters would have lost but despite being past his best he came on to win and along with his guile the main thing that saw him through was his heart.

Larry Holmes.

..hey john l.....i was at ringside that night when merrit blasted away at stander... who just kept coming in. it was really brutal. of course, stander was a charge in rhino kind of guy....hell..he went right after frazier in their fight. as i recall, stander had never been knocked down before the fight with merritt...and the ring was a little slippery...and stander got mad when the ref called it a knockdown, as raging ron thought it should have been a slip.

okay..now do you remember a heavyweight who was on one of the undercards.


as for heart....this has come up a lot....and i always go with holyfield...who could come back from the brink ...and marciano. i rate holyfield first because marciano was a harder hitter and had an extra strong chin and usually was pulling ahead and wearing his guy down before he got him. i wouldn't rate holy as physically strong as marciano in relation to their respective opponents, so holy usually had more to overcome.

sugar ray robinson showed a lot of heart in not only fighting wars in the ring, but bouncing back from defeat to win rematches against lamotta, turpin, fullmer, basillio.

also you have to menion arturo gatti who might be # 1 on the the list.


jake la motta
harry greb
mickey walker
rocky marciano
evadner holyfield
mickey ward
sugar ray leonard
julio cesar chavez
joe louis
rocky graziano
and alot more

Brocktonblockbuster, the thread was about heavyweights

Jaclem wrote:
okay..now do you remember a heavyweight who was on one of the undercards.

I seem to remember Larry Holmes getting knocked down by Kevin Isaacs in the undercard.

Evander Holyfield
Joe Frazier
Sugar Ray Leonard
Rocky Mariciano
Muhammad Ali

Ali
Evander Holyfield
Jerry Quarry
Henry Cooper
George Chuvalo

Just to name a few.

My definition of Heart is: Never giving up, Never backing down.

.....john l....holmes and isaacs it was. i remembered that so well because i was impressed by holmes. he got off the floor, boxed well through the rest of the round and soon after kayoed isaacs. i followed his career from that time on....and from time to time i'd ask a fellow follower of boxing friend of mine who saw holmes on some subsequent tv broadcasts that i missed how he looked and his answer always was "okay...but i can't see him as a contender for the title." !!!!

Jaclem wrote:.....john l....holmes and isaacs it was. i remembered that so well because i was impressed by holmes. he got off the floor, boxed well through the rest of the round and soon after kayoed isaacs. i followed his career from that time on....and from time to time i'd ask a fellow follower of boxing friend of mine who saw holmes on some subsequent tv broadcasts that i missed how he looked and his answer always was "okay...but i can't see him as a contender for the title." !!!!

Yes, you could see the makings of a champion in Holmes, even when he made mistakes. Of course as his career progressed, he became very good at not making mistakes.

Somewhere I still have the program for that card, as well as the Ali-Wepner card at the Coliseum. Would be interesting to read the write-ups for each of the fighters as they were presented in the programs.

most of u know that james j braddock is my favorite boxer, and u might think this be a little bias, but how could u not put him up there, after coming back from what he went through, defeating max baer, and especially the louis fight, when the old arthritic and completley outmatched braddock hung in the ring with one of the best heavyweights ever, joe louis, for eight rounds, almost every round his manager threatened to stop it but he refused to go out like that, he told his manager he would never talk to him again if he cancelled the fight. he was only knocked out 1 time in his life and that was of course to joe louis, i dont care who you fight, if u dont get knocked down in 80 pro fights, then u got heart. and in my book, the cinderella man had some heart. doesnt anyone agree? he is overlooked in EVERY thing and i think it would be a crime to say he didnt have one of the greatest hearts in heavyweight boxing, maybe u guys just forgot him... i hope?

Evander Holyfield. Even though he should have retired awhile ago. The fact that John Ruiz gave him that much trouble should have been a BIG clue.

The Great John L wrote:A few Ali/Frazier victims with great heart: George Chuvalo, Jerry Quarry, Oscar Bonavena.

Also, Ron Stander. I saw him take one of the worst beatings ever adminisrered against Jeff Merritt at the old Cleveland Arena. He got beaten and knocked down several times. but never quit. Damn, could Merrit punch!!

Man, I'm glad to see Ron Stander's name brought up here. How can anyone not like a guy like that. I recall, after taking a pounding from Frazier, dude weaping without shame that the fight wasn't allowed to continue.

Frasier, Ali, and Holyfield.

IMO,
TBE

kingpawn wrote:Man, I'm glad to see Ron Stander's name brought up here. How can anyone not like a guy like that. I recall, after taking a pounding from Frazier, dude weaping without shame that the fight wasn't allowed to continue.

Yeah, and he took an even worse beating from Merrit and he wasn't real happy about that one being stopped either.

How about a couple of the lesser champions? Carnera got up ten or eleven times against Baer and Willard took that horrible beating from Dempsey and still came out for another two rounds.

most of u know that james j braddock is my favorite boxer, and u might think this be a little bias, but how could u not put him up there, after coming back from what he went through, defeating max baer, and especially the louis fight, when the old arthritic and completley outmatched braddock hung in the ring with one of the best heavyweights ever, joe louis, for eight rounds, almost every round his manager threatened to stop it but he refused to go out like that, he told his manager he would never talk to him again if he cancelled the fight. he was only knocked out 1 time in his life and that was of course to joe louis, i dont care who you fight, if u dont get knocked down in 80 pro fights, then u got heart. and in my book, the cinderella man had some heart. doesnt anyone agree? he is overlooked in EVERY thing and i think it would be a crime to say he didnt have one of the greatest hearts in heavyweight boxing, maybe u guys just forgot him... i hope?

Rory McCloskey wrote:most of u know that james j braddock is my favorite boxer, and u might think this be a little bias, but how could u not put him up there, after coming back from what he went through, defeating max baer, and especially the louis fight, when the old arthritic and completley outmatched braddock hung in the ring with one of the best heavyweights ever, joe louis, for eight rounds, almost every round his manager threatened to stop it but he refused to go out like that, he told his manager he would never talk to him again if he cancelled the fight. he was only knocked out 1 time in his life and that was of course to joe louis, i dont care who you fight, if u dont get knocked down in 80 pro fights, then u got heart. and in my book, the cinderella man had some heart. doesnt anyone agree? he is overlooked in EVERY thing and i think it would be a crime to say he didnt have one of the greatest hearts in heavyweight boxing, maybe u guys just forgot him... i hope?

Are you going to post this every week?

until someone wakes up and acknowledges it yes.

Rory McCloskey wrote:until someone wakes up and acknowledges it yes.

OK, he had more heart than any other fighter in history. Now you can quit posting about this.