BoxRec

Most Popular
1. Muhammad Ali
2. Joe Louis
3. Jack Dempsey
4. Mike Tyson
5. Rocky Marciano

Least Popular
1. Jack Johnson
2. Muhammad Ali
3. Larry Holmes
4. George Foreman (1st career)
5. Sonny Liston

These lists depend on where you're from i guess. i know i'm forgetting some fighters that probably belong on either list. interested to see everyone else's lists.

Jack Dempsey, before Tunney, was one of the most hated figures in sports, as was Muhammad Ali and Jack Johnson.

bjermaine wrote:Most Popular
1. Muhammad Ali
2. Joe Louis
3. Jack Dempsey
4. Mike Tyson
5. Rocky Marciano

Least Popular
1. Jack Johnson
2. Muhammad Ali
3. Larry Holmes
4. George Foreman (1st career)
5. Sonny Liston

These lists depend on where you're from i guess. i know i'm forgetting some fighters that probably belong on either list. interested to see everyone else's lists.

Good list... Jack Johnson refused to kow tow to The Man when kow towing was the order of the day for the black man...

Ali, Dempsey, and Johnson should probably be on both lists.

I'm not quite sure if Holmes deserves to be on the "least popular" list, though. From accounts, Harry Greb would seem to be more deserving.

John L. Sullivan might have a case for the "most popular" list.

If you're talking about back in their day, then Rocky Marciano wans't very popular at all...

Sporting journalists called him a "slow, skill-less, clumsy, dwarf who had a decent punch"...

And they said that Marciano would be "found out whenever he reached the top"... Then after winning the world title, they said that he would lose any fight now...

Nowadays however, Rocky still isn't as popular as Muhammad Ali, Lennox Lewis or Mike Tyson... In many ways (apart form the boxing enthusiasts who check the records on-line) Marciano has become the "forogtten champion" almost.

Dempsey was like Ali in reverse. The public despised the brash Ali early in his career, then came to love him for his ideals (and his invincibility). The public loved Dempsey early in his career, and he did more to popularize the sport to the mainstream than ANYONE. Then he fell out of favor with the press and became the bad guy later on. These two fighters were so much "bigger-than-life" than any others, they arguably could go on both lists.

CARROTGUY wrote:Dempsey was like Ali in reverse. The public despised the brash Ali early in his career, then came to love him for his ideals (and his invincibility). The public loved Dempsey early in his career, and he did more to popularize the sport to the mainstream than ANYONE. Then he fell out of favor with the press and became the bad guy later on. These two fighters were so much "bigger-than-life" than any others, they arguably could go on both lists.

LOL

Dempsey was unpopular until he lost to Tunney.

Then the public pulled for Dempsey to beat Sharkey and Tunney in his final fights.