Greatest Boxing SHOWMAN Ever?

[Njord777]

But.... but then I'd have to take Augustus off....

If you mean showman in the sense of flash, ****, and shoe-shine inside the ring than those picking Ali, and Robinson and the like are dead on. If we mean outside the ring, too, I'm surprised no on has mentioned Tyson.

We still talk about the crazy things he said. Media and those close to him all admit that, maybe he was a troubled guy, but quite a bit of that was just hype. Everyone wanted to see a Lewis-Tyson fight when he punched Lennox at the weigh-in and threatened to eat his kids. Sure, he was over the top...but it was entertaining. Quotes of his are still all over the internet...in people's signatures, in quotation databases, everywhere.

Showman in the sense of being entertaining, making a fight a real showy, spectacle, Tyson is on the top of my list.

[The Raging Bull]

If you mean showman in the sense of flash, ****, and shoe-shine inside the ring than those picking Ali, and Robinson and the like are dead on. If we mean outside the ring, too, I'm surprised no on has mentioned Tyson.

We still talk about the crazy things he said. Media and those close to him all admit that, maybe he was a troubled guy, but quite a bit of that was just hype. Everyone wanted to see a Lewis-Tyson fight when he punched Lennox at the weigh-in and threatened to eat his kids. Sure, he was over the top...but it was entertaining. Quotes of his are still all over the internet...in people's signatures, in quotation databases, everywhere.

Showman in the sense of being entertaining, making a fight a real showy, spectacle, Tyson is on the top of my list.

Great post. Your spot on there, I completely forgot about Tyson.

[Addison]

Thanks for the Hamed video.

I miss that guy.

[BrooklynBomber]

Ali may have been able to put some words into rhyme, but because he never did put those rhymes into song, I'd have to pick Jack Doyle (heavyweight of the 1930's) over him for this category, especially considering Doyle made it his common practice to entertain the crowd right before his fights with a song or two, and with a voice that sounded pretty damn good, if I do say so myself...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR2vvBekteo

I bet he was getting lots of punani with looks like that.

[La_Vibora]

How about Willie Pep? Telling everyone that you were going to win a round without throwing a punch then actually doing it is some ****y and showboating stuff right there. He also went under and between a guy's leg while he was throwing a punch. However, I generqally agree with most here though with Ali, Leonard, Hamed, and Roy Jones.

[Addison]

Is that true? I thought people generally didn't give a ****? Roycott, et al?

Anyway...


Ali.

Then maybe that little gob****e featherweight.



Geoff will like this thread for obvious reasons.

Fully. It was always Roy Jones the P4P this, Roy Jones Superman that...

They would cut into ESPN and talk about Jones when the rest of the world forgot boxing existed.

It was like "..even if you don't like boxing you HAVE to check this guy out.."

Roy had people curious aout him like Baryishnikov, Bobby Fisher, Pavorotti..

Word of mouth - huge word of mouth. W.O.M.

[Addison]

If you mean showman in the sense of flash, ****, and shoe-shine inside the ring than those picking Ali, and Robinson and the like are dead on. If we mean outside the ring, too, I'm surprised no on has mentioned Tyson.

We still talk about the crazy things he said. Media and those close to him all admit that, maybe he was a troubled guy, but quite a bit of that was just hype. Everyone wanted to see a Lewis-Tyson fight when he punched Lennox at the weigh-in and threatened to eat his kids. Sure, he was over the top...but it was entertaining. Quotes of his are still all over the internet...in people's signatures, in quotation databases, everywhere.

Showman in the sense of being entertaining, making a fight a real showy, spectacle, Tyson is on the top of my list.

Good point. I almost added Tyson as 5a.

[GunStar]

When it comes to Legends it was Ali and Leonard

Overall it was Hamed, I've never seen anything like that before, a guy dancing for 10 minutes, but Hamed was no Legend!

[Addison]

Street hype was huge for Roy Jones.

He was the coolest guy in urban world for years.

[GEOFFHAYES]

Chris Eubank would get the most votes if you asked boxing fans and non-boxing fans around the world.