Which 4 boxers would you put on Mount Rushmore of boxing and why?

[DreamFighter]

its scared ground, I wouldnt put anything on Rushmore.

but if it was somewhere else, SRR, Ali, Greb, Armstrong

[Marchegiano]

I was thinking Diagoras, Mendoza and Figg or maybe Broughton might be high on your lists, man...

I damn well would but one name to rep the ancients is hard so I let Broughton be kinda the rep for all of them. Because in a way he is and did.

They boxed like a thousand or so years longer than we have yet to achieve from the Figg era to now, and, while populations and known places secure higher numbers I'm not so sure we have ever had the market penetration the ancients had.

In Jesus's era the real is if you asked about JC the Romans would be like "who?" but if you asked about Demokrates more people could tell you about him than the standing emperor.

So, there's a lot of names who did big **** and had a big impact that can still be seen today. I wanted to, trust me I want to, but it's easier for me to make Jack represent them.

[Pac=Duran]

I got John L Sullivan, Dempsey, Ali and Floyd who you got and why?

Henry Armstrong, Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammed Ali and Manny Pacquiao

Duran, Floyd, Eden Jofre, Sam Langford and Sugar Ray Leonard are the guys that missed out.

[MUNG]

Ali, Foreman, Frazier, and Broner

What!!!!

U must be insannnne having broner only fourth in your list

[Blue54]

Broughton - Because between him and Figg most of the standards used today are established. We focus a lot on how people fight per era, not so much how they sell or what equipment they use. Figg started it but Figg never really bother to make boxing any different from fist fighting duels where as Broughton made it a sport by looking back to the Greeks for answers in how the industry should operate.

Mendoza - Hit and don't be hit back boxing came from him. He is your first fencer in a world where boxers fight sword and shield or broadsword. Defensive posture, position, footwork, counters, all that jazz came from Mendoza. Also the inventor of using the media to sell and ticketing for a single sporting event.

Yankee Sullivan - It's John L we give credit to, but, a full generation prior there was a US import named Sullivan who came to us from Australia through Ireland. Promoted himself in the old-world as an America, in America he was found out after he seconded an Englishman against an America when the American died in the ring. From there Sullivan was national news tied in with the first anti-immigration political wave in the US; aimed at the Irish for being violent and importing violent european culture to good wholesome america. Sullivan was the villain of the States, chased from NY to California where a vigilante squad would catch and murder him, but, not before he could pay his due in the ring. Tom Hyer represented "young america" a political group not unlike *** today, whose goal was the to ride the US of Europeans. America for Americans born in America was their thing. Yankee being the national villain already, this is what kicked off US interest in the sport. John L., Dempsey, they're just riding off an industry created on the hate for one man. And US interest, well, that **** is what shaped the sport to what it is now. It may be a world sport, but, it's the US version that went world, not the UK. The UK sport got killed by the US sport.

Louis - First real world HW champion. Everyone pre-Louis should have an astrix. They're either from a very small "world" where US+UK=World or they don't fight black folks, or, both, and so not very worldly champions. Louis is the first real deal, whole world, any race, anyone can get it.

Yea Mendoza is one I just recently found out about who shaped modern defense.
But guys like Ali Floyd paved the way modern boxing in the business aspect which says a lot as well.

[Blue54]

You want me to pick 4 guys and have everybody who picked 4 different guys mad at me? No thanks. I will say Mayweather would not be on my mountain because I don't think he is one of the 4 best boxers in history.

It’s not just about greatest but who help shaped the sport on what it is today. As well as their importance overall to boxing.

[Willy Wanker]

What!!!!

U must be insannnne having broner only fourth in your list

I'm not really insane, just kinda re-tarded.

About Billions bro.

[Willy Wanker]

I'd have my personal favorites, Hagler, Duran, Roy, and Pac.

[edgarg]

An Interesting question....My Choices. in Chronological Order;

Daniel Mendoza. (The Hannibal of Boxing). He was the very first scientific boxer, and changed boxing for ever. I will not repeat the many reasons because Marchegiano detailed them far better than I could. I would add that he was only 5'7" and a light middleweight at best, out-boxing and beating real heavyweights. He was beaten only because of the foul tactics of his opponent. Also, he was from a VERY oppressed minority race, showing that the oppressed could still show superiority, at least in one unexpected sphere..

Jack Johnson. Apart from having been the First Black Heavyweight Champion. For 10 solid years he was virtually untouched by an opponent. He had many superior skills which have been forgotten or disregarded today. He learned by EXPERIENCE. His achievement showed the world that a black man was not necessarily inferior to a white man, which controversy was raging, especially in the USA in those days. More, he demanded, and lived like a white man. He changed perceptions, and after a rocky start, opened the door to the beginning of better racial harmony. A pioneer, although he may have been unaware of it.

Benny Leonard. He was a champion for over 7 years, and literally unbeatable, retiring as champion, at a time when in New York City alone, records have shown there were nearly 10 times as many fighters than in the whole USA today. He was also from a despised minority, and gave respectability to his craft, causing it to be acceptable as a genuine profession.

Joe Louis. Nothing I can say about Joe Louis Barrow can match his achievements, in boxing skills, professional achievements, nor race relations. With Joe Louis we saw only a "man", not white black yellow or green. The HUGE turmoil leading up to his less-than-one -round destruction of Max Schmeling was hailed as a massive POLITICAL Statement, not the result of a boxing match. It was a victory of the Free and Civilized World over Barbarism as typified by ****dom. One could say that it was the "Opening Salvo In World War Two".

He made several fights with all the proceeds turned over to a variety of War Charities. His later persecution and hounding by the US Revenue Dept, for unpaid tax on those very fights, is the one of the most de****able events, in a host of de****able happenings in more recent American history.


This is my list, and I regret that I did not have room for Jim Corbett, who turned boxing from stand-up endurance test of much barbarity(with all of Mendoza's innovations forgotten)
back into a science. Nor Mike Tyson, who showed how small heavyweights with monstrous dedication and super-achieved defence/attack modes, could overcome mountains.
Nor Roy Jones Jr. in my opinion a stand-alone, once in a lifetime manifestation.

Don't blame me guys...I only work here....The manager and owner are both "out of town".

***After just doing a little reading in Pierce Egan's "Boxiana" I'll add, about Mendoza, what Egan stated..."he was a star of the most brilliant magnitude"..an my own sudden recollection that his loss to "Gentleman Jackson" who showed right there that he was NO gentleman, resulted because Jackson, 4" taller and 45 lbs heavier, caught him by his long hair and held him whilst punching him around the head and face. Mendoza' claim of FOUL was refused..***

[TheMyspaceDayz]

Matthew Hatton, Butterbean, Big Enzo Mac and Vic Darchinyan.
Is there even a debate?

Stole the words right out of my mouth.