Top 5 Boxing Stars of all time

[crold1]

De La Hoya over Mayweather?

Agree. DLH was a star sooner, but Mayweather was bigger at his biggest.

[crold1]

Bleacher Report's Top 5.
5 Forman
4 Sugar Ray Leonard
3 De La Hoya
2 Tyson
1 Ali

If they had a list without Louis or Dempsey, all due respect, the person making the list is a little ill informed. They were front page news; not just sports stars.

[IronDanHamza]

Yeah man ODLH was the guy who made Mayweather a superstar.

Mayweather’s numbers were largely driven by the undefeated record and people wanting to see him lose. Marketing genius though, have to give him credit where it’s due.

Whilst Oscar’s numbers were solely driven by his immense popularity, that’s why despite losing most of his biggest fights his popularity remained as strong as ever and his star power even grew in some cases.

Oscar certainly passed the torch to Floyd to reach super stardom. But surely Floyd took it to the next level? He certainly did numbers wise.

Oscar was more liked, sure. But being a pantomime villain is part of star power too.

I can’t see any way Oscar was a bigger star than Floyd.

[just the facts]

DLH was the one that started getting lighter weights payed more than the HWs.

Incorrect! Ever heard of Ray Leonard? Tommy Hearns?

I know they don’t fit your agenda but these are facts.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

Oscar certainly passed the torch to Floyd to reach super stardom. But surely Floyd took it to the next level? He certainly did numbers wise.

Oscar was more liked, sure. But being a pantomime villain is part of star power too.

I can’t see any way Oscar was a bigger star than Floyd.

Imagine Floyd would have lost though. Oscar lost the majority of his biggest fights yet still remained a superstar.

If Oscar had Floyd’s dedication/talent and actually won those matchups imagine how big of a star he would have been.

If you are going purely by statistics though, Mayweather was unquestionably the bigger draw so I do see your point. I just think Oscar was the bigger star if you catch my drift.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

If they had a list without Louis or Dempsey, all due respect, the person making the list is a little ill informed. They were front page news; not just sports stars.

I think the issue is they were huge stars but the sport was nowhere near as globalised as it is now. It kind of depends how you factor that in.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

Incorrect! Ever heard of Ray Leonard? Tommy Hearns?

I know they don’t fit your agenda but these are facts.

Correct. It was Ray Leonard. His profile from the Olympic Games made him a superstar from essentially his debut. He helped fill the massive void Ali had left behind.

[IronDanHamza]

Imagine Floyd would have lost though. Oscar lost the majority of his biggest fights yet still remained a superstar.

If Oscar had Floyd’s dedication/talent and actually won those matchups imagine how big of a star he would have been.

If you are going purely by statistics though, Mayweather was unquestionably the bigger draw so I do see your point. I just think Oscar was the bigger star if you catch my drift.

Yeah I see what you’re saying but he didn’t lose, that was what he gambled on with his marketability, to be undefeated and a large portion of the audience wanting to see him finally lose.

Going into what if’s is just fantasy. What if Adrien Broner never lost? He might be even bigger than both.

There’s no question Oscar was more loved than Floyd, that’s a whole other topic though. Being a star doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be loved it just means people pay to watch you or are interested in you.

[ELPacman]

I think Floyd should have an asterisk next to his name. He's never been the draw. It's been his opponents. In fact when he fought as the primary "A" side, it was abysmal (Fraud-Baldomir). I think that fight did 300k buys if that.

Floyd consistently made sure after that to make sure his opponents had a huge draw and fan following knowing they would bring in the buys where he lacked. Anyone else that tuned in to watch Fraud was looking for the "L" and you could be sure if he received it, nobody would tune back in to watch him. He careful crafted the career to make sure he did not receive the "L" knowing what it would have done to his paychecks.

[drablj]

do you mean stars in north america or around the world? those are very different categories.
newer boxers have a bigger platform so older ones don't stand a chance.
there was no television in my country until 1958. there was only one channel until 1971. and only 2 until 1989. there were only like 15 tvs in my town in the first half of the 1960s. listening to radio commentary of fights is boring. NOBODY could be a star under those circumstances. ali was the biggest star. even my grandmothers woke up in the middle of the night to watch his fights. they haven't watched any sports match ever since. then tyson was a superstar. in the 90s it was between roy jones and prince because they were exciting. after them, mayweather and pacman shone brigthly.

john l. sullivan, jack johnson, jack dempsey, joe louis and sugar ray robinson were superstars in america but 80% of the world (asia, africa, most of south america, most of australia, europe except for england, germany and france) never heard of them while they were active.

ali
tyson
mayweather
pacquiao
no. 5 is open for debate