A few weeks ago we gave you 11 boxing idols of all time and we have come back with more! Throughout time there have been incredibly famous boxers that are considered the best in what they do and since we love this sport so much, we want to give you another list of some of the fan-favorite boxers we are sure you admire too!
Learn about their personal history and what their greatest achievements in boxing were and don’t forget to comment below about what other idols in boxing we should add to the list!
Joe Frazier
Born in 1944 and nicknamed “Smokin” Joe, he was an American professional boxer who competed for almost 20 years. He passed away in 2011 after a career where he was known for his strength, durability, punching power and fighting style. Frazier was originally from South Carolina where his parents worked on farms. In the 1950s, his father bought a television set where the family and others nearby came to watch boxing matches.
On the peak of his career, he fought and defeated opponents, such as Jerry Quarry, Oscar Bonavena, Buster Mathis, Eddie Machen, Doug Jones, George Chuvalo, and Jimmy Ellis and eventually became heavyweight champion in 1970 by defeating one of the favorite boxers of all time, Muhammad Ali.
Frazier retired with a record of 32 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw and the International Boxing Research Organization rated him as one of the top ten greatest heavyweights of all time. He then appeared in several Hollywood movies and also two episodes of The Simpsons. His son Marvis also became a boxer himself, trained by his own father, as well as his daughter Jacqui who became a world light-heavyweight champion.
Julio César Chávez
Another one of the boxing idols of our list is Mexican Julio César Chávez. Born in 1962, he was a professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 2005 and was a multiple-time world champion in three different weight divisions.
Chávez was also considered by The Ring boxing magazine as the world’s best boxer from 1990 to 1993. He also holds the record for the most successful defenses of world titles, Additionally, his win in 1993 over Greg Haugen at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico set a record for the largest attendance for a boxing match: 132,274.
His upbringing wasn’t easy. His father worked for the railroad and he lived in an abandoned railroad car with his five sisters and four brothers when he was young. He said that the reason he started boxing at 16 was for money and he moved to Tijuana to pursue a professional career.
This boxer also struggled with drug addiction and alcohol abuse and entered rehabilitation several times until he recovered. He remains sober until this day. Today, he is an analyst for ESPN and Azteca.
Evander Holyfield
Evander Holyfield is one of the most favorite boxers in history so far. He is from the United States and was born in 1962 in Alabama, the youngest of nine children. His nickname “The Real Deal” and “The Warrior” came after reigning as the undisputed champion at cruiserweight in the late 1980s and also in the heavyweight division in the 90s.
Holyfield began boxing as early as the age of seven. He won, at that time, the Boys Club tournament and qualified at the age of 13 to compete in the Junior Olympics. By 15, he became the Southeastern Regional Champion and by 1984, he had already created the record of 160 wins and 14 losses, as well as 76 knockouts.
This boxer is the only four-time world heavyweight champion and he also represented his country in the 1984 Summer Olympics. He retired upon medical advice in 1984 only to return a year later after being cleared to compete again. He finally retired in 2014 and is ranked 77 on The Ring’s list of the 100 greatest punchers of all time. He was also named by this magazine as the 22nd greatest fighter of the past 80 years in 2002.
Roy Jones Jr.
Next on our boxing idols list is Roy Jones Jr. He is an American former professional boxer and also a boxing commentator, trainer, rapper and actor. He was born in 1669 in Florida, and also holds Russian citizenship.
Roy Jones competed from 1989 to 2018 and held several world championships in four weight classes. He is also the only boxer in history to start his career at junior middleweight and won a heavyweight title. As an amateur, he participated in the 1988 Summer Olympics where he won a silver medal in the junior middleweight division.
Jones is considered by many as one of the best boxers of all time, especially since he won the WBA heavyweight title in 2003 and became the first former middleweight champion to win a heavyweight title in 106 years!
Boxing has always been a tradition in Jones’ family. His father, Roy Jones Sr., was also a middleweight boxer and ran his own boxing gym. He taught his son to spar by yelling and abusing him since he thought this would make him tough enough to become a champion. However, Jones Jr. confessed to Sports Illustrated that he lived in constant fear of his father.
Thomas Hearns
Thomas Hearns is another one of the favorite boxing idols of all time. He was born in 1958 in Tennessee and competed from 1977 to 2006. His nicknames “Motor City Cobra” and “The Hitman” reflected his great boxing ability in the ring. He obtained world titles in five divisions and was eventually named Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America.
This fighter is also part of The Ring’s list of 100 greatest punchers of all time by ranking number 18. He was also introduced into the International Boxing Hall of Fame on June 10, 2012. He began his professional boxing career in Detroit and he managed to defeat his first 17 opponents by knockout.
Hearns is not the only member of his family to love sports. His mother, Lois Hearns, is a fight promoter and they own a company called Hearns Entertainment. His son, Ronald Hearns is also a boxer.
Bernard Hopkins
To our list of boxing idols, we have added Bernard Hopkins who is definitely one of the very best in the past decades. He was born in 1965 in Philadelphia and competed from 1988 to 2016. He held multiple world championships in two weight divisions and was also voted Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Some of his nicknames are “The Executioner” and “The Alien”. He is known for his longevity in the sport and being able to continue competing despite his age, for which he credits mastering the skills and fundamentals of boxing. His strategy and defense are widely acclaimed, as well as his tactics in the ring.
However, as a teenager, Hopkins was involved in crime. By 13, he was mugging people and had been stabbed several times. When he was 17, he was sentenced to 18 years in Graterford Prison for nine felonies and it was there where he discovered his passion for boxing. After serving half his sentence he was released in 1988 and decided to use boxing as an alternative to his previous life in jail.
Muhammad Ali
What is a boxing idol list without Muhammad Ali? He was born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in Kentucky and was an American professional boxer nicknamed “The Greatest” and is one of the most famous boxing idols of all time.
Ali began boxing at the age of 12 and at 18 he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics. He changed his name after converting to Islam in 1961 and has been known as Muhammad Ali ever since.
According to many, he was a leading heavyweight boxer in the 20th century and he is still the only three-time lineal champion in that division. He also remains as the only boxer to be named by The Ring magazine as the Fighter of the Year for six consecutive times. However, it was not all about boxing, he also found success as a musician and received two Grammy nominations. He was also featured as an author and actor and released two autobiographies.
In 1984 he made public his diagnosis of Parkinson’s syndrome, which many attributes to injuries related to boxing. As his condition worsened, he limited his public appearances gradually and passed away on June 3, 2016.
George Foreman
Another great boxer we have decided to add to our list of boxing idols is George Foreman. He was born in 1949 in Texas and competed as a professional boxer between 1969 and 1997. He was nicknamed “Big George” and is a two-time world heavyweight champion and also an Olympic gold medalist.
He had a troubled youth, dropping out of school at the age of 15 and spent some time as a mugger. Nonetheless, at 16 he signed up for the Job Corps where he learned carpentry. It was not until he moved to California that he began training in boxing.
In 1977 he decided to retire from boxing and become a Christian minister but ten years later he made a comeback to the sports and is currently the oldest living world heavyweight champion in history. At 48, in 1997, he retired with a record of 76 wins, 68 knockouts and 5 losses.
This boxer is part of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and ranks number 8 on the International Boxing Research Organization. Today, he is an entrepreneur, mostly known for his George Foreman Grill which has sold over 100 million units all over the world.
Manny Pacquiao
Manny Pacquiao was born in the Philippines in 1978 and is a professional boxer that currently is a Senator of his country since 2016. He is very well known as one of the greatest boxers of all time. One of his achievements is being the only eight-division world champion in boxing history and has won 12 major world titles.
To him, his inspirations for boxing have always been Bruce Lee and Muhammad Ali. He started boxing at the age of 14 while living in the streets of Manila after he left his family since they could not support him anymore. He said that he had to become a fighter for survival purposes and since he discovered he was good at it he trained hard to help his family economically.
Another incredible achievement is having won boxing titles in four different decades since the 1990s to this date. Perhaps that is why the Boxing Writers Association of America named him the “Fighter of the Decade” in 2000. He is so popular that he has been able to generate about $20 million dollars in pay-per-view buys and $1.2 billion in revenue from his 25 pay-per-view bouts. As of 2015, Forbes considered him the highest-paid athlete in the world.
Pacquiao is very versatile, participating in basketball, business, acting, TV hosting, music and currently in politics as a Senator of the Philippines.
Rocky Marciano
Rocco Francis Marchegiano, known as Rocky Marciano, was born in 1923 in Massachusetts and was an American professional boxer. His parents were Italian immigrants.
He competed from 1947 to 1955 and passed away in 1969. He is the only heavyweight champion that finished his career undefeated. However, before he started boxing, he worked as a chute man on delivery trucks, as a ditchdigger, railroad layer and a shoemaker.
Marciano was known for his fighting style, considered to be relentless, his punching power, stamina and durable chin. BoxRec ranked him as the 4th best heavyweight boxer in history. He died in an airplane crash on August 31, 1969.
Roberto Durán
Last, but not least, on our list, is Panamanian Roberto Durán. Born in 1951, he is a former professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 2001 and held world championships in the lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight divisions and another one of the boxing idols int he world!
He earned his nickname “Manos de Piedra” (Hands of Stone) because of his punching power and his great defense. The Ring magazine voted him as the 5th greatest fighter of the last 80 years.
He began boxing at the age of 8 and competed as a professional in 1968 at 16. In 2001 he was involved in a life-threatening car crash that required surgery; however, he was determined to get healthy and back in shape. In October 2006, he was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in Riverside, California and in 2007 into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Durán has appeared in films, such as Rocky II and Harlem Nights. The biopic Hands of Stone was released in 2016 and depicts his early boxing days as a pro. He has also taken part in the music industry releasing albums.
Who is your boxing idol and why? What other famous boxers you admire would you add to the list? Tell us in the comments below! And don’t forget to check out this boxing movie list for inspiration for your training!
