Everybody has their favourite fighter. Even those that have some kind of professional position in the sport will probably confess to liking certain boxers. And there are those that have an intense disliking for one or more in particular.
This editorial will take a look at some of the most liked and disliked current combatants in boxing today.
Let me know who your picks are in the comment section below!
The Most Liked:
Joe Joyce
The 33 year old WBA Continental heavyweight champion has an unassuming nature. It is hard to not get behind somebody who is planned to be fast-tracked to world title glory. Joyce has an extensive amateur background which many people are banking on helping him climb up the rankings. Joe is a softly spoken gentleman and can be a man of few words. But don’t let that fool you! He has a lot of talent and seems to have a bit of wallop behind his punches, having stopped all of his 8 opponents so far.
Anthony Joshua
The multi-title heavyweight champion, promoted by Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn, has come to be known as a kind of man of the people. He may have surprised the public recently when soon to be challenger Jarrell Miller shoved him at their recent press conference. Joshua fired back with some harsh words. But the Londoner is, for the most part, approachable and a laid back character. He lets his fists do the talking, which is the main thing that truly counts!
Gennady Golovkin
Since his September, 2018 loss to Saul Alvarez Gennady Golovkin has been rather quiet. Plans for his next move are still up in the air. Whatever happens from here on out, mostly anybody would tell you that the Kazakhstan fighter is as humble as they come. Always wearing a smile, Golovkin is what a lot of folk wish that Floyd Mayweather was.
Manny Pacquiao
The Filipino legend does not have many years left in boxing. Now 40 and with his legacy firmly set in stone, Manny Pacquiao has still managed not to let all of his success go to his head. He is a symbol of hope for his people in the Phillipines. Not bad for a man who had to go through a fair amount of his childhood starving and living in poverty!
Tyson Fury
Known as the “Gypsy King,” it is fair to say that Tyson Fury was not that well liked when he first got into the professional game. His background as a traveller is largely due to that. But he has slowly earned the respect of the public with his cunning performance against Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 and more recently with his showing against Deontay Wilder. Donating all of his purse that he got from the Wilder bout to the homeless also contributed to improving his reputation.
The Most Disliked:
Billy Joe Saunders
The former WBO champion had to face the music last year when videos were discovered of him taunting a female pedestrian, as well as encouraging a drug addict to punch somebody in exchange for £100. The British Boxing Board of Control ended up fining him £100,000 for both incidents.
On top of all that, Saunders failed a drugs test for the stimulant oxilofrine before a scheduled fight with Demetrius Andrade, a fight that was heavily thought to be defining for him. He was parted with his WBO title shortly after. He has not been given a lot of sympathy since, which is understandable.
He has issued an apology for the incidents with the videos and has insisted that he will be working hard to reclaim the position he had since he beat Andy Lee in 2015.
Amir Khan
Let’s make no bones about it – a lot of the reason why the amateur silver medalist and former light-welterweight champion is mainly hated, at least in the UK, is because of his Islamic background. But there is another aspect to all of this, and that is Khan, himself, tends to rub people the wrong way a lot of the time when he talks to the media.
It is easy to put that down to the newspapers, internet news websites etc maybe misquoting what he says. But it happens far too often for that reason to be valid. That is something that Khan should perhaps think of improving.
On the other hand, a lot of fans simply dismiss the Bolton boxer as a garbage fighter simply because he has evidently shown that he does not have great punch resistance. Evidence of his desire to fight the best is often dismissed and what he has already achieved.
Deontay Wilder
Like Amir Khan, current WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder should think about his choice of sentences a little more carefully when in the spotlight. In 2017, he stated that he wanted “a body on my record.”
He has also put down legends of yester year, describing how he would have beaten the likes of Mike Tyson, George Foreman and Lennox Lewis. When you want to gain fans, the last thing he should be doing is putting down icons that most followers of the sport likely have great affection for.
And then there is the whole Anthony Joshua debacle! In fairness, some of the disdain he has been getting for this is unwarranted. But demanding 50/50 when he has not sold anywhere near as many PPV’s as the Brit or in terms of live attendances is not great for his standing. Finally, apart from the recent Tyson Fury fight who has he beaten of note? Bare in mind he has been the holder of the WBC title for almost four years now!
Saul Alvarez
2018 was a mixed year for “Canelo” Alvarez.
In the early part of last year, the Mexican middleweight champion failed a drug test for clenbuterol. He was given a six month suspension. Alvarez was already criticised, unfairly mind you, for the way the first fight with Gennady Golovkin panned out with the decision to make it a draw after it looked as if Golovkin beat him by at least a few rounds. Fans were also already convinced that he was one boxing’s most protected fighters. But the clenbuterol situation did considerable damage to his reputation.
On the flipside, he did manage to defeat his Kazakhstan rival in a rematch held last September as well as jump up to super-middleweight to take the WBA title from England’s Rocky Fielding.
Guillermo Rigondeaux
The basis for disliking Guillermo Rigondeaux isn’t anywhere near as serious as a lot of the causes listed above for various boxers in this article. He was once considered to be one of this generation’s great boxers. And to a degree, he still is. But it’s the Cuban’s lack of urgency in his approach that frustrates everybody since he just does enough to get the job done. His inactivity has also hurt him. Rigondeaux has only fought five times in the last four years!
With him now being 38 years of age, it is sadly looking like a huge missed opportunity to really make something great for people to remember him by if you take into account how attractive an amateur career he had.
