Boxing is a ‘blood sport’ that’s as popular in 2019 as it was in days of Jack Dempsey. It’s a personalised combat sport that’s created warriors, heroes and rogues.
Guys like Mike Tyson and Conor McGregor are the bad boys of boxing who are known for their aggression and thuggery… in and out of the ring. It’s a batter-and-blow profession that holds no prisoners. For the best boxers in the WBA, IBF and WBC each bout is a matter of life or death.
Over the decades there have been dozens of outstanding boxers in every weight division. Here are three fighters who have shone in their respective weights. Some are the stuff of legends while others were never fully recognised for their extraordinary prowess in the ring.
Brian Mitchell - Super Featherweight
Brian Mitchell of South Africa is rated one of the greatest boxers of all time in the super featherweight division. As a fighter he was quick and relentless, delivering blow after blow - in quick succession - to the head and body of his opponents.
Out of the ring he was one of the proverbial nice guys of the sport who, through no fault of his own, never quite got the recognition he deserved. Mitchell turned pro in the early 1980s.
That was a fraught decade in the history of South Africa. The apartheid regime was making a last gasp effort to hang onto power. In retaliation, world powers imposed sanctions and embargoes on the government and the people of South Africa.
Although Mitchell did become the IBF Super Featherweight Champion of the World, he was denied the luxury of defending his title at home in front of his legions of fans. Despite this obvious handicap Mitchell defended his title a record 12 times!
By the end of his career the Johannesburg-born fighter had racked up 45 wins in 49 fights, 21 by knock out. In 2009 Brian Mitchell was inducted into the IBF Hall of Fame, an accolade that cemented his reputation as one of the greatest boxers of all time.
Sugar Ray Leonard – Welterweight
Sugar Ray Leonard was known and loved for his fancy footwork, unbelievable speed and contained aggression in the ring. He recorded 36 wins in 40 career bouts, 25 by knock out.
Sugar was not just a champion welterweight; he was the complete boxer. He won world titles in five weight divisions - welterweight, light middleweight, middleweight super middleweight and light heavyweight.
He also bagged the sought-after lineal championship in three different weights. Together with Marvin Haggler, Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns, the man from North Carolina was the standout boxer of the 1980s.
Sugar won Olympic gold at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, was named fighter of the year on countless occasion and was widely considered in the USA as the boxer of the decade. Now with the benefit of hindsight Sugar Ray Leonard is undoubtedly one of the greatest boxers of all time.
Muhammed Ali - Heavyweight
Dangerous, cocky and a brilliant boxer, Muhammed Ali is considered the greatest boxer in the history of the sport. His big mouth, speed and footwork were legendary but his heavyweight bouts against Joe Frazier and George Foreman were global spectacles that attracted more than one billion TV viewers.
Ali was not a boxer… he was a sensation in every sense of the word. The man from Louisville Kentucky bagged Olympic gold, recorded 56 wins in 61 fights and was singlehandedly responsible for making boxing sexy. Muhammad Ali will
always be remembered as ‘The Greatest’!
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