The history of heavyweight boxing has been littered with charismatic, estranged, macho, larger-than-life personalities who helped electrify audiences, sell tickets, court controversy and generally compliment the sport with wit, humour, dedication and spirit. This has always explained the roots of the division's popularity. Still, the contemporary era seems to have bucked the trend, to such an extent it is now reasonable to speak of a demise in the heavyweight division's. Gone now are the exciting vendettas and boxing feuds, gone are the pre-bout fireworks, the out-of-ring bust ups. If these features haven’t completely vanished from the heavyweight division, they seem set to, given that no recent heavyweight has galvanised public support in the same measures as those heavyweight giants of the past. The new breed of heavyweight boxer seems altogether more reserved, more sombre, less enthusiastic and wooden. Long gone is the natural flair, the charming interview, the mass appeal and national allure; and the sport is suffering because of it.
The Popularity of Previous Heavyweights
The heavyweight division has typically been the most prestigious of all divisions. The great heavyweights of the past complimented this prestige with character. They did something more than just put on a great boxing display in the ring. The great Jack Johnson, possibly the best heavyweight there has ever been, was the single most important black human being in the world for a generation of contemporaneous black Americans. Johnson gave hope to the black rights struggle more than any other political or social figure. He was a boxer, but he was also so much more.
Johnson courted controversy and deserved his title as 'champ'- as did many others of the same era. Jack Dempsey, John L Sullivan and Jim Jeffries were also renowned for creating hullabaloo, causing stir and arousing public sentiment both in and outside of the ring. The media followed them with more primitive technology perhaps, but the frenzy these men created has been unsurpassed in the modern era.
The first half of the twentieth century witnessed other heavyweights take their place in history as both great pugilists and as celebrated personalities. They were like demi-gods to their legions of adoring fans, becoming household names. Boxing fans would risk a week’s wages gambling on their bouts and they would travel for miles to watch their heroes fight, such was the popularity of boxing, particularly for the heavyweights.
Jimmy Braddock, the 'Cinderella Man', captured the hearts of a nation as his rugged individualism created a fairytale story to his pugilist career. Max Baer and Max Schmelling were seen in the boozers as much as the ring but they created a certain sense of celebrity wherever they went. Joe Louis, another black idol to his people, was given the beautiful epitaph, 'he was a credit to his race; the human race'. He was also a heavy cocaine user and secret hedonist and was harrowed by the press everywhere he went.
In more recent times, the great Mohammed Ali was an extraordinary fighter and a special human being who brought life into the sport of boxing and gave it a popularity vis-à-vis other sports. Often less remembered was the caliber of his contemporaries. 'Smokin' Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Ken Norton and Floyd Patterson may have played second fiddle to Ali but there were big personalities in their own right, loved and loathed in equal measure. It was the fullness of heavyweight boxing's circus, even its bit-part players, which commanded such interest and popularity.
The Demise in Boxing's Popularity
Heavyweight boxers have been given a special status for over a century. Yet in the modern era this special status has steadily eroded, deeply affecting both the prestige of the heavyweight division and the sport as a whole. Mike Tyson was a great fighter but a terrible ambassador for the sport. Here charisma can not be mistaken for insecurity and immaturity and despite enjoying the spotlight Tyson’s reign as champ had neither the spark of interest nor the did it mark the arrival of a new personality onto the world stage. Holyfield was a great old warhorse but had none of the swagger or lure of previous heavyweights. Lennon Lewis was good but not great and not charismatic in the least.
Which of the present lot of heavyweights would stir up the same interest as a ‘Thriller in Manilla’, a ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ or even just a good reason to stay in and watch the boxing for the average punter? Personality has a role in boxing’s wider success. When boxing skill and personality collide, that is when the true fireworks are set off and the sport lights up like no other. Personality can captivate audiences and could reverse this decline in fascination over the heavyweight division, the way Hatton, Mayweather and Pacqaua has changed things for his own weight division. Alas, they were not three stone heavier; well not during fight time anyway in Hatton's case.
The Future of Boxing Heavyweights
Can anyone think of any contemporary heavyweights who have stirred the soul like the giants of the past? The greatest spectacle on earth is dying a slow, unjust and protracted death at the gloves of an increasingly charisma-free phase of pugilism. Surely David Haye's imminent bout with the giant Russian Valuev will do little to stop the rot?
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