PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: boxing
American boxer
Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer and social activist. Ali was the first fighter to win the world heavyweight championship on three separate occasions; he successfully defended this title...
American boxer
Mike Tyson is an American boxer who, at age 20, became the youngest heavyweight champion in history. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) A member of various street gangs at an early age,...
Filipino boxer and politician
Manny Pacquiao professional boxer, media celebrity, and politician who became world-famous for winning boxing titles in more weight classes than any other boxer in history. His rise from abject poverty...
American boxer
Floyd Mayweather, Jr. American boxer whose combination of speed, power, and technical prowess made him one of the best pound-for-pound fighters of all time. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on...
American boxer
Evander Holyfield is an American boxer, the only professional fighter to win the heavyweight championship four separate times and thereby surpass the record of Muhammad Ali, who won it three times. As...
American boxer
Joe Louis was an American boxer who was world heavyweight champion from June 22, 1937, when he knocked out James J. Braddock in eight rounds in Chicago, until March 1, 1949, when he briefly retired. During...
American boxer
Bernard Hopkins American boxer who dominated the middleweight division in the early 2000s with a combination of speed and precision that earned him the nickname “The Executioner.” (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929...
American boxer
Roy Jones, Jr. American boxer who became only the second light heavyweight champion to win a heavyweight title. For several years beginning in the late 1990s, he was widely considered the best boxer of...
Ukrainian boxer and politician
Vitali Klitschko Ukrainian boxer and politician whose colossal size—6 feet 7 inches (2 metres) tall and over 240 pounds (109 kg)—helped propel him to great boxing success, including the World Boxing Council...
American boxing promoter
Don King is an American boxing promoter known for his flamboyant manner and outrageous hair styled to stand straight up. He first came to prominence with his promotion of the 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle”...
British boxer
Lennox Lewis first British boxer to hold the undisputed heavyweight world championship since Bob Fitzsimmons held the title in 1899. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) Lewis was born...
American boxer
Barney Ross American professional boxer, world lightweight (135 pounds), junior welterweight (140 pounds), and welterweight (147 pounds) champion during the 1930s. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay...
American boxer
Jack Johnson was an American boxer who was the first African American to become heavyweight champion. He is considered by many boxing observers to be one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. (Read...
British boxer
Bendigo was an English bare-knuckle boxer who became a Methodist evangelist and who is one of the few athletes whose name is borne by a city—Bendigo in Victoria, Australia. His nickname apparently is a...
German boxer
Max Schmeling was a German heavyweight boxer who, from June 12, 1930, when Jack Sharkey lost to him by disqualification, until June 21, 1932, when he was outpointed by Sharkey in 15 rounds, held the world...
American boxer
Jack Dempsey was an American world heavyweight boxing champion, regarded by many as the epitome of the professional fighter. He held the title from July 4, 1919, when he knocked out Jess Willard in three...
American boxer
Pernell Whitaker American professional boxer, world lightweight (135 pounds), junior welterweight (140 pounds), welterweight (147 pounds), and junior middleweight (154 pounds) champion in the 1980s and...
American boxer
Jerry Quarry American boxer who became a championship heavyweight contender but never a champion. He posted a professional record of 53–9–4 with 33 knockouts and was known as a heavy hitter with a devastating...
American boxer
Joe Frazier was an American world heavyweight boxing champion from February 16, 1970, when he knocked out Jimmy Ellis in five rounds in New York City, until January 22, 1973, when he was beaten by George...
Nigerian boxer
Dick Tiger Nigerian professional boxer, world middleweight (160 pounds) and light heavyweight (175 pounds) champion during the 1960s. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) Tiger learned...
American boxer
Willie Pep American professional boxer, world featherweight (126 pounds) champion during the 1940s. Pep specialized in finesse rather than slugging prowess and competed successfully in the 1940s, ’50s,...
American boxer
Thomas Hearns American boxer who became, in 1987, the first person to win world titles in four weight divisions. Renowned as a devastating puncher (rather than as a boxer who relied on textbook technique),...
American boxer
Emile Griffith was a professional American boxer who won five world boxing championships—three times as a welterweight and twice as a middleweight. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.)...
American boxer
Abe Attell American professional boxer, undisputed world featherweight champion from 1906 through 1912. Attell was from a poor Jewish family and began his boxing career at 15 as a means of supplementing...
Mexican boxer
Julio César Chávez Mexican professional boxer and world lightweight champion, for many years one of Mexico’s most popular sports figures. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) Chávez began...
American boxer
Floyd Patterson was an American professional boxer, the first to hold the world heavyweight championship twice. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) Born into poverty in North Carolina,...
Italian boxer
Primo Carnera was an Italian heavyweight boxing champion of the world from June 29, 1933, when he knocked out Jack Sharkey in six rounds in New York City, until June 14, 1934, when he was knocked out by...
American boxer
George Foreman is an American boxer who twice was the world heavyweight champion (1973–74, 1994–95). When Foreman regained the heavyweight title at age 45, he was the oldest world heavyweight champion....
American boxer
Larry Holmes is an American heavyweight boxing champion of the late 1970s and early ’80s who was known for his solid defense. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) Holmes, a street fighter...
Nicaraguan boxer and politician
Alexis Arguello Nicaraguan professional boxer who was world featherweight, junior lightweight, and lightweight champion between 1974 and 1982. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) Arguello,...
American boxer
Tony Canzoneri American professional boxer who held world championships in the featherweight, lightweight, and junior-welterweight divisions. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) Canzoneri...
American boxer
Sugar Ray Robinson was an American professional boxer, six times a world champion: once as a welterweight (147 pounds), from 1946 to 1951, and five times as a middleweight (160 pounds), between 1951 and...
American boxer
Stanley Ketchel was an American professional boxer, considered by some boxing historians to be the greatest fighter in the history of the middleweight division. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay...
American boxer
Sandy Saddler American professional boxer, world featherweight (126 pounds) champion in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Saddler’s rivalry with Willie Pep is considered one of the greatest of American pugilism....
Ukrainian boxer
Wladimir Klitschko Ukrainian boxer whose success in the heavyweight division—in part because of his prodigious size (6 feet 6 inches [1.98 metres] tall and over 240 pounds [109 kg])—included International...
Welsh boxer
Joe Calzaghe Welsh professional boxer. At the start of the 21st century, he ranked as the longest-reigning champion in professional boxing history, with an undefeated record in both the super middleweight...
American boxer
Marvin Hagler was an American boxer, a durable middleweight champion, who was one of the greatest fighters of the 1970s and ’80s. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) Hagler began his...
American boxer
Gene Tunney was an American boxer who defeated Jack Dempsey in 1926 to become the world heavyweight boxing champion. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) Tunney began boxing while working...
Algerian boxer
Marcel Cerdan French-Algerian professional boxer and world middleweight champion. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) Cerdan began his professional career in 1934, all of his early bouts...
Mexican boxer
Ruben Olivares Mexican professional boxer, world bantamweight (118 pounds) and featherweight (126 pounds) champion during the 1970s. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) Olivares began...
British athlete
Harry Mallin was a British boxer, the first man to successfully defend an Olympic boxing title. Mallin was one of the dominant middleweight fighters of his generation. In addition to his Olympic triumphs,...
Italian boxer
Nino Benvenuti Italian professional boxer, Olympic welterweight and world middleweight champion. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) Benvenuti won the Olympic welterweight title in 1960....
American boxer
Tony Zale American professional boxer, world middleweight (160 pounds) champion during the 1940s. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) Zale began his professional boxing career in 1934,...
American fight promoter
Tex Rickard was an American gambler and fight promoter who made boxing fashionable and highly profitable. His promotions featuring Jack Dempsey, world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926, attracted...
American boxer and bobsledder
Eddie Eagan American boxer and bobsledder who was the only athlete to win gold medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) After their father died...
American boxer and television commentator
Sugar Ray Leonard is an American boxer, known for his agility and finesse, who won 36 of 40 professional matches and various titles. As an amateur, he took an Olympic gold medal in the light-welterweight...
Cuban boxer
Kid Chocolate Cuban professional boxer, world junior lightweight (130 pounds) champion from 1931 to 1933. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) Kid Chocolate officially turned professional...
Swedish boxer
Ingemar Johansson was a Swedish-born world heavyweight boxing champion. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) While an amateur boxer, Johansson was a member of the European Golden Gloves...
American boxer
Nonpareil Jack Dempsey Irish-born American bare-knuckle fighter who was the world middleweight champion from 1884 to 1891. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) Dempsey, who moved to the...
American boxer
Rocky Graziano was an American boxer and world middleweight champion (1947–48). (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) In his youth Graziano was close friends with future fighter Jake La...
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