Most popular fighter of this era

I think it's an interesting question because so far, the most popular fighter I've seen in the 21st century has been the late, Arturo Gatti. Interesting because, while nobody will ever have more heart, he wasn't the best fighter of his era. Every time seems to have it's lovable underdog (The 80's had Ray Mancini) however the huge fighters like Hagler, Arguello, etc, were the biggest of their era. Arturo was actually more loved than the most talented fighters in the sport. In this age of vanity, modesty can certainly get a top fighter a few extra fans. Maybe that was Arturo's secret. He showed up to dance to the death, yet had a very humble and classy persona. Nevertheless, the question is, who are the most popular fighters of this era. Not, who your favorite fighter is, or who the best fighter is. Looking forward to your answers.

Gotta disagree, while Gatti was one of the popular names nobody captured people's attention like Mike Tyson

How do you define this era?

how popular was tyson is unknown.he did have many fans as well as guys that hated his guts..manny pac may be the most popular fighter today..oscar maybe for this era which lets say is 10 years.in the 50s it was marciano the 40s joe louis the late 20s dempsey went from villian to most popular...ray robinson next to louis in the 40s ditto willie pep.the 70s maybe ray leanord the 60s ali like tyson had a huge following in both the love hate category.

most hated..jack johnson in his era dempsey for a while in his era liston ali tyson in there eras for the most part..charles disliked cause he followed louis and was sandwhiched in between louis and marciano..today who knows but haye and floyd bo hop are the 3 top canidates i think.

captainanddew wrote:

How do you define this era?

+1

Are we talking 1980-2010 ?

Let's start in the year 2005 to the present as far as defining the era. Sorry guys, I was busy and didn't see your posts.

Most popular hmm I guess it would have to be Karaoke Man aka Manny Pacquiao. He's got a nation behind him that goes crazy for everyone of his fights, they pirate them in the streets and his fights are usually front page news.

Close behind would probably be Oscar De La Hoya.

De La Hoya if were going from just 2005 which isnt really an era in my opinion