PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: boxing
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...
German boxer
Max Schmeling, 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 heavyweight...
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...
Nigerian boxer
Dick Tiger, Nigerian professional boxer, world middleweight (160 pounds) and light heavyweight (175 pounds) champion during the 1960s. Tiger learned to box from British military officers stationed in Nigeria....
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
Emile Griffith, professional American boxer who won five world boxing championships—three times as a welterweight and twice as a middleweight. Griffith came to the United States as a teenager and was encouraged...
Italian boxer
Primo Carnera, 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 Max...
Nicaraguan boxer and politician
Alexis Arguello, Nicaraguan professional boxer who was world featherweight, junior lightweight, and lightweight champion between 1974 and 1982. Arguello, who became a professional fighter in 1968, fought...
American boxer
Tony Canzoneri, American professional boxer who held world championships in the featherweight, lightweight, and junior-welterweight divisions. Canzoneri weighed only 95 pounds (43 kg) when he began his...
American boxer
Stanley Ketchel, American professional boxer, considered by some boxing historians to be the greatest fighter in the history of the middleweight division. Upon the death of his parents, Ketchel left Michigan...
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...
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...
Mexican boxer
Ruben Olivares, Mexican professional boxer, world bantamweight (118 pounds) and featherweight (126 pounds) champion during the 1970s. Olivares began his professional boxing career in 1964 and won his first...
British athlete
Harry Mallin, 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, he...
Italian boxer
Nino Benvenuti, Italian professional boxer, Olympic welterweight and world middleweight champion. Benvenuti won the Olympic welterweight title in 1960. He turned professional the following year and won...
American boxer
Tony Zale, American professional boxer, world middleweight (160 pounds) champion during the 1940s. Zale began his professional boxing career in 1934, but to make a living he spent much of 1935 and 1936...
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. After their father died in a railroad accident when Eddie was only a year...
Cuban boxer
Kid Chocolate, Cuban professional boxer, world junior lightweight (130 pounds) champion from 1931 to 1933. Kid Chocolate officially turned professional in 1927 after winning all 100 of his recorded amateur...
American boxer
Nonpareil Jack Dempsey, Irish-born American bare-knuckle fighter who was the world middleweight champion from 1884 to 1891. Dempsey, who moved to the United States as a young child, was a proficient wrestler...
American boxer
Rocky Graziano, American boxer and world middleweight champion (1947–48). In his youth Graziano was close friends with future fighter Jake La Motta, and both troubled youths attended the same juvenile...
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