Top Ten Respectful Nice Guys (who were actually quite good boxers) Who Have Been Active Since 1975

First topic message reminder :

Now since I've no doubt created the catchiest topic title I thought I should maybe explain the challenge since the above is probably not clear.

A top ten of boxers who were actually nice guys and respectful to other boxers that have had fights since 1975 (hope that clears it up!!).

Inspired by another thread to create something magical. So, let's see if we can get a decent list of boxers who were nice and see how they would actually compare to other top tens based purely on talent.

Never heard anything bad about Calzaghe but feel 'Ordinary Joe' was cruel to boxing fans so he's not allowed in.

Barker seems like a good guy.

I always thought Danny Williams seemed nice.

Audley was a deluded but generally respectful guy.

Hatton seems like a bit of a lad but never heard anything particularly nasty about him.

Bradley comes across as dull but nice.

Marquez again seems like a decent bloke.

Now the problem I have here is that none of these should really be in a top ten but my boxing knowledge is limited compared to a lot of you guys so I would like to open this to you. Lets see if we can come up with a list of fighters that were nice, and then we could perhaps come up with a list of boxers that were nasty as well - limitless appeal to this thread.

Of course if this doesn't seem like fun to the rest of you we could perhaps braid each others hair and sing Rick Astley songs but this is always much more difficult to do over the internet, so it may be better to make some lists and then argue over them.

_____

Contributions so far:
(not in ranking order):

Wlad (Dave667)
Whitaker (huw / 88Chris05)
Arguello (88Chris05)
Sergio Martinez (Scottrff)
Francis Ampofo (Dave667)
Richard Williams (Dave 667)
Dave Tiberi (captain carrantuohi)
Michael Watson (Dave 667)
Gary Mason (bhb001)
Shavers (Rowley)
Winky Wright (Rowley)
Woodhall (Rowley)
Golovkin (mobilemaster8)
Alvarez (mobilemaster8)
Burns (Union Cane)
Ward (J.Benson II)
Groves (Tea_is_for_mugs)
Cotto (Tea_is_for_mugs)
Kessler (Tea_is_for_mugs)

Scottrff wrote:I thought Towers was mentioned sarcastically to be honest.
 
Yeah, I've spoken to Jamie Moore a few times, good guy.

It was mentioned by Lumbering so Lord only knows what we're supposed to make of it.

Anyway, speaking of gentle giants, David Price is another nice fella. Also think that, whilst it may be a little force, Lennox Lewis is another of the sport's nice guys

seanmichaels wrote:I think unless you personally know them I think it is difficult to judge anybody, even on the basis of a chat. Jimmy Saville and Rolf Harris 'came' across well according to many....

Well, that Dalai Lama fellow can get lost then can't he?

Tea_is_for_mugs wrote:

Scottrff wrote:

Tea_is_for_mugs wrote:If you dont mind me asking what was El Terrible caught for? I only know of the diretics.

Well that's a mask so it's enough.

Fair point, what a shame.

Others I was close to putting in.

Nathan Cleverly
Rendall Munroe
Ian Napa
Mikkel Kessler
Ryan Rhodes
Enzo Mac- Never heard him say a bad word towards another fighter (but was caught with funny stuff in his shakes I beleive)
Anthony Ogogo seem a nice whole chap, bit too soon lets so how the real lime light fortune and fame affects him
Jermain Taylor, I cannot remember and bad storys about him, no good ones either.

Kessler is a good shout. Struggling with the others though as they are going to find it difficult (ability wise) to compete with the ones we have so far.

In a bid to make it up to STEFFAN I'll also mention Gary Lockett.

There's also Alex Arthur who comes across as a nice guy(altough sean will no doubt suggest he's a serial killer waiting to be discovered)

DAVE667 wrote:

STC wrote:

Lumbering_Jack wrote:Richie Towers is a gentle giant.

He always has been.

Except that time he took part in the robbery that saw him sent to prison (apparently)

He only helped kidnap somebody who was then tortured with a steam iron.

STC wrote:

DAVE667 wrote:

STC wrote:

Lumbering_Jack wrote:Richie Towers is a gentle giant.

He always has been.

Except that time he took part in the robbery that saw him sent to prison (apparently)

He only helped kidnap somebody who was then tortured with a steam iron.

Bunch of tree hugging liberals round here, that's the problem

Tea_is_for_mugs wrote:

Scottrff wrote:

Tea_is_for_mugs wrote:If you dont mind me asking what was El Terrible caught for? I only know of the diretics.

Well that's a mask so it's enough.

Fair point, what a shame.

Others I was close to putting in.

Nathan Cleverly
Rendall Munroe
Ian Napa
Mikkel Kessler
Ryan Rhodes
Enzo Mac- Never heard him say a bad word towards another fighter (but was caught with funny stuff in his shakes I beleive)
Anthony Ogogo seem a nice whole chap, bit too soon lets so how the real lime light fortune and fame affects him
Jermain Taylor, I cannot remember and bad storys about him, no good ones either.

How did I forget Kessler!!!  Best of the modern bunch for me.  I'd put him above the Klitschko's.  He doesn't have to put on an image he's just a nice man.

STC wrote:

DAVE667 wrote:

STC wrote:

Lumbering_Jack wrote:Richie Towers is a gentle giant.

He always has been.

Except that time he took part in the robbery that saw him sent to prison (apparently)

He only helped kidnap somebody who was then tortured with a steam iron.

My apologies, I know he'd been to prison and couldn't recall the actual offence. I thought he'd been involved in something dreadful, I didn't realise he'd only collared some young ruffian who would insist on walking the streets in badly wrinkled jeans.

I'm surprised by the amount of decent fighters we have here, We have 19 so far.

Anyone up to the task of putting them into any form of a top ten, the fact that I've not heard of a few of them makes the task too tricky for me but I would be grateful for any volunteers...

The nominations are:

Wlad (Dave667)
Whitaker (huw / 88Chris05)
Arguello (88Chris05)
Sergio Martinez (Scottrff)
Francis Ampofo (Dave667)
Richard Williams (Dave 667)
Dave Tiberi (captain carrantuohi)
Michael Watson (Dave 667)
Gary Mason (bhb001)
Shavers (Rowley)
Winky Wright (Rowley)
Woodhall (Rowley)
Golovkin (mobilemaster8)
Alvarez (mobilemaster8)
Burns (Union Cane)
Ward (J.Benson II)
Groves (Tea_is_for_mugs)
Cotto (Tea_is_for_mugs)
Kessler (Tea_is_for_mugs)

I won't tell you again to disassociate my name with Wlad's...I see him walking around Torrevieja and he may start wanting to have a chat with me and try to be a nice guy.

Don't need the hassle....

Gary Mason was a great shout lovely fella.
Lennox Lewis is a top man as well.
Tim Witherspoon is a proper down to earth thoroughly decent man.

What the 'Viking warrior'?. His relatives used to r*** and pillage our country. Nice guy my a*se.

DAVE667 wrote:I won't tell you again to disassociate my name with Wlad's...I see him walking around Torrevieja and he may start wanting to have a chat with me and try to be a nice guy.

Don't need the hassle....

Haha, due to the lack of talent I think you may make the top ten with Wlad. Maybe when he does start trying to be nice to you it would be an opportunity to try to get in with his Mrs, his response would no doubt give you a story that would exclude him from the top ten, simple.

Unless he is that much of a nice guy he'll let you have a go, in which case he would definately deserve to be top ten and I'll remove your name and add mine for an introduction.

milkyboy wrote:What the 'Viking warrior'?. His relatives used to r*** and pillage our country. Nice guy my a*se.

His mothers English.

Excuse me huw. If Francis ampofo makes the cut as a decent fighter, then my boy mittee certainly does. I'm fighting his corner because he's too damn nice to do it himself.

Strongback wrote:

milkyboy wrote:What the 'Viking warrior'?. His relatives used to r*** and pillage our country. Nice guy my a*se.

His mothers English.

which I think nicely proves my point.

milkyboy wrote:

Strongback wrote:

milkyboy wrote:What the 'Viking warrior'?. His relatives used to r*** and pillage our country. Nice guy my a*se.

His mothers English.

which I think nicely proves my point.

Haha. Very good.

Shane Mosely (if you take the juicing from '03 out of the equation) is a real nice bloke. Always smiling, that might be from being punch drunk though.

Anyone mention Lennox Lewis? Real chilled guy, has a lot of time for fans.

George Foreman has a wicked sense of humour and I've never heard a bad word about?

As mad as this sounds, but a mate of mine met Danny Garcia in Vegas and he was apparently a real nice bloke and had a chat in the foyer of one of the hotels for 20 minutes. Funny coming from a guy whose Dad is classless.

Lee Selby is also a real nice guy outside of the ring.

DAVE667 wrote:

seanmichaels wrote:I think unless you personally know them I think it is difficult to judge anybody, even on the basis of a chat. Jimmy Saville and Rolf Harris 'came' across well according to many....

Well, that Dalai Lama fellow can get lost then can't he?

Definitely. Bl00dy lefty tree hugger.

Rowley referred to Martinez coming across as a thoroughly nice guy on our interview with him a while back, and I can confirm he really was.

Here is the interview, for those that didn't catch it first time round.

https://www.606v2.com/t9819-qa-with-sergio-maravilla-martinez

Whitaker
Wlad
Ward
Sergio Martinez
Alvarez
Golovkin
Cotto
Kessler
Shavers
Winky Wright

Ok there is my go at it, might be abit naive with Shavers as do not know enough about him, but there pick that apart as you please

I recall Rowley commenting on how handsome Martinez was. Let's not let someone's manlove colour our opinions. Martinez is ok, but clearly behind the likes of mittee.

Pacquiao comes across thoroughly decent bloke, the UK seem to have been kissing Floyds backside since the Hatton fight, Manny seems to be a bad as he a rival.

Frank Bruno was a nice chap?

Corrie Sanders always seemed like an affable kind of chap to me. Think he just used to wander in off the golf course, win a few fights and then back on the course.

Died in awful circumstances but went out heroically, if such a thing exists.

Freddie Flintoff?

seanmichaels wrote:Frank Bruno was a nice chap?

Bruno was/is a complete cretin, a fraud of man, dressed up a persona to make him loveable but underneath an obnoxious tool.

Rodney wrote:

seanmichaels wrote:Frank Bruno was a nice chap?

Bruno was/is  a complete cretin, a fraud of man, dressed up a persona to make him loveable but underneath an obnoxious tool.

He even faked mental illness to get sympathy.

Michael Katsidis

Rodney wrote:

seanmichaels wrote:Frank Bruno was a nice chap?

Bruno was/is  a complete cretin, a fraud of man, dressed up a persona to make him loveable but underneath an obnoxious tool.

That's my first ever sporting hero you're besmirching there, Rodney!

88Chris05 wrote:

Rodney wrote:

seanmichaels wrote:Frank Bruno was a nice chap?

Bruno was/is  a complete cretin, a fraud of man, dressed up a persona to make him loveable but underneath an obnoxious tool.

That's my first ever sporting hero you're besmirching there, Rodney!

Nope, Rodders is absolutely right. Whilst it's possible that some of Frank's behaviour could have been attributable to his mental illness, there's enough to suggest he was a bit of a swine (His wife Laura will probably bear us out on that score)

Sorry Chris could be worse mate you could've idolised Prince Naseem (cough)

Cheers

Rodders

Christopher Eubanks then. He bought up a disused block of flats to home Brighton's grebos?

Much as it hurts me, Dave and Rodders, the pair of you are actually right and Bruno definitely does have a darker side that has been well hidden over the years. Not the worst of characters but not the saint he was depicted as in his pomp.

I finally got to meet him and have a chat with him in 2008, but not long after that I read his autobiography 'Frank' and he did wind me up with some of the stuff he wrote in there. "I was the undisputed Heavyweight champion of the world, the man who beat the man who beat the man all the way back to the days of Bob Fitzsimmons." Erm, hate to say it, but you weren't, Frank.

Unhealthy relationships with women too, as you say.

seanmichaels wrote:Christopher Eubanks then. He bought up a disused block of flats to home Brighton's grebos?

He should have just bought them some gazebos.

STC wrote:

seanmichaels wrote:Christopher Eubanks then. He bought up a disused block of flats to home Brighton's grebos?

He should have just bought them some gazebos.

I'm sure they would have been happy with that. They could then have erected them outside banks, embassys, pharmaceuticals across the country.

milkyboy wrote:Excuse me huw. If Francis ampofo makes the cut as a decent fighter, then my boy mittee certainly does. I'm fighting his corner because he's too damn nice to do it himself.

He made the cut purely because I have no idea who he is!

Tea_is_for_mugs wrote:Whitaker
Wlad
Ward
Sergio Martinez
Alvarez
Golovkin
Cotto
Kessler
Shavers
Winky Wright

Ok there is my go at it, might be abit naive with Shavers as do not know enough about him, but there pick that apart as you please

I think that is a good effort and any list with Sweetpea at the top gets my vote!  

The only area I would struggle on there is having Alvarez so high, think he'd be around no. 10 for me purely on the basis he hasn't really fought anyone. At the same time he is a ginger Mexican which should probably elevate him just for the weirdness of it all.

huw wrote:

milkyboy wrote:Excuse me huw. If Francis ampofo makes the cut as a decent fighter, then my boy mittee certainly does. I'm fighting his corner because he's too damn nice to do it himself.

He made the cut purely because I have no idea who he is!

Godammit all to hell and back, first I seem to be stuck with the tag of being the guy who thinks Wlad is lovely and now this. Okay ...check out his fights with Johnny Armour (they're little classics) and if you can find any of the pre-fight build up, I defy you not to think Francis is a top fella. He even keeps chickens!!!!!!!

DAVE667 wrote:

huw wrote:

milkyboy wrote:Excuse me huw. If Francis ampofo makes the cut as a decent fighter, then my boy mittee certainly does. I'm fighting his corner because he's too damn nice to do it himself.

He made the cut purely because I have no idea who he is!

Godammit all to hell and back, first I seem to be stuck with the tag of being the guy who  thinks Wlad is lovely and now this. Okay ...check out his fights with Johnny Armour (they're little classics) and if you can find any of the pre-fight build up, I defy you not to think Francis is a top fella. He even keeps chickens!!!!!!!

Isn't it strange, Wlad seems like such a gentle giant yet his biggest fans seem to be such an angry bunch....

Thanks for the heads up, will have a look online tonight rather than when I'm pretending to do work today.

What about Spencer Oliver? Really smashing fella and looked to be going places when his career was ended after a brain injury.

Barry Jones.

STC wrote:Barry Jones.

Is this the Barry/Barrie Jones who fought Acelino Freitas and put him on his backside in the first round...then rec'd an eight round battering for his troubles?

DAVE667 wrote:

STC wrote:Barry Jones.

Is this the Barry/Barrie Jones who fought Acelino Freitas and put him on his backside in the first round...then rec'd an eight round battering for his troubles?

Yeah the little bald fella who pundits for BoxNation. He seems like a top bloke, knows his stuff and has a laugh too.

Didn't he have to get medical clearance to fight Frietas. I saw his record (19 wins with one KO) and then saw Frietas with 23 wins and 23 KO's, thought "oops" and then laughed as Poppo got dumped on his bum in the first minute.

Took his lumps that night did Barrie

DAVE667 wrote:Didn't he have to get medical clearance to fight Frietas. I saw his record (19 wins with one KO) and then saw Frietas with 23 wins and 23 KO's, thought "oops" and then laughed as Poppo got dumped on his bum in the first minute.

Took his lumps that night did Barrie

Missed that fight. Heard Barry reminiscing about it though.

DAVE667 wrote:

huw wrote:

milkyboy wrote:Excuse me huw. If Francis ampofo makes the cut as a decent fighter, then my boy mittee certainly does. I'm fighting his corner because he's too damn nice to do it himself.

He made the cut purely because I have no idea who he is!

Godammit all to hell and back, first I seem to be stuck with the tag of being the guy who  thinks Wlad is lovely and now this. Okay ...check out his fights with Johnny Armour (they're little classics) and if you can find any of the pre-fight build up, I defy you not to think Francis is a top fella. He even keeps chickens!!!!!!!

Classics in a journeyman kind of way. Mittee was at least half decent and a top guy who works with the underprivileged. In the winter he hands out cuppa soups to the homeless and on his evenings off is regularly seen helping grannies cross the road... Whether they need his help or not. Francis ampofo? Pfffffhh.

milkyboy wrote:

DAVE667 wrote:

huw wrote:

milkyboy wrote:Excuse me huw. If Francis ampofo makes the cut as a decent fighter, then my boy mittee certainly does. I'm fighting his corner because he's too damn nice to do it himself.

He made the cut purely because I have no idea who he is!

Godammit all to hell and back, first I seem to be stuck with the tag of being the guy who  thinks Wlad is lovely and now this. Okay ...check out his fights with Johnny Armour (they're little classics) and if you can find any of the pre-fight build up, I defy you not to think Francis is a top fella. He even keeps chickens!!!!!!!

Classics in a journeyman kind of way. Mittee was at least half decent and a top guy who works with the underprivileged. In the winter he hands out cuppa soups to the homeless and on his evenings off is regularly seen helping grannies cross the road... Whether they need his help or not. Francis ampofo? Pfffffhh.

First you're less than complimentary about my dad and now this....I dunno fella, you have a very cruel streak that makes me look like a very kind person ..like FRANCIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There you go. Francis, sorry FRANCIS, is as nice as Dave.

I rest my case m'lud.

I actually had a thought and believe me on such rare occasions I like to ensure they are shared. Johnny Owen always seemed to be highly thought of.

Right, don't usually do this but here is my personal top ten:

1. Sweetpea
2. Wlad (Dave667 made such a resounding argument for his inclusion it is only my man love for Sweetpea that kept him off the top)
3. Michael Watson (Dave667's second choice)
4. Andre Ward
5. Marquez
6. Johnny Owen (being Welsh with my family originally from Merthyr it would be wrong to not have him in there, although almost definately higher than most people would consider putting him but that is the magic of it being my own list)
7. Winky Wright
8. Cotto
9. Kessler
10. Ernie Shavers (too many personal stories to ignore him)

I'm sure there are many others that would on both talent and niceness be more deserving of a top ten place. Problem is although I'm a boxing geek compared to normals (people who don't spend time on a boxing forum) I'm way behind most of you guys when it comes to boxers and could only include boxers I have seen.

Interestingly though I think only Wlad and Sweetpea would make most peoples top 20's of ability alone.

It does seem to warrant a really good quote here to summarise my thoughts on this but since I can't think of any relevant ones I'll instead opt for a Charlie Sheen one 'nice guys finish last but awesome guys finish on the face'.