Ranking the Most Marketable Fighters in Boxing History

In his autobiography, Muhammad Ali credits Gorgeous George and professional wrestling in general for teaching him an important business lesson: Personality wins fights. 

In team sports, individual stars are certainly important, but the team uniform and franchise history is almost always more important for marketing than any specific player. As long as the Boston Red Sox are fielding a winning team, the Sox Nation will pack Fenway and subscribe to NESN.

To make big money in the combat sports, fans have to feel a personal investment in at least one of the two fighters involved.

I want to note that this list is compiled almost entirely from the perspective of the United States market.

10. Oscar De La Hoya

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To me, Oscar De La Hoya is the last of a breed as a boxing star. After winning a gold medal in the 1992 Olympics, the Golden Boy was a household name before his professional debut. 

De La Hoya's career coincided perfectly with the growing importance of the Latino market in the United States, but his charismatic personality made him a transcendent star. His good looks drew female fans who normally wouldn't have paid the least bit of attention to the Sweet Science. 

In the ring, De La Hoya won titles while climbing divisional ranks. He was involved in many of the biggest fights of his era, and in retirement he has become the face of the most important promotional organization in the sport.

9. Sugar Ray Leonard

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Ray Leonard emerged as a star in the 1976 Olympics, at precisely the moment when Muhammad Ali's star was beginning to decline. Boxing needed a new superstar, and Sugar Ray was quickly inserted into the role. 

He even got Ali's legendary trainer, Angelo Dundee. Leonard's stardom was so big heading into his professional career that he was able to subvert the traditional fighter-promoter relationship by forming his own operation and hiring promoters to work for him, like Floyd Mayweather Jr. does today. 

Ultimately, though, what helped Leonard's marketability more than anything was the era he fought in, one of the greatest in boxing history. In Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler, Leonard had equally great—but radically different—fighters to serve as his rivals in some of boxing's most legendary fights.

8. George Foreman

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George Foreman was a highly marketable fighter from the start of his career. An Olympic gold medalist, he was a large heavyweight with a powerful punch. Big George didn't have to say much to make fans want to see him fight. 

His destruction of Joe Frazier for the heavyweight title ranks alongside Jack Dempsey's pounding of Jess Willard as the most dominant title win in heavyweight history. The difference is, Dempsey won against one of the worst champs in heavyweight history, while Foreman beat one of the best. 

But it's not Foreman's first career that has him on this list. It's his amazingly improbable comeback a decade after he retired. In his second career, Foreman not only became the oldest heavyweight champion ever, he also became an icon for an aging population of baby boomers. 

In his second career, Foreman became one of the most popular boxing stars of all time. His engaging personality made him a natural pitchman and television guest star.

7. Sugar Ray Robinson

Sugar Ray Robinson is the man the boxing world created the term "pound-for-pound best" to describe. In an era when the best fought often and fought each other, Robinson lost just three times in the first decade-plus of his career while winning over 130 fights. 

Robinson originally retired in 1952. When he returned past his prime in 1955, he won the middleweight title twice more and continued to be a major factor during one of the division's most competitive eras.

Outside of the ring, Robinson's Harlem nightclub was one of the most important jazz venues during a time when all the coolest people were listening to jazz.

His boxing style was a perfect reflection of the Bop style of the time. He was a technical virtuoso and aggressively creative all at once.

6. Rocky Marciano

Rocky Marciano didn't fight during one of the heavyweight division's best eras, but it was a time when boxing was still a major sport, and the heavyweight title was still "the biggest championship in sports." Marciano became an iconic champion at a time when boxing badly needed to fill the hole left by Joe Louis. 

The only heavyweight champion to ever retire with an undefeated record, Marciano was also one of the more unlikely champs. He came to the sport late and was relatively undersized, even in a smaller era. His 68" reach is the shortest-ever for a heavyweight champion. 

But Marciano won fights with heart and will, which always wins over the fans. His famous right hand, nicknamed Suzie Q, pulled victory from the jaws of defeat for The Rock on countless occasions. 

5. Mike Tyson

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Mike Tyson exploded onto the boxing and sports scene in the late 1980s. The youngest heavyweight champion in history and the first man to unify the heavyweight belts since Muhammad Ali, Tyson was the perfect combination of rare physical gifts and exquisite technical training. 

A big part of his marketability early on was the story of his relationship with his trainer and mentor Cus D'Amato, who plucked him from reform school as a teenager. Tyson's compact and powerfully athletic body was the perfect vehicle for D'Amato's "peekaboo" boxing style. 

Like true superstars in all fields, Tyson had an element of his personality that connected to the public. In his more recent careers as a stage performer and promoter, it's clear that he seems to thrive on interacting with the public.

I was at the first card he promoted, at Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York, and I very much doubt a single person who showed up that night hoping to take a picture with Tyson failed to do so. The former champ worked the crowd tirelessly all night long.

4. John L. Sullivan

John L. Sullivan was the last champion of the bare-knuckle era and the first gloved one. During the 1880s, national tabloids like The National Police Gazette helped turn Sullivan into a household name. 

Known as the Boston Strongboy, Sullivan was a larger-than-life personality. His boasting and carousing were as celebrated as his fighting achievements. He made more money as a traveling stage performer than as a prizefighter. 

He toured Europe and was hosted by royalty. A perfect icon for the emerging hutzpa of America in the industrial age, he famously told the King of England, "If you're ever in Boston, look me up. I'll make sure they take care of you." 

3. Jack Dempsey

Jack Dempsey reigned as heavyweight champion during the 1920s, which was known as The Golden Age of Sports. He fought with a wild, brawling style that was perfectly iconic for the rip-roaring decade.

At the height of his fame, The Manassa Mauler was the biggest sports star in the country, save for perhaps Babe Ruth. His fights against challengers such as Luis Firpo and Georges Carpentier set financial records and were attended by up to 80,000 fans. 

In retirement, Dempsey remained a celebrated figure. His Jack Dempsey's Broadway Restaurant was an institution, with the former champion a nightly fixture.

2. Joe Louis

Joe Louis became an iconic heavyweight champion during one of the most perilous times in United States history, World War II. The Brown Bomber became a symbol of the meritocracy of the American melting pot vs. the racist Third Reich of Hitler. 

By becoming a hero for all Americans vs. the German Max Schmeling on the eve of the war, Louis paved the way for the integration of baseball and society as a whole. 

Louis' place as an important figure in the history of U.S. society in the 20th century can hardly be understated. He advanced American society while remaining fiercely loyal to it. During the war, he donated a number of his purses to relief funds for military personnel and family, failing to pay taxes on them first.

As a result, the IRS haunted him throughout his retirement, a shameful treatment for a geunine American hero.

1. Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali first became famous when he won the light heavyweight gold medal at the 1960 Olympics. His engaging personality came through in televised interviews, making him the biggest star of the Games.

As a professional, he quickly amped up his persona, earning himself the nickname "The Louisville Lip." He stunned the boxing public when he beat the fearsome Sonny Liston for the title. 

But in the late 1960s, Ali became an icon for the civil rights and anti-war movements. When he forfeited the title and risked his entire career by refusing to be drafted, his principled stance won him grudging respect even from many who disagreed with him. 

When Ali finally returned in 1970, he came back to find the heavyweight division in the most competitive era of boxing history. His wars with Joe Frazier, Ken Norton and George Foreman were legendary. 

By the end of the 1970s, Ali was making guest appearances on sitcoms and starring in his own Saturday-morning cartoon. Even now, over 30 years since his retirement, he remains the single-most famous figure associated with the sport.