GREAT BOXERS

JEFF FENECH

Jeff Fenech is one of the “hottest” boxing products Australia

has ever produced. During the ‘80s the “mad” Aussie managed to

become a world champion in three different weight divisions

(Bantamweight, Super Bantamweight, and Featherweight) by beating

fellow boxing legends as Carlos Zarate and Azumah Nelson.

KEN BUCHANAN

Ken Buchanan is the greatest boxer in Scottish history thanks

to his truly brave and fan-pleasing boxing style. He captured

the Lightweight World title back in the early seventies by beating

Ismael Laguna twice but later lost his title to the greatest lightweight

boxer of all time, the one and only Roberto Duran, in a fight that

is usually included in the supreme boxing bouts of all time.

MAX SCHMELING

Max Schmeling was a legendary German boxer who was the

heavyweight champion of the world between 1930 and 1932.

Unfortunately and despite not being a fan of Nazi ideology, Hitler

used his boxing success for his political and racial propaganda. His two

epic fights with American legend Joe Louis in 1936, which Schmeling won,

and 1938 which Louis won, became worldwide cultural and political events

because of the intense socio-political era during which they took place.

NASEEM HAMED

If you grew up in the ‘90s and even if you weren’t a big boxing fan

there’s still a good chance you heard the name “Prince” Naseem Hamed.

The former WBO, WBC, IBF, and lineal featherweight champion is

without a doubt one of the most impressive boxers of our generation

and one of the greatest showmen the sport has ever produced,

with his boxing antics and sensational ring entrances becoming

part of boxing’s pop culture and legacy.

ANTON CHRISTOFORIDIS

Anton Christoforidis was not a flamboyant fighter but he

got the job done. During his prime he defeated fellow all-time greats

Ceferino Garcia, Jimmy Bivins, and Lou Brouillard. In 1941 he made

history when he became the first world boxing champion from Greece by

beating Melio Bettina, in a fight that had a heavy political background

just like the Louis vs. Schmeling fights. Christoforidis

fought against an Italian-American boxer for the world title while his

country was under siege by Mussolini’s fascist forces and his victory

was seen and celebrated as more than just a mere sports victory.

PASCUAL PÉREZ

After Pascual Pérez won the gold medal for his country at the

1948 Olympic boxing tournament in London, he went on to

become Argentina’s first-ever professional boxing champ when he

captured the world title in 1954 against a Japanese fighter in Japan.

He went undefeated for his first 51 fights and held the title for over

six years. He is considered the second-greatest flyweight boxer in

history behind only the great Jimmy Wilde.

AZUMAH NELSON

Die-hard boxing fans usually refer to Azumah Nelson as the greatest

boxer to ever come from Africa and the Ghanaian “Lion” did

everything he could to prove them right. For over a decade

(1984 to 1997) Nelson was Featherweight and Super Featherweight world

champion and his unforgettable bouts with Jeff Fenech, Pernell Whitaker,

and the great Mexican warrior, Salvador Sánchez, are considered

all-time classic material in the boxing world.

KOSTYA TSZYU

Kostya Tszyu was one of the very first former Soviet boxers to flee

to the free world so he could pursue a professional career in boxing

back in the early ‘90s. So after he won gold in two Amateur World

Championships for the USSR he moved to Australia and won

several world titles on a professional level and The Ring magazine

named him the greatest junior welterweight boxer of the

previous decade.

GENNADY GOLOVKIN

After Gennady “GGG” Golovkin won a gold medal at the 2003

World Amateur Championships and silver at the 2004 Olympics

in Athens, he pursued a professional career and since then has become

the fans’ favourite boxer. He’s been undefeated in 30 bouts and is

the reigning WBA and IBO middleweight world champion with an impressive

90 percent knockout rate, which is the highest KO ratio in middleweight

championship history.