Just wondered who were peoples favourite?
Mine Cassius Marcellus Clay.( more famously Known as Muhammed Ali)
Olympic light heavywieght champion 1960.He went on to become the Greatest Heavyweight of all time.
When I were a lad my heroes were Daley Thompson, Ian Botham, Faldo and Sir David Speedie.
As people they all had a few character flaws but you don't notice those as a kid.
Followed him from pretty early on and then went up to Manchester to watch his fight against Pendleton, then was there for the epic fight against Tsyzu, which is still probably THE best atmosphere I have ever experienced, and then travelled over to Vegas for his fight against Mayweather. (Unfortunately, didn’t get a ticket so had to watch it on the big screens in the MGM).
Cliched to fuck nowadays but he was such a man of the people and was such an explosive fighter with those trademark body blows.
Unfortunately, and there is absolutely no shame in it, but he just wasn’t at that upper echelon level and was found out against both Mayweather and Pacquiao.
Have still never watched his last ever fight when he just couldn’t stay retired…...
I always struggle to narrow it down on these kind of questions, must be a personality thing but i find i will groups of things/people that i like for different reasons and rarely an absolute favourite.
Got a lot of enjoyment watching Amir Khan and Carl Froch fight over the years, can't say i warmed to them in the same way people regard Hatton though.
I don't particularly follow tennis but i do like Andy Murray, have a lot of respect for the way he is outside (and inside) the sport and his Wimbledon and Olympic wins were fatastic to watch.
A long time ago but used to love Daley Thompson. Coe was always a posh twat , Ovett weird and Steve Cram just dull. Thompson was down to earth, fun and an immense competitor . He was popular at the time but imagine how he would be nowadays.
Footballers: Diego Maradona, Pavel Nedved, Andriy Shevchenko, Andrea Pirlo.
ETA: I would also say Matt le Tissier if it was purely on how they played their sport, but I can't disassociate the footballer he was with the complete fuckwit he's become. So not him.
Easy one for me, but probably unknown to most on here. Daniel Alfredsson, the greatest ice hockey player to ever play for the team I support, Ottawa Senators.
426 goals, 682 assists and 1,108 points in 1,178 games for Ottawa. Also won gold and sivler medals with Sweden and is in both the Hockey Hall of Fame and the IIHF Hall of Fame
My 3 favourites are Muhammad Ali, Severiano Ballesteros & Usain Bolt as I think they were liked by people who don't necessarily follow that sport. As an example my grandma had no interest in golf but loved Sevvy