Remarkable Heavyweight Boxing Champions: From Rags-to-Riches-to-Rags

Very few boxers were already rich when they entered the ring. Most boxers who have reigned as world champions were from poverty to wealth. Here’s a bunch of boxers who have lived and died or presently living in obscurity or penniless and miserable after becoming world champions.

Sam Langford

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Sam Langford of Canada was tagged by ESPN the “Greatest Fighter Nobody Knows,” and was rated #2 by Ring Magazine on their list of “100 greatest punchers of all time”. He never had the chance to secure a world title for himself. He lived in Harlem, New York City and eventually went completely blind and ended up penniless. Langford died in 1956 in a private nursing home in Massachusetts.

Tommy Burns

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Tommy Burns was a Canadian world heavyweight champion from 1906 to 1908. He was a wealthy man at the end of his boxing career but lost all his fortune during the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. He had worked as insurance salesman, security guard and many others.

He died of heart attack at the age of 73 in 1955. He was buried at Ocean View Cemetery in British Columbia with only four people attending his burial.

Bob Fitzsimmons

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Robert James “Bob” Fitzsimmons of New Zealand was the first boxer to become world champion in three-division –middleweight, light-heavyweight and heavyweight. A gambler and having 4 wives, he did not hold on to the money he earned. He died of pneumonia in 1917.

Sam McVey

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Sam McVey of California, USA was a famous heavyweight boxer and was two-time “colored heavyweight” champion. He worked as a trainer and sparring partner for both black and white fighters training for important contests later in his life. He died of pneumonia in 1921 a penniless man.

Joe Louis

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Joe Louis is one of the most famous heavyweight champions of all-time and held the title from 1937 to 1949. He failed to pay large amount of taxes that forced him to return to the ring after his retirement. Later in his life, he became a cocaine user and was hospitalized for it and spent five months at a psychiatric hospital for paranoia. He suffered a fatal heart attack in 1981. His former rival and friend, Max Schmeling, paid for his funeral.

Leon Spink

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Leon Spinks of Missouri, USA became the world heavyweight champion in 1978 when he beat Muhammad Ali. Spinks went from being heavyweight champion of the world to being homeless in little more than a decade.

John Tate

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John ("Johnny") Tate was WBA heavyweight champion from 1979 to 1980. After his reign as champion, his life was miserable and troubled. He suffered from cocaine addiction and was convicted on petty theft and assault charges and served time in prison. He died of injuries sustained from car accident when he suffered a massive stroke, caused by brain tumor, while driving.

Mike Tyson

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Michael Gerard “Mike” Tyson of USA was one of the most famous and most dreaded heavyweight champions of the world. He is noted also for his controversial behavior both inside and outside the ring. He was convicted of sexually assaulting an 18 year-old lady, for which he served three years in prison. Tyson had received $300 million during his boxing career but he declared bankruptcy in 2003. He was convicted for possession of cocaine in 2007 and sentenced to 24 hours in jail, 360 hours community service and 3 years probation.

Riddick Bowe

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Riddick Lamont Bowe was the world heavyweight champion in the mid-90s. Like Mike Tyson, he grew up in a slum area in New York City. After his retirement from boxing, he trained to become a Marine but failed. A few months later, he was accused of assault and battery by his sister and wife and was convicted for kidnapping his wife and children. He was initially sentenced to only 30 days as a result of a lenient sentence due to brain damage claimed by Bowe’s defense but later overturned and Bowe served 17 months in federal prison. He was arrested again in 2001 after a domestic dispute with his wife for allegedly dragging his wife and left her with cuts on her knees and elbows

He returned to the ring in 2004 despite his brain injuries. Like Mike Tyson, he declared bankruptcy in 2005, punctuating his personal and financial demise.

I’ll wrap this up with this “Manage your money wisely, don’t let money manage you”.

See also

Seven Wonders of Boxing: World’s Greatest Boxers (Based on Championship Titles Held)

Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao: The Greatest Asian Boxer

All-Time Greatest Filipino Professional Boxers