Two fighters appear on a list featuring the top 10 most-loved sporting statues in America.
The lasting tributes to Muhammad Ali, in Kentucky, and Joe Frazier, in Philadelphia, are included on a list of 10 topped by Magic Johnson, with his fellow basketball greats Larry Bird and Michael Jordan also featuring. Other icons included are Jackie Robinson, Tom Landry, Dale Earnhardt, Peyton Manning, and Babe Ruth. Ali’s comes in at second on The Sports Geek list, with Frazier’s at eight.
But they are far from the only two fighters acknowledged with tributes of their likeness in the US and further afield. For instance, in Argentina, a statue of the heavyweight contender Oscar Bonavena stands in front of the national soccer stadium; there is a statue of Ken Buchanan in Edinburgh, one of Randolph Turpin in Leamington Spa, a Primo Carnera statue in Milan, Italy, one of Les Darcy in East Maitland in Australia, and one of “Peerless” Jim Driscoll in Cardiff. There are dozens more, and plenty more should have and doubtless will have statues to commemorate their courage and achievements.
Prominent, and yet in no particular order, are the following 10 boxing statues from around the US.
1. Rocky Marciano – A vast-and-impressive statue of Marciano, the unbeaten former heavyweight king, was erected at Champions Park at Brockton High School. The statue was donated as a gift to the city of Brockton by the WBC president Jose Sulaiman.
2. Larry Holmes – Immortalised throwing his trademark jab, the statue of Holmes stands proudly in Easton, the town the heavyweight icon fought out of and put on the map.
3. Chuck Wepner – The likes of Iran Barkley, Gerry Cooney and Larry Holmes were in attendance in November 2022, along with the “Bayonne Bleeder” himself, when the Wepner statue was opened in November 2022 inside the Dennis P. Collins Park in Bayonne.
4. Jersey Joe Walcott – The work of the sculptor Carl LeVotch was unveiled on the Camden Waterfront at Wiggins Park Promenade in October 2021.
5. Leavander Johnson – The former IBF lightweight champion, from Atlantic City, lost his life following his first defense to Jesus Chavez, but he was commemorated with a statue a block or two back from the famous Boardwalk.
6. Marvin Hagler – On June 12, 2024 a statue of the southpaw buzzsaw throwing a left hand was unveiled in Brockton on Petronelli Way, on what was formerly known as Ward Street.
7. Joey Giardello – The former middleweight champion from Philly has been immortalized throwing a right hand on the corner of East Passyunk Avenue South 13th Street & Mifflin Street in South Philly following a fundraising effort from Philly Boxing History founder John DiSanto.
8. Joe Louis – The great heavyweight oversees gamblers on the floor in Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, where a white statue of Louis stands. Louis spent the later years of his life working there as a greeter. There is another of the “Brown Bomber” in Lafayette, Alabama, where Louis was born.
9. Oscar De La Hoya – Magic Johnson’s is not the only statue outside the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, as there is one of the Los Angeles Golden Boy standing alongside Johnson.
10. Rocky Balboa – The statue of the fictional character used to be outside the Spectrum, but has since stood proudly beneath the famous Rocky steps by the art museum.
