IN RING CHARISMA [RECYCLED]

This category isn't about talk. It is all about what they do and how they do it. Who are the guys you just can't take your eyes off in the ring. For some it is style, for some resilience, for some sheer competence, for some creativity, for some part of it is the way they look and for some an exuberant style. Greatness is not necessarily required. Maybe I should describe it this way. I am looking for fighters who are the anti-Mr. Ronald Wright.

These are the guys in my lifetime whose fights I watch over and over and over again and I am always thrilled.

1) Muhammad Ali-Part of this is the guy was just so freaking graceful. Just a beautiful athlete to watch. But his in ring creativity and the fact that he was a revolution in the heavyweight division contributes as well. He had a whole series of high wire moments against Cooper and Liston and Frazier and Foreman and Spinks.

2) Roberto Duran-The least human and most elemental fighter I have ever seen in the ring. It was like a jaguar had been harnessed into a boxer. Duran was shockingly skilled but you had to focus to notice it. What jumped off the screen instead was the defining characteristic of nature. Unforgiving ruthlessness.

3) Bobby Chacon-As genuine a boxing spirit as I have seen. It was his pride, his joy and his refuge. No matter the turbulence outside the ring, including his wife killing herself because he wouldn't quit, the Schoolboy was always there, always savage and his well of resilience seemed to never run dry. He'd get trapped, buzzed into a zombie state, he'd literally stop moving, and then he had you right where he wanted you. The greatest comeback fighter I have ever seen.

4) Pernell Whittaker-The boxer as artist. He left no one unfought and he painted utter masterpieces against ATG's like JCC and Azumah Nelson. Slick and smart, he could stay right in the pocket and make truly great fighters look bad. If you want to see distance and angle control? Watch Sweet Pea.

5) Carlos Monzon and Marvin Hagler-I just can't pick between them. These two shared the same trait. They were like an incoming tide. You couldn't stop it, you couldn't avoid it and ultimately you can't escape it. Their fights seemed an exercise in the inevitable. Awesome.

7) Matthew Saad Muhammad-When a fighter's nickname is Miracle Matthew? THAT guy one has to watch. There was nothing subtle about Saad. He was simply an honest brawler with heavy hands and an orphan's will to overcome.

8) Ricardo Lopez-The fighter as Technician. I had never heard of this guy and when I happened upon a video of him in around 1993 I literally stopped and said out loud "That is how it is supposed to be done." The man you show to your son if he wants to become a boxer. The passionate cyborg.

9) Arturo Gatti-Not much to say here that hasn't been said over and over again. An exemplary fighting heart. The only reason he ranks this low is his top performances were against a lower level of competition than Chacon and Saad.

10) Alexis Arguello-The boxer as contradiction. Writers far better than me identified Arguello this way and I think they are right. A cold-blooded, impersonal, robotic assassin in the ring and a classy, warm hearted, thoughtful gentleman outside the ring. The Terminator sent to finishing school. In the ring Arguello gave no quarter and asked for none and those things he did in the ring he did perfectly. An assassin.

Sorry, ten names just aren't enough

11) Johnny Tapia-The most joyous guy in the ring I have seen. Everything about him was going a hundred miles an hour even between rounds. The Eveready Bunny. Tapia brought the crowd into the fight like very few others. They'd create a cycle of excitement from him to them and back again. Few fighters have ever been energized by a crowd like Johnny Tapia.

12) Roy Jones-Can a big man really be THAT fast? A Bo Jackson, Jim Thorpe, Carl Lewis kind of athlete. Even the things he so obviously did wrong were startling because he was so fast the mistake was over before you realized he had made it. Jones sometimes looked like he was a thousand years ahead in terms of human evolution.

13) Manny Pacquiao-I'll be honest. I am still not sure I really understand what makes him so special. He is impossibly special, but I just can't quite figure out the collection of characteristics that makes him so. What I watch for now is how he evolves as a boxer. Massive technical improvements at 29? That just does not happen!

14) George Foreman-Paul Bunyan or John Henry in the ring. Unstoppable human strength. Just shoving other big men around with ease. A mobile treetrunk of a man with sledgehammers hanging from his shoulders.

15) Salvador Sanchez-The thing about this guy was his sheer fitness. He NEVER took a labored breath and in most fights you couldn't tell what color his mouthpiece was because he never even opened his lips. He looked like a 25 round fight at a 15 round pace would be no problem. A truly unique ring presence.

I could have substituted 5-6 guys for my 10-15 and still been happy with my list. The obvious name I left off? Mike Tyson. Why? Because the microwave mismatches he fought just weren't and aren't very interesting to me. I can't imagine putting a Tyson fight on my DVD player and sitting down to watch it. But I know that's me.

Those are the most charismatic guys in the ring I can think of. Who are yours?