The Top In-Your-Face Fighters In History

None of these guys are your man on the street type

The world is filled with fighters that are cocky, swaggering, and in-your-face. Some love this sort of thing. Some can't stand it. One thing is certain - these types of individuals are DIFFERENT. For they not only shoot off their mouths when the rest of us remain silent - they back those big words up. With no further adieu then, let's take a look at the upper echelon of the In Your Face Crowd, from the 1800s to the present.

1. John L Sullivan: The original. This strutting Irish American ruled the post Civil War fight scene like no other. Boastful and hard drinking, he was also as brave as they came and - yeah - appears to have been one hell of a fighter, whether it was with gloves or with bare knuckles. A true one of a kind.
2.  Jack Johnson: The first African American heavyweight champion of the world was also a first class mouth. Hated for his skin color, Johnson doesn't seem to have been interested in winning over the ignorant. Indeed, he was all about taunting and flashing an expensive lifestyle. Controversy sells, and Johnson - the first old time fighter who might well hold his own today - was living proof of that fact. 
3. Muhammad Ali: Interesting in that he was a combination of the social, the political and the athletic. In short, the man transcended not only boxing, but all of sports. And he did it all while shooting off his mouth in a way that could be as much wink-and-a-smile as in your face. In sense, he perfected the craft.  
4. Floyd Mayweather: You didn't think this list would skip Floyd, did you? In a sense, the guy was a strange combination of Sullivan and Johnson in that he boasted of his skills while openly indulging in his financial success. Unlike Sullivan and Johnson, however, no one was able to beat Floyd throughout his career. And if he remains retired, Floyd will have backed up the talk all the way through to the end. 
5. Tyson Fury: Behold, the class of 2016. Outspoken, and obnoxious, this walking master class of bullying as psychological warfare stunned the dominant Wladimir Klitschko late in 2015...and has yet to be shut up by anyone.