Pro athletes and entertainment have always gone together, hand in hand, since times immemorial, and since fighting is one of the oldest practices known to man, it became a sport in itself: one with many disciplines, from wrestling, martial arts and boxing.
Although the sport carries with it a number of risks and hazards, many brave men and women get to stand atop the rest of humanity as shining examples of the limitless potential that humanity possesses.
Athletes embody that very potential when they take their bodies to the limit and pull off feats of strength and dexterity that would be impossible for anyone who doesn’t have the level of dedication that a pro needs to put in order to be number one. This of course, gains them a lot of prestige and all the benefits that it entails: the admiration of millions of fans worldwide, a name sure to go down in the history books long after they’re gone, the corporate sponsorships, the international trips, gifts, and a table secured at even the most exclusive restaurants, and guaranteed life security assuming they make a smart use of all that money.
Another big perk is doing something few can brag about: making TV appearances, doing the talk show circuit, and in some cases taking a role on the big screen, like Mike Tyson did both, in The Hangover series, and other movies like Rocky Balboa and then on HBO’s Entourage and, strangely enough, in an episode of american family sitcom Webster, called “The K.O kid” back in 1987.
Nowadays, a younger generation of boxers is also conquering television and film, and especially Reality Shows, which are a relatively new phenomena in the world of TV, where they only came into being way back in the late 1990’s, the concept is simple: put people in front of the camera, film what happens and watch the profits soar as you have nations captive with anticipation. These shows are a great way to get publicity, and these are 5 of the boxers that using the medium most successfully:
With a record of 24-6-2 (That’s wins, losses and draws), Mexican born Alfonso Salvador Gómez Becerra, has lived since a young age in California’s Napa Valley, where he graduated from Napa High School in 1998.
Gómez started his pro boxing career in 2001 and later went to compete on the first season of The Contender, where he finished third out of sixteen fighters.
Nicknamed, La Araña, that’s Spanish for The Spider; Panama born Vásquez is a force to be reckoned with. His record is 24-1 (that’s 24 wins and one loss, 17 of those wins by knock-out) and the flyweight boxer has conquered several titles over his career, with highlights including winning both the World Boxing Organization (WBO) and World Boxing Council (WBC) latino flyweight titles by winning against Nicaraguan pugilist Marlon Márquez on February 15, 2003 by KO on the third round.
Vasquez had a stint on Mexican boxing reality show Reto de Campeones WBC (WBC Challenge of Champions) which was a bracket style eliminationntournament show where the fighters competed for a grand prize of US $100.000, or around £64.500.
“Vicious” Victor Ortiz is already a household name worldwide, with a record of 30-5-2, the American boxer of Mexican descent fights in the welterweight and light welterweight categories, he’s also held the championship titles for the United States Boxing Association and the North American Boxing Organization in these weight categories.
Ortiz succeeded in spite in spite of his troubled youth, and was discovered by former heavy weight great Ron Lyle, a contemporary and one time rival of the legendary Mohammed Ali. Ortiz showed that just like Ali, he could dance like a butterfly in the reality show Dancing with the Stars‘ sixteenth season, where he managed to make it all the way into the sixth week of the show with partner Lindsay Arnold.
Laila Ali is as close to royalty as you can get in the boxing world: she’s the daughter of one of the greatest and most admired names in the sport of boxing, the legendary Mohammed Ali. Laila won her first fight in 1999, against April Fowler, in the Turning Stone Casino and Resort in Verona, New York and maintained an impeccable 24-0 record, with 21 victories by knockout in the middleweight category.
She’s also a veteran of TV, where she’s made appearances on several shows: The George Lopez Show, Real Husbands of Hollywood, American Gladiators, The Early Show and just like Tito Ortiz, Dancing With the Stars, where she and her partner came third during it’s fourth season.
Nicknamed A-Force, british born Harrison started boxing out of the Repton Amateur Boxing Club in London. He won the British supeheavyweight championship in 1997, and defended it the following year against Dean Redmond. Harrison, who was sponsored by Fulltilt Poker has won gold medals in both the 1998 Commonwealth games in Mauritius and at the Sidney Olympics in 2000 and holds a record of 31-7.
He’s also the first British boxer to sign an exclusive contract with the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), where 17 of his fights were televised before the BBC decided to remove boxing from it’s television lineup.
Harrison also has a history of television appearances, particularly on reality shows, like his participation in the 2011 season of Strictly Come Dancing, where he advanced all the way to the seventh round of the contest before being voted out by the viewers, and then again last year, where managed to the first runner in Celebrity Big Brother, where he was voted as “most dominant alpha male” of the cast.
