Trash talking is as much a part of boxing as the ring and fisticuffs. It’s what separates a great fighter trapped in relative obscurity and a superstar commanding million dollar paydays. It helped make Muhammad Ali an icon, turn Mike Tyson into a reality television star in waiting and brought Antonio Tarver to the big screen in Rocky Balboa.

The recent press conference scuffle between Fernando Vargas and Ricardo Mayorga was instigated by one of boxing’s biggest mouths in Mayorga. Before we can list the top 10 trash talkers in boxing history, we have to evaluate the qualities of a good trash talker.

The most important quality a great trash talker should have is humor. In boxing, boasting or insulting an opponent is done to entertain the audience or “sell” the fight. The media and potential consumers shouldn’t find the talk offensive or degrading. The purpose isn’t to tear down the opposing man personally, but to bring smirks and laughter at the opponent’s expense. If a trash talker doesn’t invoke any humor in his words, then his words will hit a lot harder but run the risk of alienating the audience.

The old saying goes, “If you’re going to talk the talk, you better walk the walk”. There’s no point in boasting or “predicting” what you’re going to do to your opponent if you lost your last 7 fights or if you wouldn’t be recognized in a grocery store line. Wins do matter and no one remembers a loser. To be considered a great trash talker, the fighters have to have the record to back it up.

The last factor is something that’s very difficult to measure. Sometimes two people can say the exact same thing, but one of them comes off in a negative way. Maybe it’s the way he says it, maybe it’s the look on his face when he brags, or the way he saunters around the ring. It could even be the way he, as so many boxers have before, comes to the ring rapping with his entourage. It just comes down to the fighter’s charisma, their aura and their presence. And now on to the top trash talkers of all time.

10. Ricardo Mayorga (28-6-1)

He’s been called “the craziest man in the sport,” and lives up to the hype every time he steps in the ring. He’s smoked cigarettes during post fight interviews, claimed to drink beers during training and often provokes opponents in the ring by dropping his hands and instructing them to hit him in the chain. Before his fight with Oscar De La Hoya, he was quoted as saying “I want to stop his heart or detach his retina, one of the two.” Coming from the wrong person, it doesn’t come off as just “trash talking” but from his personality and mannerisms, it helps sell the fight because he’s entertaining. The only thing keeping him from moving up the list is the language barrier. If he could speak English, he definitely would have come in higher.

Quotable: “I’ll knock him out and give him a job cleaning my yard in Nicaragua” (Before his second fight with Vernon Forrest)