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)

9.) Roy Jones Jr. (51-4)

Somehow Roy Jones Jr. has flown under the “trash talking” radar. He’s been considered mild-mannered because the once pound for pound king doesn’t show the same flamboyance as the current king, Floyd Mayweather Jr. At the height of his dominance, Roy has imitated game cocks in the ring and even went as far as to have a concert BEFORE a fight. And he knocked out an opponent in one particular fight, after his cornerman told him he was going to be late for his post-fight party at a nearby club. And lets not forget the song, “Ya’ll Must Have Forgot”

Quotable: “You remember the left hook James Tony got?

                  Sucker move I stole from a game cock.

                  Ya’ll must’ve forgot

                  Stopped Virgil Hill with a body shot”

8.) Prince Nassem Hamed (36-1)

His one loss, a career backbreaking loss to Marco Antonio Barrera, exposed all of his flaws in the ring. It showed he was all flash, that he lacked defensive skills and had a limited offense. But can that really make us forget about one of the most entertaining and charismatic fighters in recent memory? From his ring entrances, including being lowered into the ring by elevator, to his traditional flips in the ring, all the way down to cocky bravado he showed in interviews and even for just having the nickname Prince.

Quotable: “He came with all heart but I have the heart of a lion. I’m not getting beat. He knew when I hit him with that shot that it was pure power. I thank God for allowing me to fight with one hand. I’m now going off for an x-ray.”

7.) Floyd Mayweather Jr. (38-0)

He’s the best in the sport and let’s us know every time he is being interviewed. He garnered plenty of attention from the general public after HBO’s 24-7 chronicled his battle with Oscar De La Hoya. He’s called himself the greatest ever, insulted every fighter he’s faced but the real clincher was when commentator  Jim Lampley turned to his broadcast partner Roy Jones Jr. and asked who he had in the Superbowl. Floyd, still in the ring fighting shouted, “The Patriots.”

Quotable: “Gatti, he’s a paper champion and a C+ fighter at best”

6.) James “Lights Out” Toney (70-6)

Sometimes, when you hear someone say something that is obviously entertaining to them but you can’t quite understand what they said, you laugh anyway. That’s the best way to describe James Toney. Often, I find myself trying to figure out what he’s saying, and without the benefit of DVR to rewind, it’s almost impossible. But he ranks so high on the entertainment scale, and because he’ll talk trash to the ref, Max Kellerman and Michael Buffer, he’s made the list.

Quotable: ………..

5.) Antonio Tarver (24-4)

Charisma and opportunity can take you along way. Antonio Tarver spent much of his career in obscurity, in spite of his gift of gab, because he wasn’t an exciting fighter and hadn’t beaten anyone that closely resembled a talented figher. That is until Roy Jones Jr. decided to give Tarver a rematch of their 2003 fight. Tarver’s explosive knockout of Roy Jones Jr. sent shock waves through the boxing community and made Tarver front page news. Never one to let an opportunity slip from his hands, Tarver was found on every night time talk show he could get. His “networking” landed him a starring role opposite Sylvester Stallone in Rocky Balboa.

Quotable; “You got any excuses tonight, Roy?”

4.) Sugar Ray Leonard (36-3)

Sugar Ray has always personified the word cocky. He had to be cocky in order to take the moniker “Sugar Ray,” since arguably the greatest pound for pound fighter of all time is Sugar Ray Robinson. His personality landed him tons of commercials and endorsements and at one time, he was the most recognizable boxer in the sport. His “trash talking” hall of fame moment had to be when his taunts, and talk during his 1980 fight with Roberto Duran frustrated Duran so much that he turned to walk to his corner and give up in round 7.

Quotable: “I wanted to do in boxing what Bruce Lee was able to do in Karate. Lee was an artist and like him, I try to get beyond the fundamentals of my sport. I want my fights to be seen as plays.”

3.) Bernard Hopkins (47-4)

Duane Johnson’s on screen WWE character The Rock, used to refer to himself in the third person as a way to show just how cocky and arrogant his “character” was. Well, Bernard Hopkins isn’t playing an onscreen role; he actually refers to himself as “Bernard Hopkins” on a regular basis. And outside of an incident at press conference before his fight with “Tito” Trinidad, where he threw the Puerto Rican flag on the ground, his antics are nothing short of entertaining. “The Executioner” actually used to come to the ring dressed as one before dismantling his opponent. He’s jumped up the list to no. 3 because of the outstanding finish to a brilliant career. He has to be considered one of the best middleweights of all time, and definitely one of the best trash talkers.

Quotable: “Anyone will tell you that Bernard Hopkins is the most disciplined athlete out here, there is nothing that a trainer or coach can teach me. Freddie Roach brings wisdom. The best basketball team has the best coach, a young inexperienced trainer couldn’t do nothing with Bernard Hopkins, I would be teaching them..”

2.) Mike Tyson (50-6)

The only question here is how come he isn’t number one. Tyson has been walked the line between insanity and genius his entire career. On one hand, he’s generated millions of pay-per view buys for his fights based on his “ingenious” approach to promoting a fight through trash talking. On the other hand, its because everyone in the world believes him. He’s insulted reporters, attacked fighters and his quotes rate 10 out of 10 on the unintentional comedy scale. He comes in at number two because from time to time he enters the “James Toney” zone, where you might have heard what he said, but you have no idea what it meant or where his mind is. For instance, “My power is discombobulatingly devastating. I could feel muscle tissues collapse under my force. It’s ludicrous these mortals even attempt to enter my realm.”

Quotable: "Lennox Lewis, I'm coming for you man. My style is impetuous. My defense is impregnable, and I'm just ferocious. I want your heart. I want to eat his children. Praise be to Allah!"

1.)    Muhammad Ali (56-5)

“It’s not bragging if you back it up.” Muhammad Ali’s words are as true as anything he’s ever said. The self-proclaimed “Greatest of all time”, is the greatest trash talker the sport has ever seen. From declaring which round his opponent would fall, to his loud, boisterous personality, all the way to his long list of quotes still being said to this day.  He went to war with Joe Frazier three times, stood up against the Federal Government, defeated an invincible George Foreman, and never once did he stop talking. In one of more brutal moments in the ring, Ali decimated Ernie Terrell over the course of 15 rounds, screaming “What’s my name?” throughout the fight to Terrell, all because Terrell refused to call him by his adopted Muslim name, referring to him instead as Clay.

Quotable: “I’m the king of the world. I am the greatest, I’m Muhammad Ali. I shook up the world, I am the greatest, I’m king of the world, I’m pretty, I’m a bad man, you heard me, I’m a bad man. Archie Moore fell in four, Liston wanted me more, so since he’s so great, I’m a make him fall in 8. I’m a bad man, I’m king of the world! I’m 22 years old and ain’t got a mark on my face, I’m pretty,, I easily survived six rounds with that ugly bear, because I’m the greatest.”