- Published in The Athletes
James "The Grim Reaper" Roper
He showed up out of shape, unmotivated and disinterested, but James “The Grim Reaper” Roper was the Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the world, and in 1996, no white man was going to take that away. That may touch on racial nerves, but let’s face it, that was the only logical assumption in 1996! Incidentally (spoiler alert) this turned out to be the right assumption.