Once was a time that boxing ranked among the most popular professional sports in the United States, arguably second only to baseball in the first half of the 20th century, its triumphs and tragedies, whether fact or fiction, finding expression in the culture ever since. There have been paintings (George Bellows’ Dempsey and Firpo comes immediately to mind) and plays (Golden Boy, The Great White Hope) and too many films to mention. Jazz trumpet masters Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis have each recorded soundtracks to documentaries devoted to the first Black heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson, and another great trumpeter, Terence Blanchard, composed the recent opera Champion about welterweight Emile Griffith and the aftermath of his fatal bout with Benny “Kid” Paret.

Many boxers have made records outside the ring as well—in recording studios—among them Muhammad Ali (when he still went by Cassius Clay), Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Frazier, Roy Jones Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. And then there was Ernie Terrell, whose sister Jean sang in his band, Ernie Terrell and the Heavyweights, before replacing Diana Ross as lead singer of the Supremes. Not to mention the Hall of Famers James Brown and Jackie Wilson, who tried their hand at boxing before turning, far more successfully, to singing (and dancing). So, given these interrelationships, it should come as no surprise that boxing, in turn, has inspired the following 15 songs, some factual, others fictional, about the so-called sweet science and its practitioners.

The Dixieaires—“Joe Louis Is A Fightin’ Man”—In 2001, Rounder Records released a compilation called Joe Louis: An American Hero, composed of 17 songs celebrating the Brown Bomber, heavyweight champion from 1937 to 1949. Among the artists included were Cab Calloway, Paul Robeson with Count Basie, Memphis Minnie, Sonny Boy Williamson I and the Dixieaires, principally a gospel group featuring lead singer Caleb Ginyard, who subsequently joined the doo-wop Du Droppers and, later still, the Golden Gate Quartet of gospel renown.

Garland Jeffreys—“King of Glove”—In which Garland Jeffreys rap-sings the praises of Joe Louis, released in 2023 on Under the Bed, a collection of previously unreleased material, well after but perhaps inspired by the aforementioned Rounder compilation.

Simon and Garfunkel—“The Boxer”—A top 10 hit in 1970 from Bridge Over Troubled Water, the duo’s final studio album, it can be taken literally as Paul Simon’s ode to the evolution of a journeyman fighter or metaphorically as representative of the struggles of the common man or even autobiographically, as its writer has sometimes suggested. Later, a country hit for Emmylou Harris.

Bruce Springsteen—“The Hitter”—From The Boss’ 2005 album Devils & Dust. If “The Boxer” is taken literally then “The Hitter” might be the next chapter in that journeyman fighter’s story.

Morrissey—“Boxers”—A hit single in the U.K. in early 1995 and added to the former Smith’s The World of Morrissey collection shortly thereafter, in which a journeyman’s career reaches its almost inevitable denouement: “losing in front of your home crowd.”

Pete Seeger—“Who Killed Davey Moore?”—Davey Moore was the featherweight champion from 1959 to 1963 and died four days after losing his belt to Sugar Ramos. Written by Bob Dylan in 1963, whose recording of the song went unreleased until 1991’s The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991. Up until that time it was best known in this version from Pete Seeger’s We Shall Overcome: Recorded Live at His Historic Carnegie Hall Concert 1963.

Johnny Wakelin and the Kinshasa Band—“Black Superman-Muhammad Ali”—A 1975 hit single recorded after the “Rumble in the Jungle,” Ali’s victory over George Foreman in Zaire the previous year, based on Wakelin’s earlier record “Hungarian Superman (Joe Bugner),” a tribute to the British-Australian boxer of that name, an Hungarian refugee.

Related: Did you know Muhammad Ali played the piano?

Mark Knopfler—“Song for Sonny Liston”—A ballad recounting the troubled life of the fighter beaten by Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) in what was at the time, in 1963, the greatest upset of all time, written and recorded by the erstwhile Dire Straits frontman for his fourth solo album, 2004’s Shangri-La.

Ben Folds Five—“Boxing”—An imagined conversation between a past-his-prime Muhammad Ali and the ABC sportscaster Howard Cosell, from Ben Folds Five, the band’s 1995 debut album, and subsequently covered by Bette Midler.

Bob Dylan—“Hurricane”—Dylan—who has been known to spar a few rounds himself—again, this time with co-writer Jacques Levy on the saga of middleweight Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, charged with murder in 1966, convicted the following year and sentenced to life in prison. The song “Hurricane,” from the 1975 album Desire, brought renewed attention to Carter’s case and his sentence was finally overturned in 1985.

DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince—“I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson”—When this comic rap hit from the album And In This Corner… was released in 1989, Mike Tyson was in the midst of his seemingly invincible reign as undefeated heavyweight champion from 1987 to 1990, the youngest to ever wear the crown, and the Fresh Prince had yet to hit Hollywood, re-branded as TV and movie star Will Smith, who starred as Muhammad Ali in the 2001 biopic Ali and “fought” host Chris Rock to a draw at the 2022 Oscars.

The Killers—“Tyson vs. Douglas”—Rocky Marciano was the only heavyweight to retire a champion. The heretofore undefeated Mike Tyson inexplicably met his match in 1990, losing to the unheralded (and overweight) underdog Buster Douglas in what is now the biggest upset in boxing history. From the band’s 2017 release Wonderful Wonderful, this song reflects the perspective of lead Killer Brandon Flowers watching the fight on pay-per-view TV as an eight-year-old.

Warren Zevon—“Boom Boom Mancini”—This song, from Zevon’s 1987 album Sentimental Hygiene, chronicles Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini’s up-and-down quest for the lightweight crown, citing his matches with Bobby Chacon (a win), Arturo Frias (another win and the championship), Alexis Arguello (a loss) and culminates with a win versus Duk Loo Kim, who succumbed to the injuries suffered in the fight immediately following its conclusion.

Nils Lofgren—“No Mercy”—From Nils, his 1979 Bob Ezrin-produced album, a description of the intensity and brutality of prize fighting. Its line “I fight back tears while I destroy his life” calls to mind the deaths of Davey Moore, Benny “Kid” Paret, Duke Koo Kim and so many others like them whose lives ended in the ring.

Sting—“The Night the Pugilist Learned How to Dance”—There’s a happier ending for a journeyman fighter in this number from Sting’s 2013 Broadway musical The Last Ship. He applies his boxing skills to learn to dance and win the woman he would one day marry. As told to their child.