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[Epsilon-delta]

No one knows MJ outside NA. Go to Asia, and barely anyone knows him. Has to be a soccer player. Most likely Pele. Right now, it is Messi or CR7.

What a crock of bs. I haven't met a Filipino in the Philippines who didn't know who Michael Jordan is. You don't speak for all Asians.

Stick to engineering.

 

[seanoff]

Seriously

Yao Ming - Chinese

Sachin Tendulkar. - Indian cricket god.

The first two by sheet weight of numbers.

Pele

Messi

Maradona

Jordan

 

[Chezzymann]

Spain is a tiny part of this world. Don't forget about Asia or other EU nations where barely anyone plays or even knows about Basketball.

Soccer is a world sport.

Basketball is pretty popular in China. Hell there's chineese ads plastered all over the Houston Rockets stadium.

 

[theignoramus]

No one knows MJ outside NA. Go to Asia, and barely anyone knows him. Has to be a soccer player. Most likely Pele. Right now, it is Messi or CR7.

And another one. The Chinese are fucking mad for MJ and Kobe. Same for the Phillipines and to a lesser extent, Japan.

 

[ATF487]

Is that Dora the Explorer's friend?

Is Dora the Explorer's friend a crazy former coke addict?

Then maybe!

 

[Blackstarhat]

floyd mayweather

 

[Zoned]

People don't have to follow basketball to know who Jordan is.

Still popularity of a sport helps a lot. You might know about Sachin tendulkar, who is considered as the god of Cricket, if it was actually popular in US.

 

[Barzul]

Between Michael Jordan and Beckham. If we're just talking pure popularity.

 

[chicagocubsfan]

Michael Jordan.

 

[Bishop89]

Surprised with the lack of tennis stars, Federer? Kournikova probably is more well known than Jordan lol

Spoiler

probably not

 

[Zoned]

What a crock of bs. I haven't met a Filipino in the Philippines who didn't know who Michael Jordan is. You don't speak for all Asians.

Stick to engineering.

The fuck you talking about. Don't get your panties wet all of a sudden. I'm American.

 

[Rawr Its Ry]

Muhammad Ali or Michael Jordan

 

[Loofy]

No one knows MJ outside NA. Go to Asia, and barely anyone knows him. Has to be a soccer player. Most likely Pele. Right now, it is Messi or CR7.

Are you from Asia?

EDIT: You arent lol

 

[Diprosalic]

Jordan was huge in Europe in the 90s, everybody knows MJ.
nobody knows Duncan, LBJ or Durant but MJ is up there with soccer players.

 

[Currygan]

hard to say, years ago it would most certainly have been Pele, today I say Usain Bolt

 

[theignoramus]

Michael Schumacher is a good one. Even stars n stripes, "I want my cars and racing 'Murican" NASCAR fans know of Schumi.

 

[Zoned]

Are you from Asia?

No, but I have visited many Asian countries.

 

[Epsilon-delta]

The fuck you talking about. Don't get your panties wet all of a sudden. I'm American.

You could've fooled me and everyone else on this board.

 

[Mothman91]

Michael Jordan.

 

[Antiwhippy]

Considering sheer population it has to be sachin tendulkar.

 

[terrisus]

Perspective works both ways. This board is made up of a lot of Americans at this time of the day on a weekend. It's only natural you'll see more people giving US-centric answers. Saying 'Americans shouldn't think in terms of America' is ironically simple. Speaking emphatically, it's hard to not think in terms of the US when such an overwhelming culture is thrust upon us from the immovable object that is our mass media conglomerate. That's not to say we shouldn't try to be more wordly, of course.

Even if you're from the US, and naturally think more of the US, so the first names that come to mind for you would be US-based names...
It's a pretty closed world view to not stop and think "Well, what about the rest of the world that isn't the US? Does anyone care about this person outside of here?"

Saying something like Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali is at least somewhat reasonable.
But saying someone like (no offense meant to people who said these) Hulk Hogan, Mike Tyson, Wayne Gretzky, and names like those...

 

[Big-E]

Would have to be someone that China and India know for a pure numbers standpoint and with that I would say Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan is known in China.

 

[theignoramus]

The fuck you talking about. Don't get your panties wet all of a sudden. I'm American.

I mean your post was wildly inaccurate, thats all. Asians know their NBA. China has leagues where NBA rejects and flunkies go to get considerable pay and attention.

 

[Moze]

Good try OP, you got the sport right but the player wrong. It's Pele, bro.

Pele is a myth.

Mick Hucknall

New Simply Red tour this year. They will perform all their hits. I can't wait.

 

[Raab]

I can't predict the future, so I'm not sure of all time. As of now my guess for professional athletes would be Messi or MJ.

 

[Lebron]

No one knows MJ outside NA. Go to Asia, and barely anyone knows him. Has to be a soccer player. Most likely Pele. Right now, it is Messi or CR7.

Which makes it amazing that he can still do this. Oh and you're full of shit, btw.

In fact, according to Forbes’ Kurt Badenhausen, he earned more last year than any current or retired athlete besides Floyd Mayweather.

If you factor in sales of Jordan apparel, the international Jordan business and sales at Nike stores, the Jordan brand is contributing roughly $2 billion of revenue to Nike, which posted sales of $26 billion over the last 12 months. Jordan, the man, gets a cut of every shoe, hoodie or pair of shorts sold by Nike under the Jordan Brand. We estimate MJ’s take from Nike was at least $75 million last year.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1977981-michael-jordan-2013-how-mj-made-90-million-last-year

 

[BearFlexington]

Jordan
Ali
Tyson
Pele

 

[CarpeDeezNutz]

I want to say Michael Jordan but the rest of the world follows Soccer more than American Sports right? I don't know much about Soccer players though.

 

[Kusagari]

People in this topic seriously trying to argue nobody knows Jordan in Asia.

Jordan was seen as GOD in Asia back when he played.

 

[Anustart]

According to my scientific use of US google and the few names I entered, Jordan has 316 million results, tyson coming up next, ali, and this Diego dude mentioned in op had 18 million results.

 

[Antiwhippy]

People in this topic seriously trying to argue nobody knows Jordan in Asia.

Jordan was seen as GOD in Asia back when he played.

If you want to compare by sheer weight of followers though soccer and cricket are the number 1 and 2 respectively most popular sports in the world.

Nobody in soccer don't know who pele is and nobody in cricket don't know who sachin tendulkar is.

 

[Moze]

Jordan was seen as GOD in Asia back when he played.

Nonsense.

 

[xbhaskarx]

No one knows MJ outside NA. Go to Asia, and barely anyone knows him. Has to be a soccer player. Most likely Pele. Right now, it is Messi or CR7.

What a crock of bs. I haven't met a Filipino in the Philippines who didn't know who Michael Jordan is. You don't speak for all Asians.

LOL, you just happened to pick ONE OF THREE countries in the world where basketball is the most popular sport: Philippines, Lithuania, and (maybe) Latvia. Combined population, about 105 million.
There are states in India and provinces in China with more people than that! Yet I don't see many people throwing around the names Sachin Tendulkar and Zhang Jike (yes I googled the 2012 table tennis gold medal winner) in here...

 

[cruets]

My wife is Taiwanese. She only knows Mike Tyson . She's never heard of pele or Michael jordan

 

[vas_a_morir]

I can see why everybody picks Jordan, as most of us are around 30 or younger.

However, Basketball was not the most popular sport in the world when Jordan was big. Boxing was THE most popular sport in the world when Ali was big. Ali transcended sports in ways that no other person comes close to besides Jordan.

Jordan's brand has had more of a long-lasting impact than Ali, though. So now that I think about it, it's a tough call. I think at their respective peaks, Ali was bigger than Jordan. But I think Jordan's had longer-lasting relevancy as a multi-media brand.

So, I dunno. Tough call.

 

[Anustart]

Cant tell if USA's favorite is football or kickboxing.

 

[Epsilon-delta]

LOL, you just happened to pick ONE OF THREE countries in the world where basketball is the most popular sport: Philippines, Lithuania, and (maybe) Latvia. Combined population, about 105 million.
There are states in India and provinces in China with more people than that! Yet I don't see many people throwing around the names Sachin Tendulkar and Zhang Jike (yes I googled the 2012 table tennis gold medal winner) in here...

I know because I'm Filipino. We love to play b-ball.

 

[Macattk15]

Usain Bolt. Everyone watches the Olympics right?!

Probably some soccer player though. David Beckham wasn't that amazing ... but I bet he is pretty well known.

Me being an American ... I'd have to say Michael Jordan.

 

[terrisus]

According to my scientific use of US google and the few names I entered, Jordan has 316 million results, tyson coming up next, ali, and this Diego dude mentioned in op had 18 million results.

Now do a search for internet proliferation and usage as a percentage of population distribution.

Cant tell if USA's favorite is football or kickboxing.

 

[Anustart]

Now do a search for internet proliferation and usage as a percentage of population distribution.

You do it an report back. I did my research already.

^ Kickboxing + Football would be a sport I'd finally watch!

 

[Night Hunter]

LOL, you just happened to pick ONE OF THREE countries in the world where basketball is the most popular sport: Philippines, Lithuania, and (maybe) Latvia. Combined population, about 105 million.
There are states in India and provinces in China with more people than that! Yet I don't see many people throwing around the names Sachin Tendulkar and Zhang Jike (yes I googled the 2012 table tennis gold medal winner) in here...

As an Austrian I feel obligated to say that Hermann Maier is the most famous sports person in the world.

 

[terrisus]

You do it an report back. I did my research already.

Well, here's the internet usage part:

And here's population density:

 

[badboy78660]

 

[pokeystaples]

Ali, Jordan, Tyson, Messi, Pele

 

[xbhaskarx]

Now do a search for internet proliferation and usage as a percentage of population distribution.

Exactly. And yet despite soccer (and cricket, and table tennis, and...) being popular in many poor countries with limited internet access, here is fairly recent data from Forbes on the social media presence of the top 100 highest paid athletes:

Forbes: Cristiano Ronaldo Leads The Biggest Athletes On Social Media
6/11/2014

"Soccer is the world’s sport and the 12 soccer players with a social media presence reflect that. Those 12 collectively have 337 million fans compared to 312 million for athletes in the top 100 across all other sports. Soccer players have the three largest followings on social media and five of the top six."

Edit: more...


Business Insider
Cristiano Ronaldo Is The Most Popular Athlete In The World And It Isn't Even Close
Dec. 9, 2014

Using the not-very-scientific method of counting Facebook "likes," Cristiano Ronaldo is the most popular athlete in the world, easily outpacing his La Liga rival, Lionel Messi.

The chart below also gives us a glimpse at just how far soccer is ahead of other sports in terms of popularity as the six most popular athletes are all soccer players and combined (342.8 million) they have 100 million more likes than the next 12 athletes combined (238.7 million).

Interestingly, the most popular American athlete is Michael Jordan, who hasn't played in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

 

[The Incarnation]

Muhammad Ali

Mike Tyson

John McEnroe

Ayrton Senna



And that's about it.

Michael Jordon? Can't think of a word this man has ever said.

Famous means quotable to me.

 

[Jigorath]

The guy from Space Jam

Bugs Bunny?

 

[KiwiLannister]

From New Zealand I would say:

Michael Jordan and Kobe Basketball is huge in Asia as well as the US, and they're well known throughout most of the developed world. MJ has the shoes and the brand, but Kobe is more contemporary.

Yao Ming. Basically have basketball fans from the US and rest of the world + all of China.

Sachin Tendulkar. Everyone in India and anyone that has a passing interest in Cricket. That includes people from Aus, NZ, England, SA, WI, Sri Lanka, Pakistan.

Football wise I'd have though Christiano Ronaldo or Messi just because they're modern players. As someone who doesn't follow football I have hardly heard of Pele or Maradona. I can't imagine that many young kids in less educated parts of the world have either. I understand they're huge.

Suggestions that made me laugh so far: Gretzky, any old US sports people (Jackie Robinson for example, nobody knows who that is, I think that's one of the first black baseball players?).

 

[Moze]

Isn't Michael Jordan a ridiculously unpleasant person in real life? I have never heard anybody say anything nice about Jordan as a human being.

 

[terrisus]

Famous means quotable to me.

So where's Rickey Henderson?