He also holds victories over Jimmy McLarnin and Kid Chocolate. In the history of the sport, aside Joe Louis (born – May 13, 1914; died – April 112, 1981), never has there been any heavyweight boxer to make 25 successful defenses. Lets end on a reel note Aryon Pryor were is he rankm on your list. Frazier did well as a heavyweight, trust me. But who, really, is the greatest? Buster Mathis, Manuel Ramos, Jerry Quarry and Jimmy Ellis all followed before 1970 was out and then Frazier painted his first legitimate masterpiece by breaking a helpless Bob Foster into two clean pieces in two scintillating rounds. Sugar ray is one of the greatest boxers of all time. But I’m encouraged that they’re not in the bottom 10. 1. As we move through the tiers you will see he is usurped by men who have MORE wins against BETTER opposition, had longer more dominant reigns, and achieved more across the board in a p4p sense: to whit, locks. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). Robinson became the first boxer to win a divisional world championship five times and was named “fighter of the year” in 1942 and 1951. Louis earned the nickname “Brown Bomber” due to his punching power. tuffest fkr during my time….George Chuvalo #96 Philadelphia Jack O’Brien (93-8-14; 53-8 Newspaper Decisions). James Toney was and remains one of the more compelling characters in boxing, a comic-book anti-hero with just enough moments of real danger tossed in to what has been a tumultuous career to prevent his becoming a caricature of himself. (Photo by George Grantham Bain Collection – Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons). The comment accompanying the video of the Chang’s fight above refers to Lopez as having “the look of a man who would like to be elsewhere”...I wonder if that was before the bell rang to start the contest or after the ferocious onslaught commenced in the second round. Beating him should have been impossible. He swapped punches with fighters weighing between 160 and 260 lbs. There is a fine example at #100. Ali was a heavyweight that had not only power but amazing speed and he could figure out a person’s distance for throwing a punches. He was also the only fighter to ever defeat future heavyweight champion Gene Tunney. 100 Greatest Fighters of All Time Part Ten: 10-1. When Zapata handled him or steered him now, he found a step and punched, slipping from orthodox to southpaw and back again, always ready to hit. (Photo by Bain News Service/Wikimedia Commons), Despite finally getting his chance to compete for (and win) a title, Johnson was driven in exile for much of his reign as champion. At one point in his career, Leonard fought 154 consecutive bouts without losing. I like Matt’s essays. The circumstances surrounding the payment of step-aside money that Lewis accepted from Don King to postpone a fight with Mike Tyson doesn’t matter. Tommy “Hitman” Hearns is one of the most decorated boxers in the history of the sport. His near domination of the best bantamweight division until at least the 1960s, and perhaps beyond, is reason enough. Mexican boxer Ruben Olivares is widely considered as the greatest bantamweight champion of all-time. Outside of boxing, Foreman is known for his entrepreneurial career. He was denied many World Championship fights, due to the color bar and because Jack Johnson refused to fight him. Instead “The Korean Hawk” opened up the face of future light-flyweight strapholder and countryman, Jong-Kwan Chung, stopping him in six, and then knocked down and outpointed former linear world champion, Amado Ursua. These two results aside, O’Brien offers up plenty. Muhammad Ali: Heavyweight; ring career 1960-81; record 56-5 (37 KOs) 3. Still…Matt….I could never have put together a better article….It was well written…and lots and lots of evidence ..facts . Zapata quit. O’Brien’s record, then, is to be respected. Many of those matches were against his arch-rival, Ted “Kid” Lewis, who he fought 20 times. Please keep it clean and civil! He destroyed the opposition (Michael Grant KO2, Hasim Rahamn KO4, Donovan Ruddock KO2), he patiently outboxed the opposition (Evander Holyfield twice, Zeljco Mavrovic, Tony Tucker, all UD12). And I grant that it is an impossible task, but a noble risk putting your neck out on the line. Ten of those defeats came as he wound down his career over shorter distances in the US having lost his British title to Jimmy Walsh in 1936 (a bizarre trip to the Caribbean to win the Bermuda Welterweight title aside). 50: Andy Ruiz 49: Ray Mercer 48: Frank Bruno 47: Jack Sharkey 46: Paddy Ryan 45: David Tua 44: Ron Lyle 43: Gerry Cooney 42: Michael Spinks 41: Roy Jones Jr 40: Jerry Quarry 39: George Chuvalo 38: Henry Cooper 37: Harry Wills 36: Tommy Morrison 35: Ingemar Johansson 34: Jess Willard 33: Anthony Joshua 32: Deontay Wilder 31: Tyson Fury On this type of form it is easy to believe the legend that has Locche winning every single round of his first contest with the wonderful Cervantes. Percy Bassett, 64-12-1 Watch carefully as Ali, still in possession of some of the fastest feet in the division’s history, bounces from rope to rope and the attack dog Frazier moves with him, never more than a half step behind and usually in perfect tandem. on the picture of this Post…......Joe Frazier vs Muhammid Ali…..for the HW TITLE OF THE WORLD…. I still say Hagler beat leonard.. Zivic beat him out of sight, LaMotta getting as few as two of the fifteen rounds on some cards. Saddler won the featherweight world championship twice. Jack Johnson was the first African American heavyweight champion and opened the way for other African American boxers. There is no boxing season in the sense that there is a football season or a baseball season. Tunney’s successful title defense against Jack Dempsey is one of the most famous fights in the history of boxing, and it has come to be known as “The Long Count Fight.”. It takes guts to make a list of all time greats for anything. 4) Did I benchmark? Among those who he trained: Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, and James Tillis. British born ...Canadian raised and where he learned to box. Impressively, the boxer held those three titles when there were only eight recognized divisions at the time. There are many different ways to define who is the greatest boxer. For example, if Joe Frazier is too far away from Rocky Marciano, something is probably amiss. A three-time world welterweight boxing champion, Jack Britton is not just one of the best boxers of his era, but one of the best of all-time. Hearns was named Fighter of the Year by multiple publications in 1980 and 1984. He was seemingly unstoppable, defeating legends such as Jake LaMotta, Carmen Basilio, Gene Fullmer, Randy Turpin, Carl “Bobo” Olson, Henry Armstrong, Rocky Graziano, and Kid Gavilan. Have I ever seen Percy Bassett fight? Zivic would fight anyone. Foreman was vulnerable to thinking boxers—and he had stamina issues. Britton then regained the title, before losing it back to Lewis, who eventually lost it to Britton once more. Also, where Frazier is concerned, he went 1-4 versus fellow ATG’s and men who appear on this list. With only one loss in his professional career, Gene Tunney was one of the most efficient fighters of all-time. One of the most iconic boxers of all-time, George Foreman is best known for his upset of Joe Frazier to win his first title in 1973. It is a long way to #1. Over a 20-year career, Leonard won world titles in five weight divisions, the lineal championship in three weight divisions, and the undisputed welterweight title. Add Comment. It’s just too many people have tried to kill. After a seven-year retirement, Leonard returned to boxing and won 18 of 19 fights. O’Brien boxed beautifully on the back foot, but even against Johnson he was happy to mix it on occasion, his cleverness sparing him the worst of Johnson’s abuse. On offense, his left hand was his weapon of choice and his left-hook was extraordinary, part feint every time he threw it because the arch of the punch was impossible to pick until the very last instant before it would land on head or body. Chang had crested. The title all but had his name on by now, and after dropping a six-round newspaper decision to one Lew Tendler, he hit his stride, finally bowling the champion over twice on his way to a twenty-round decision in January of 1917. He won the gold honor at the 1960 Rome Olympics in the Light Heavyweight class. The three-time world champion is one of only a select few of boxers to hold titles in three or more weight divisions at the same time. Up and up the rankings he slithered, self-deprecating at every step, the menacing “black forest” of Norman Mailer psychobabble no longer, but Big George, funny, approachable, beloved. Who are the ten greatest? This, is how I have it: #50 – Michael Moorer (52-4-1) Michael Moorer rustled up just 22-0 at light-heayweight and he squeezed the usual quota of sharpening stones into his formative years. Similar things could be said of Eddie Booker, who narrowly missed out on this list and who was unbeaten in forty-one fights coming into his 1939 eight rounder with Zivic. The best spot on our once-over of 10 Greatest Male Boxers Of All Time goes to someone who isn’t simply seen as the best contender, anyway perhaps the best sportsperson ever – American warrior Muhammad Ali. Edwin Valero – 27-0-0 The world-class boxer went on to become a referee after he retired. 3) Did I know enough about each boxer to make a qualitative judgment? Greb became a light heavyweight champion and world middleweight champion, and he won 100 of his 104 bouts by knockout. He also held the undisputed and lineal lightweight titles, as well as the lineal welterweight title. When he lost his title to the superb Joe Lynch in 1921, he dusted himself off, sailed for the United Kingdom and knocked out the great flyweight Jimmy Wilde in seventeen fantastic rounds (Wilde: “he was the better boxer”). Many consider Langford to be the best Canadian boxer of all-time, but the question of “what if” will always surround his impressive career. That is what boxing is, precisely. (Photo by Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons), Wilde holds the longest unbeaten streak in the history of boxing, having won 104 consecutive matches. In January 1925, Walker became the lightest man to ever challenge for the light heavyweight title. These Are The Twenty Five Best Hitters In MLB History. He often faced stiff competition, beating fighters like Jack Britton and Tiger Flowers. I think part 2 has more potential to “spark debate” than part 1. I ‘m not sure who wrote it first….think it was a scribe outta Chicago…... When these two schools of thought clash it’s rarely pretty. Fritzie Zivic is another fighter to haul in more than 150 wins, but unlike Jack Berg, Zivic suffered a whopping 65 defeats. 100. But hopefully we can have fun whilst we disagree. He first ran into Chocolate, or rather Chocolate ran into him, in August of 1930, his fifty-six fight unbeaten streak on the line. The only equivalent to that is describing how good someone one is in bed based on someone else’s description. Foreman defended his title twice before his first professional loss, which came to Muhammad Ali at “The Rumble in the Jungle” in 1974. 100 Greatest Fighters of All Time Part One: 100-91 Foreman is ranked in line with his resume which is inferior to Frazier’s, and the other fighters you mention. Ali had a dance, a rhythm in fighting that only one other fighter had and that was Bruce Lee! Although he had to deal with racism, he became one of the greatest boxers of his time. The Vitali Klitschko victory is very simple to appraise: a 256 lb. Don, I don’t know how short or respectful my own howl will be if the K. brothers show up anywhere on the list. There is certainly a well sourced story that Zivic had a piece of Burley. After leaving the sport for 10 years, Foreman came back and regained a portion of the heavyweight championship at age 45. Never realized that Fritzie kept his left so low. Let’s say you rank Frazier at #8 on your ATG HW list. Interesting point about Fritzie Zivic not ducking any one, including black fighters. Lewis won the British featherweight title when he was just 18 years old, and he added the European crown four months later. Was Bobby Chacon a valid choice? Other fighters might have shoe-shined their way to the title shot behind this impressive display. what have you done here? Ross took an insane beating, but he refused to allow the fight to be stopped. One of the quickest and smartest fighters ever, the boxer is considered either the best or second-best lightweight of all-time by virtually every publication. One of the most legendary Mexican fighters of all-time, Julio Cesar Chavez began his career by winning his first 87 professional fights. The world heavyweight champion from 1937 to 1949, Joe Louis is one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all-time. Arguably the greatest promoter and defensive boxer in history, Floyd Mayweather Jr. is one of the more fascinating fighters the sport has seen. Old time historians Charley Rose and Nat Fleischer ranked him at #3 and #2 all time in his division respectively, and whilst the names of his victims, men like Zulu Kid, Johnny Solzberg and Frankie Mason may have faded with the passage of time, Herman’s has not: that is what it means to be great. However, Monzon’s life outside of boxing spun out of control. It was an impressive result and the Johnson draw was perhaps even more so.