ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Ten Ten Greatest Heavyweights In Boxing History

Updated on January 12, 2015

The problem with doing a top ten heavyweights of all time list is that arguably twenty or more boxers have done enough over the last hundred years to warrant a place in the top ten, but you can't include them all. The other big problem is that people will inevitably make comments like "Larry Holmes was defeated by Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, so why is he ranked higher than both of them?" The answer is that you can't judge fighters by what they do in the ring after their own era has passed them by. Holmes beat Muhammed Ali, but few people would suggest that means Holmes should be ranked above Ali.

Some of the names missing that I would have included below if it was a top twenty list instead are: Lennox Lewis, Ken Nortan, Riddick Bowe, Sonny Liston, Ezzard Charles, Floyed Patterson, Michael Spinks and Vitali Klitschko.

Source

1) Joe Louis

Ring Name: "The Brown Bomber"

Best Moment: Avenging his defeat to Germany's Max Schmeling in their 1938 rematch at Yankee Stadium before a crowd of 70,043 fans.

The first black superstar to be accepted by both black and white Americans, the "Brown Bomber" has the record for both the longest world heavyweight title reign (11 years, 8 months, 8 days) and the most successful title defences (25).

2) Muhammed Ali

Ring Name: "The Greatest"

Best Moment: Winning the World Heavyweight title back after knocking out George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire, on October 30, 1974.

Muhammad Ali dominated not one but two decades of boxing, the Sixties and Seventies. He still remains the only heavyweight in history to win the lineal world title three times.

3) Joe Frazier

Ring Name: "Smokin' Joe"

Best Moment: Finally winning the Lineal title by becoming the first man in history to beat Muhammad Ali after their first clash at Madison Square Garden in 1971.

Not only did Frazier beat Ali in the first of their three clashes but had the Philadelphia fighter's corner not stopped the fight, it is conceivable that Frazier would have finished off an exhausted Ali in their third and final bout known to fight fans as the "Rumble in the Jungle."

4) Jack Johnson

Ring Name: "Galveston Giant"

Best Moment: Defeating previous champion James J. Jeffries on July 4, 1910 at Reno, Nevada.

In 1908 Johnson made history by becoming the first black boxer to win the world heavyweight title by winning against Canadian Tommy Burns in Sydney Australia.

5) Rocky Marciano

Ring Name: "The Rock"

Best Moment: Defeating an old Joe Louis in 1951 to start a new era in the heavyweight division.

Marciano is the only heavyweight champion to retire undefeated, and his win/loss record of 49-0 has yet to be beaten at any weight.

6) Jack Dempsey

Ring name: "The Manassa Mauler"

Best Moment: Knocking down the much bigger Jess Willard seven times in the first round of their 1919 bout to win the world heavyweight title in Toledo, Ohio

Jack Dempsey was the most popular boxer of his generation, ascending from humble beginnings to participating in boxing's first five $1,000,000 gates.

7) George Foreman

Ring Name "Big George"

Best Moment: Winning the world title back at the age of 45, twenty-years after losing it to Mohammed Ali.

In his prime George Foreman was thought to be "invincible" after easily beating Joe Frazier for the title and successfully defending it against the man who broke Muhammad Ali's jaw, Ken Nortan.

8) Larry Holmes

Ring Name "The Easton Assassin"

Best Moment: Winning a close points decision against Ken Nortan for the WBC title in the first heavyweight championship fight in Las Vegas.

Holmes may well be the most underrated heavyweight champion in history, buffered between the Ali and Tyson eras, he is third longest reining champion in history with the second most successful defences.

9) Evander Holyfield

Ring Name "The Real Deal"

Best Moment: Defeating Mike Tyson when the two finally met in the ring in 1996.

The only man to win both the undisputed cruiserweight and heavyweight titles, and the only four-time world heavyweight champion (not counting WBF title) in history. Evander Holyfield is the "Real Deal".

10) Mike Tyson

Ring Name "Iron Mike"

Best Moment: Knocking out Lineal heavyweight champion Michael Spinks in 91 seconds to unify the heavyweight title.

The youngest man ever to be crowned champion, at just twenty years old, Mike Tyson cleared out the heavyweight division in the Eighties, defeating everyone from Larry Holmes to Michael Spinks by KO. It is a measure of how good he was in his prime that after being in prison for three years he was still able to win not one but two world title belts, the WBC against Britain's Frank Bruno and WBA against Bruce Seldon.

Greatest Heavyweights Pt1

Muhammad Ali Vs Rocky Marciano "The Super Fight" N.Y.1969. (FULL FILM)

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)