Top 10 Best Heavyweight Boxers of all time

It seems like an eternity ago when the only thing on everyone’s mind was who was competing for the Heavyweight Championship. Stadiums throughout the world were crowded to witness Muhammad Ali fight Joe Frazier and George Foreman.

What it meant to be the world heavyweight champion has lost a lot of its luster nowadays. But these ten boxers transformed the world of boxing for the better. It’s a shame the boxing world will never be the same again. We sometimes wish that we could travel back in time and watch all of these boxers at their peak.

Muhammad Ali

Born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., he finally acquired the name Muhammad Ali in 1964. Muhammad Ali, often known as “The Greatest” and “The Champ,” is without a doubt the most famous name in boxing history, if not the whole athletic world.

Ali was a three-time world heavyweight champion. At the 1960 Summer Olympics, he also won a gold medal in the light heavyweight class.

Muhammad Ali amassed a professional record of 56-5, with 37 of those victories coming through knockout. His career spanned the years 1960 until 1981.

Mike Tyson

Tyson’s career record was 50-6-2, and he boxed for more than 20 years, from 1985 to 2005. He would have had more matches if he hadn’t been imprisoned in the early 1990s. Mike Tyson won 44 of his 50 contests on knockouts.

Mike Tyson was unbeaten, with a 37-0 record. This was before losing both his first match and championship to Buster Douglas in Japan in 1990.

He still is the youngest ever heavyweight boxing champion as he beat Trevor Berbick for the WBC title when he was 20 years and 150 days old. As well as making this list he is also one of the many top black boxers to have ever fought.

Lennox Lewis

Mr. Lewis is a former professional boxer who was the sport’s top figure from 1989 to 2003. He is a three-time world heavyweight champion, a two-time lineal champion, and the last heavyweight champion to hold the uncontested title. 

He has played a total of 44 matches in his career, winning 41 of them. Lennox is so dominant in the ring that he has won 32 of them by knockout.

Evander Holyfield

E. Holyfield ruled as the undisputed cruiserweight champion in the late 1980s and the heavyweight champion in the early 1990s. He is the only boxer in history to have won the uncontested championship in both weight divisions during the three-belt period.

Evander is recognized by the moniker ‘the Real Deal’. He is the only boxer in history to have won four world heavyweight titles.

Evander Holyfield was regarded as one of the top heavyweight fighters in terms of abilities and methods. His career began in the cruiserweight division, but he quickly advanced to heavyweight boxing.

He competed in 57 matches, winning 44 of them. Holyfield retired in 2014 and is ranked 77th on The Ring’s list of the top 100 punchers of all time.

Joe Frazier

This hard-nosed, tough-as-nails boxer from the city of brotherly love had one of the most prolific careers in professional boxing history. His career spanned from 1965 to 1981, and he had a record of 32-4-1, with 27 of his fights ending in a knockout.

Joe competed during the greatest heavyweight boxing generation in history. The competitors and personalities that competed back then will be recognized as the sport’s golden years.

His four defeats were against only two opponents, one of which was Muhammad Ali, the greatest fighter of all time, and the other was George Foreman.

Joe Frazier won the championship as a result of Muhammad Ali’s ban for refusing to enter the draft. Joe Frazier got unanimous victory points in this fight.

Joe Frazier was also almost blind in one eye throughout a lot of his career as he’d had metal shards land in his left eye. His trainers kept it quiet as they knew he wouldn’t have been allowed to continue boxing if people found out.

People ask if you can box with contacts, well Frazier boxed most of his career with poor vision in his left eye. But, that was in older times and he almost went blind in it so you shouldn’t take these risks and there are fixes now for bad vision.

Tyson Fury

In the middle of his burgeoning supremacy, Fury has coupled pure boxing abilities with underappreciated punching power to a remarkable level. And all aspects of his fighting style were on show in all three fights. One against Deontay Wilder as well as his unanimous decision points victory against Wladimir Klitschko. With a record of 31-0-1, all that remains for the reigning WBC and lineal world heavyweight champion is uncontested glory as the icing on the cake. 

Joe Louis

Joe’s career spanned from 1934 to 1951. He had a record of 68-3 throughout that period, with 54 of his matches ending in a knockout.

After the Jack Dempsey period ended, he was dubbed the “Brown Bomber” and helped bring boxing back into the public. In 1937, Joe Louis won his first world heavyweight title, which he held for eleven years, eight months, and seven days. He retired as champion in late 1949 after successfully defending the hit title a record 25 times.

Joe Louis was a living legend and one of the greatest boxers of all time.

George Foreman

His boxing career spanned 28 years, from 1969 until 1997. He was 76-5 with 68 knockouts in his career. On November 5, 1994, he knocked out Michael Moorer and became the oldest heavyweight champion in boxing history at the age of 45.

George used his strength, bulk, and agility to become one of the most dominant fighters of all time. He won his first championship in January 1973, defeating Joe Frazier in two rounds after putting the legend down six times.

One of George’s most famous fights was against Muhammad Ali in the “Rumble in the Jungle” in 1974.

Larry Holmes

Larry Holmes had one of the longest careers in boxing history, spanning over 30 years from 1973 to 2002. Simply amazing. Holmes has a 69-6 record, including 44 knockout victories.

In 1978, Holmes won his first heavyweight championship by split decision against Ken Norton following a 15-round fight.

In 1980, Muhammad Ali came out of retirement to confront Holmes, and Holmes replied by pounding Ali to the point that his camp stopped the fight just after the tenth round.

Larry Holmes is considered one of the greatest boxers of all time for defending his championship an astonishing 20 times. 

Jack Johnson

On March 31, 1878, Jack “Galveston Giant” Johnson was born. He fought professionally from 1897 to 1928, with a 77-13-13 record with 19 no-decisions. Johnson won 48 of those matches via knockout.

In 1908, Jack Johnson defeated Tommy Burns to become the first African American heavyweight champion. He held the title until 1915 when he was defeated by Jess Willard. He was the ring’s king for seven years.

On July 4, 1910, in front of 20,000 spectators, Jack Johnson faced former heavyweight champion James Jefferies, who had come out of retirement to accept the match. This was dubbed the “battle of the century.”

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