When speaking about the perfect among the many greatest in boxing, we might actually make our checklist based mostly on two standards – variety of losses and variety of championship titles. You’ll discover lots of totally different lists alongside the way in which, every based mostly on totally different standards – however our checklist goes to be considerably totally different. In making it, we’ve taken the next standards into consideration: variety of profession wins, zero losses, whole profession ratio and having a championship title.
So, mainly, that is going to be an inventory of one of the best among the many greatest – the undefeated boxing champions who had probably the most wins and one of the best ratio of their careers. Folks may not essentially agree with it, however can you actually doubt that an undefeated champion with, let’s say, 50 wins and 0 losses and attracts, just isn’t one of the best of one of the best? Hardly! So, no matter your preferences is likely to be, you can’t deny the objectivity and preciseness of this checklist, nor its factual worth.
After all, all of those boxers are retired, which was a mandatory criterium as a result of lively boxers can nonetheless be defeated and lose their spot on this checklist, as a result of for this checklist – it takes just one loss to lose your spot.
So, if you wish to know who one of the best of one of the best are – please proceed studying!
Who Are the Greatest Boxers within the Historical past?
Within the following desk, we’ll current you the ten names and their data. All of those boxers have been champions at one level and have had very profitable careers. After the desk, we’ll briefly focus on every of them:
10 Greatest Undefeated Boxers within the Historical past Ranked
1. Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
Profession: 1996 – 2017Record: 50-0-0Divisions: Tremendous featherweight, light-weight, mild welterweight, welterweight, mild middleweight
Floyd Pleasure Mayweather Jr. (Grand Rapids, MI, February 24, 1977) is an American skilled boxing promoter and former skilled boxer. He competed from 1996 to 2007, 2009 to 2010, 2011 to 2015, and made a one-fight comeback in 2017. Throughout his profession, he received fifteen main world titles together with The Ring in 5 weight courses and the lineal championship in 4 weight courses (twice at welterweight), and retired with an undefeated file. As an novice, Mayweather received a bronze medal within the featherweight division on the 1996 Olympics, three U.S. Golden Gloves championships (at mild flyweight, flyweight, and featherweight), and the U.S. nationwide championship at featherweight.
Mayweather was named “Fighter of the Decade” for the 2010s by the Boxing Writers Affiliation of America (BWAA), a two-time winner of The Ring journal’s Fighter of the Yr award (1998 and 2007), a three-time winner of the BWAA Fighter of the Yr award (2007, 2013, and 2015), and a six-time winner of the Greatest Fighter ESPY Award (2007–2010, 2012–2014). In 2016, Mayweather was ranked by ESPN as the best boxer, pound for pound, of the final 25 years. He stays BoxRec’s primary fighter of all time, pound for pound, in addition to the best welterweight of his period. Many sporting information and boxing web sites, together with The Ring, Sports activities Illustrated, ESPN, BoxRec, Fox Sports activities, and Yahoo! Sports activities, ranked Mayweather as one of the best pound for pound boxer on the planet twice in a span of ten years. In 2020, Mayweather was ranked second on Ranker’s checklist of greatest boxers of the twenty first century.
He’s also known as one of the best defensive boxer in historical past, in addition to being probably the most correct puncher because the existence of CompuBox, having the very best plus–minus ratio in recorded boxing historical past. Mayweather has a file of 26 consecutive wins in world title fights (10 by KO), 23 wins (9 KOs) in lineal title fights, 24 wins (7 KOs) in opposition to former or present world titlists, 12 wins (3 KOs) in opposition to former or present lineal champions, and three wins (1 KO) in opposition to Worldwide Boxing Corridor of Fame inductees.
2. Jimmy Barry
Profession: 1890 – c. 1910Record: 60-0-10 (1)Divisions: Bantamweight
Jimmy Barry (Chicago, IL, March 7, 1870 – Chicago, IL, April 4, 1943) was an American boxer referred to as “The Little Tiger,” Barry held the World Bantamweight Championship from 1894 to 1899 and retired undefeated. He was inducted into the Ring Journal Corridor of Fame in 2000.
Barry turned skilled by 1890, and fought extensively in that yr and the following, although a lot of his bouts had been exhibitions. In his most vital early bout, Barry knocked out the twenty-year previous London boxer Jack Levy in 17 rounds to win the 100-pound World Championship on December 5, 1893 in Roby, Indiana, although the win could not have but been totally sanctioned by the USA. A number of boxing historians take into account Barry’s first ascent to the USA Bantamweight World championship for the 102-pound class to have come after his defeat of Jimmy Gorman on June 2, 1894 on the Olympic Membership New Orleans, Louisiana. The win was made extra important because it was sanctioned each as a United States and World championship.
The next yr, he cemented his declare to the world bantamweight crown (the bantamweight restrict on the time ranged from 100 to 112 kilos) when former bantamweight champion George Dixon moved as much as the featherweight class. On December 6, 1897, Barry scored a Twentieth-round knockout with a crushing proper to the jaw in opposition to English champion Walter Croot in London, giving him declare to the vacant 110 pound World championship. Barry confronted Casper Leon once more for the American and World 110-pound bantamweight championship within the late night of December 29, 1898, and retained the title in a twenty-round draw. In an in depth bout, Leon could have thrown just a few extra blows and proven scientific expertise in his protection, however Barry’s blows landed with better precision and had been extra telling.
Throughout WWI, in 1917, Barry labored as a boxing teacher at Camp Gordon. Unable to proceed as an teacher as a consequence of bodily limitations, he left the Military in October of 1918. After his WWI service, Barry labored in Chicago’s Cook dinner County clerk’s workplace for 25 years till he left as a consequence of poor well being. He often refereed bouts at native golf equipment, possible for further revenue. He died in a Chicago Sanitarium on April 5, 1943 after an sickness lasting 4 years, that in keeping with one supply could have been tuberculosis.
3. Ricardo López
Profession: 1985 – 2001Record: 51-0-1Divisions: Strawweight, mild flyweight
Ricardo “El Finito” López Nava (Cuernavaca, July 25, 1966) is a retired Mexican skilled boxer. As an expert, he defended the Lineal and WBC Strawweight Championship in opposition to record-breaking 21 boxers. He additionally received the WBA and WBO Championships in the identical weight class. López later received the IBF Mild Flyweight Championship and defended it twice earlier than retiring. He’s one in every of simply fifteen world boxing champions to retire and not using a loss. He’s additionally the daddy of undefeated Flyweight prospect Alonso López. Ricardo López was the third champion in historical past to retire undefeated and the primary to take action as each an novice {and professional} fighter. He additionally shares with Joe Louis and Floyd Mayweather Jr. the file for many consecutive title bouts and not using a loss (twenty-six). This streak started together with his knockout of Hideyuki Ohashi to win the WBC Minimumweight title in 1990 and ended together with his knockout of Zolani Petelo to defend his IBF Mild Flyweight title in 2001. Ricardo solely had one draw, which got here in opposition to Rosendo Álvarez in 1998 in López’s forty eighth bout and was avenged within the rematch eight months later. His last file was 51 wins (38 knockouts), 0 losses and 1 draw.
López now works as a boxing broadcaster for the Mexican Televisa community. He was inducted into the Worldwide Boxing Corridor of Fame and World Boxing Corridor of Fame in 2007.
4. Rocky Marciano
Profession: 1947 – 1955Record: 49-0-0Divisions: Heavyweight
Rocco Francis Marchegiano (Brockton, MA, September 1, 1923 – Newton, IA, August 31, 1969), greatest referred to as Rocky Marciano, was an American skilled boxer who competed from 1947 to 1955, and held the world heavyweight title from 1952 to 1956. He’s the one heavyweight champion to have completed his profession undefeated. His six title defences had been in opposition to Jersey Joe Walcott (from whom he had taken the title), Roland La Starza, Ezzard Charles (twice), Don Cockell and Archie Moore.
Recognized for his relentless preventing type, formidable punching energy, stamina, and exceptionally sturdy chin, Marciano has been included by boxing historians in lists of the best boxers of all time, and is presently ranked by BoxRec because the fifth biggest heavyweight boxer in historical past. His knockout-to-win proportion of 87.76% stays one of many highest in heavyweight boxing historical past.
5. Joe Calzaghe
Profession: 1993 – 2008Record: 46-0-0Divisions: Tremendous middleweight, mild heavyweight
Joseph William Calzaghe CBE (London, 23 March 1972) is a British former skilled boxer who competed from 1993 to 2008. He held world championships in two weight courses, together with the unified WBA (Tremendous), WBC, IBF, WBO, Ring journal and lineal super-middleweight titles, and the Ring light-heavyweight title.
Calzaghe is the longest-reigning super-middleweight world champion in boxing historical past, having held the WBO title for over 10 years and defending the title in opposition to 20 boxers (a file in super-middleweight division, shared with Sven Ottke) earlier than transferring as much as light-heavyweight. As his super-middleweight and light-heavyweight reigns overlapped, he retired with the longest continuous time as world champion of any lively boxer on the time. He was additionally the primary boxer to unify three of the 4 main world titles (WBA, WBC, and WBO) at super-middleweight, and was the primary Ring champion in that weight class.
Between 2006 and 2008, Calzaghe was ranked by The Ring as one of many world’s high ten lively boxers, pound for pound, reaching a peak rating of third in January 2009. He retired in February 2009 with an undefeated file, and as a reigning world champion. As of 2020, BoxRec charges Calzaghe as the best super-middleweight of all time, in addition to the best European boxer, pound for pound, of all time.
6. Sven Ottke
Profession: 1997 – 2004Record: 34-0-0Divisions: Tremendous middleweight
Sven Ottke (Berlin, June 3, 1967) is a German former skilled boxer who competed from 1997 to 2004. He was a unified super-middleweight world champion, having held the IBF title from 1998 to 2004, and the WBA (Tremendous) title from 2003 to 2004. With 21 profitable title defences, Ottke was the third European boxer to retire as an undefeated world champion, after Terry Marsh and Michael Loewe; Joe Calzaghe later grew to become the fourth. Ottke defended the title in opposition to 20 boxers, a file within the super-middleweight division shared with Joe Calzaghe. As an novice, Ottke received a bronze medal within the middleweight division on the 1989 World Championships. In Could 2008, a comeback was deliberate in opposition to Dariusz Michalczewski in Germany, however the match by no means materialized.
7. Andre Ward
Profession: 2004 – 2017Record: 32-0-0Divisions: Tremendous middleweight, mild middleweight
Andre Michael Ward (San Francisco, CA, February 23, 1984) is an American former skilled boxer who competed from 2004 to 2017. He retired with an undefeated file and held a number of world titles in two weight courses, together with the unified WBA (Tremendous), WBC, Ring journal, and lineal tremendous middleweight titles between 2009 and 2015; and the unified WBA (Undisputed), IBF, WBO, and Ring light-heavyweight titles between 2016 and 2017. Throughout his reign as mild heavyweight champion, Ward was ranked because the world’s greatest lively boxer, pound for pound, by The Ring journal and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB), in addition to the world’s greatest lively boxer within the division by The Ring, the TBRB, and BoxRec.
As an novice, Ward received a gold medal within the mild heavyweight division on the 2004 Olympics and turned skilled later that yr. He rose to worldwide prominence upon getting into the Tremendous Six World Boxing Traditional event in 2009, the place he received the WBA (Tremendous) tremendous middleweight title from Mikkel Kessler within the opening group stage. In 2011, Ward defeated WBC champion Carl Froch within the event last to unify the titles, in addition to successful the vacant Ring and lineal titles. That very same yr, Ward was named Fighter of the Yr by The Ring and the Boxing Writers’ Affiliation of America. He later received The Ring’s Comeback of the Yr award in 2016 following a protracted interval of sporadic in-ring exercise between 2012 and 2015.
8. Harry Simon
Profession: 1994 – 2018Record: 31-0-0Divisions: Mild middleweight, middleweight, tremendous middleweight, mild heavyweight
Harry Simon (Walvis Bay, October 21, 1972) is a Namibian skilled boxer. He’s a two-weight world champion, having held the WBO junior middleweight title from 1998 to 2001, and the WBO middleweight title in 2002. He presently holds the longest undefeated streak in boxing historical past, at 24 years.
In 2002, Simon was concerned in a critical automobile crash. He was discovered responsible of “culpable murder” and sentenced to jail in 2007. Simon was launched in 2009. He misplaced his world middleweight title owing to accidents sustained from the automobile accident, being stripped of the belt for failure to defend it. In 2013 Simon received the vacant IBF Worldwide Mild Heavyweight title in opposition to Geard Ajetović, and defended it in opposition to him once more in 2014.
9. Mihai Leu
Profession: 1991 – 1997Record: 28-0-0Divisions: Welterweight
Mihai Leu often known as Michael Loewe (Hunedoara, February 13, 1969) is a Romanian former skilled boxer who fought out of Hamburg, Germany. He was the WBO Welterweight Champion. Leu retired after one title protection, in opposition to Michael Carruth, turning into the second European boxer to retire as an undefeated world champion, after Terry Marsh. On account of an harm, he was pressured to desert boxing however unwilling to surrender the world of sports activities, he turned to be a rally driver. He later grew to become a nationwide rally champion.
10. Edwin Valero
Profession: 2002 – 2010Record: 27-0-0Divisions: Tremendous featherweight, light-weight
Edwin Valero (Bolero Alto, December 3, 1981 – Valencia, April 19, 2010) was a Venezuelan skilled boxer who competed from 2002 to 2010. He was an undefeated former world champion in two weight courses, having held the WBA tremendous featherweight title from 2006 to 2008 and the WBC light-weight title from 2009 to (February) 2010. A southpaw identified for his extremely aggressive preventing type and distinctive punching energy, Valero stays the one champion within the 30-year historical past of the WBC to win each struggle in his profession by knockout. In 2010, Valero dedicated suicide in jail after being arrested on suspicion of killing his spouse.
That’s all people! This covers our checklist of one of the best undefeated champions within the historical past of boxing. As you could possibly’ve seen – the checklist accommodates quite a lot of totally different boxers from totally different time intervals, a few of them true legends, a few of them controversial characters, however all in all – each one in every of them had one thing to supply to the world of boxing and this text is devoted to them. See you subsequent time!
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