The Best Heavyweight Boxing Champion of all Time?

Question

Muhammad Ali is generally regarded by many as being the greatest Heavyweight Boxing Champion of all time. He became popular when television was able to make sports figures larger than life, as never before. Do the statistics of all the Heavyweight Boxing Champions over the years in comparison with their actual total number of fights, win / loss / knockout records support this view?

Answer 1

Muhammad Ali.
all the old champs ,and trainers agree,and for the following reasons; he was a big guy[3rd biggest at that point ,of all time],he was fast ,really fast,sugar ray Leonard fast,he had great defence ,a real boxer's boxer;he had all the punches and he punched for power;.......but the one thing more and more of the old vets agree upon is that NOBODY took a punch as well as Muhammad,even if you did get lucky enough to land a shot,he just shrugged it off.
Joe Louis is second

Answer 2

By era you have John L. Sullivan, Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali with Evander Holyfield representing the best of the modern heavyweights. Opinions very between Johnson, Louis or Ali and they are usually ranked as the top three in varying order depending on the opinion of the writer doing the ranking.

Based on quality of opposition, Ali rates pretty high by most, and the physical size of Marciano usually puts Rock in the lower part of history's top ten best heavyweight champions in spite of his undefeated record. Louis is usually the one most rank ahead of Ali when Ali doesn't get the nod, and occasionally a historian will argue for Jack Johnson, Tunney or Dempsey.

History recorded their records, but the massive amount of media coverage Ali got during his career is a difficult obstacle for other champions to over come. The historical impact of Joe Louis is equal to Ali and their records speak for themselves. The "Best" is and always will be an opinion.

Great Question, I usually give the nod to Ali or Louis with Johnson ranking third.

Answer 3

I would regard Ali as the "best boxing champion of all time", that is, regardless of weight class. But when you talk about the heavyweight division, man, 11 years champion, 25 title defenses, it's gotta be the Brown Bomber, Joe Louis.

Answer 4

Definately JOE LOUIS
72 Fights
69 Wins
55 KOs
3 Losses

And improtantly he was held the heavyweight title for eleven years undefeated.

Even Muhammad Ali said
"When Joe is in the room i am not the greatest anymore"

Answer 5

At his peak-Larry Holmes. Look how he dominated the division in the 80's. Big man, could take a punch and a great tactical boxer- one of the best who never got his due because he followed Ali.

Answer 6

i think its hard to judge the best all time. marcianio retired undefeated. but you have to look at who he fought. he even beat joe louis, but louis was past his prime at the time. joe louis i think in regards was a better champ and had he fought marciano when he was younger it would have been a different story. louis was the dominant fighter of his career. but ali had a lot better competition in his era. he was probably the best technical figher and showman ever. not too many boxers can mix both its either or. he was a cerebral fighter too and he knew each and every opponents strengths and weaknesses. his legend gets overshadowed a little because he did fight past his prime.

Answer 7

ali
johnson
louis

then in no particular order as i keep changing them around every time i answer a similar question....

marciano
dempsey
tunney
foreman
liston
frazier
jeffries
holyfield

i think that ezzard charles had the most fights of any heavyweight champ

Answer 8

quality of opposition and historical impact also play a major role in the status of the heavyweight boxing champion of the world, example: 09/07/1892 - 05/13/1905...john l. sullivan, james j. corbett, bob fitzsimmons, james j. jeffries, peter jackson, frank p. slavin, peter maher, sailor tom sharkey, gus ruhlin. 07/03/1905 - 07/31/1928...marvin hart, tommy burns, jack johnson, jess willard, jack dempsey, gene tunney, fireman jim flynn, frank moran, tommy gibbons, sam mcvea, sam langford, joe jeanette, harry wills, george godfrey. 06/12/1930 - 03/01/1949...max schmeling, jack sharkey, primo carnera, max baer, james j. braddock, joe louis, tommy farr, walter neusel. 09/27/1950 - 04/27/1956...ezzard charles, jersey joe walcott, rocky marciano, jimmy bivins. 11/30/1956 - 04/29/1967...floyd patterson, ingemar johansson, sonny liston, muhummad ali, ernie terrell, eddie machen, george chuvalo, henry cooper, cleveland williams, zora folley. 02/16/1970 - 04/27/1979...jimmy ellis, jerry quarry, oscar bonavena, joe fraizer, george foreman, ken norton, muhummad ali, ron lyle, joe bugner, jimmy young, earnie shavers. 10/02/1980 - 06/28/1995 larry holmes, michael spinks, mike tyson, james douglas, evander holyfield, riddick bowe, michael moorer, george foreman, mike weaver, michael dokes, gerrie coetzee, tim witherspoon, pinklon thomas, greg page, trevor berbick, frank bruno. 11/08/1997 - 02/06/2004...evander holyfield, lennox lewis, hasim rahman, chris byrd, vitali klitschko, wladimir klitschko, oleg maskaev, samuel peters....examine the era, the opposition, and the champion...and thats how i view the world heavyweight boxing championship.

Answer 9

Rocky Marciano! Went undefeated, had the biggest heart of any boxer in history, and had one hell of a knockout punch!

Answer 10

how about Gorge Foreman. he has some impressive stats.

Ali probably is the Best but Gorge wouldn't be far behind.

Gorge Foreman gets left out a lot when people talk of the best of all time. but his got to be right up there. he had a awesome career.