Best British Heavyweight Boxers Of All-Time

Of all of the weight classes in boxing, few capture the imagination of fans quite like the heavyweight division. The explosiveness and the sheer size of the athletes involved will always draw intrigue.

Great Britain has an exceedingly long boxing history and has launched many world champions up through the ranks, even to the point that the country can boast of some of the best boxers of all time.

Here, we’re narrowing the focus to the best British heavyweight boxers of all time, and for the purposes of this piece, it’ll only include boxers whose careers we can judge in full.

Top 5 British Heavyweight Boxing Icons

1. Lennox Lewis
2. Bob Fitzsimmons
3. Frank Bruno
4. David Haye
5. Henry Cooper

Across these five boxers, we have copious world title fights, rumbles with the best heavyweight boxers of all time, and legends that reach far beyond their careers – with many some even becoming national treasures.

As Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, and Daniel Dubois haven’t been retired for some time and look likely to feature in the boxing betting over the coming years, they won’t be in this ranking of the best British heavyweight boxers yet.

Starting with the outright best British heavyweight boxer of all time, these are the top five ranked.

1) Lennox Lewis

There are many ways to win a boxing match, and Lennox Lewis mastered just about every single one of them. The man born in London who won an Olympic gold medal for Canada was imperious in his time as a professional boxer.

Standing 6’5’’, he commenced his journey to a heavyweight world title in 1989, winning 22 matches in a row to become a world title mandatory challenger.

He was crowned the WBC World champion when the reigning belt-holder, Riddick Bowe, threw the belt in the bin instead of facing Lewis – possibly seeing flashbacks to his loss to Lewis in the 1988 Summer Games gold medal fight.

Lewis won his next three bouts, including a TKO win over Frank Bruno, but lost the strap to Oliver McCall in 1994. By 1997, the London-born boxer was up against the belt-holding McCall and beat him in five rounds.

In 1999, he’d meet Evander Holyfield for the all-important undisputed world heavyweight title fight, with the American bringing the other two belts to the table. In the betting, Holyfield was the marginal favourite.

The first rumble controversially ended as a split decision draw, with many expecting Lewis to be crowned the winner, but in the second, the Brit walked away the victor by unanimous decision. He’d end up being the last undisputed world heavyweight champion of the three-belt era.

After beating Holyfield, the WBA would strip Lewis of their title, but the British heavyweight boxer would go on to collect six more wins, including a vengeance win against Hasim Rahman, a KO win over Mike Tyson, and a triumph in a particularly gruesome fire-fight with Vitali Klitschko to call it a day in 2003.

Finishing his career 41-2-1, with 32 wins by way of knockout, Lennox Lewis is not only the best British heavyweight boxer of all time, but he’s easily one of the best heavyweight boxers of all time, leaving a void that couldn’t be filled for decades upon his retirement.

2) Bob Fitzsimmons

One of the early British greats of boxing, Bob Fitzsimmons was the very first boxer to battle his way to a world title in three different weight classes, doing so as a middleweight, light-heavyweight, and heavyweight.

Hailing from Cornwall, ‘The Freckled Wonder’ moved to New Zealand at an early age, which allowed him to develop his skills at a boxing school in Timaru. He then moved to Australia to commence a career in prizefighting.

In Sydney, his record was littered with inconsistency, including ten draws by way of newspaper decision, some no contests, a few newspaper decision losses, but a good 14 wins within the rounds.

In 1890, Fitzsimmons made his way to the United States. Here, the British-born boxer went on a colossal run of 36 matches without a loss until he was unfairly disqualified in the midst of a heavyweight world title fight with Tom Sharkey.

Fitzsimmons would go on to win the heavyweight world title to add to his existing middleweight crown, and later, he’d pick up the light-heavyweight strap, finishing his career with a reputation as one of the hardest punchers the sport had ever seen and an official record of 60-8-4 with 56 knockouts.

3) Frank Bruno

Perhaps the most beloved boxer in British history, they often said that the ripped Frank Bruno was too fit to fight, but that didn’t stop him from getting his hands on a world title and taking on some of the sport’s legends.

To kick off his career, the man from Hammersmith won all 21 of his bouts via knockout, with his explosiveness in the ring coupled with his charismatic interviews winning over the UK public.

The British heavyweight boxer’s first world title fight was granted after he best Joe Bugner in 1987, getting a swing at a prime 35-0 Mike Tyson in Las Vegas in 1989. In five rounds, Tyson had won by TKO.

In 1991, Bruno was back in action, and he eventually worked his way back up to a shot at Lennox Lewis’ WBC World heavyweight belt, but also lost by TKO – this time in the seventh round.

Later on, in 1995, Bruno did what Lewis couldn’t: defeat Oliver McCall at the first time of asking. Doing so by a somewhat uncharacteristic unanimous decision at Wembley Stadium, Bruno was a world champion, and the country rejoiced.

The 6’3’’ knockout artist ended his career with a loss to Mike Tyson, a record of 40-5-0 with 38 wins within the distance, and as an ever-present celebrity and public figure in the UK.

4) David Haye

David Haye was a superbly talented boxer, with many touting him as the British Evander Holyfield when he decided to make the jump from cruiserweight to heavyweight.

Having already ranked as the best cruiserweight in men’s boxing for years and with the WBA, WBC, and WBO belts after defeating Enzo Maccarinelli to further unify the division, Haye sought a new challenge.

Stepping up to try to emulate the British heavyweight boxing greats who came before, he tuned up against Monte Barrett, but then missed his shot at Vitali Klitschko and then the three-title-holding Wladimir Klitschko to injury.

So, he took on the WBA World champion, Nikolay Valuev, who stood 7’0’’ to Haye’s 6’3’’ and with an extra 100 lbs on the Brit. It was a cumbersome bout, but Haye’s manoeuvring and fleeting moments of purchase got him through.

He’d beat John Ruiz and British Olympian Audley Harrison before getting a swing at Wladimir Klitschko. Haye didn’t exactly endear himself to the boxing public with his brash out-of-ring persona and lost by UD to the Ukrainian.

In a feud that featured many somewhat violent clashes around other events, Haye would eventually face Derek Chisora – who he’d later manage and promote – in 2012 and win by TKO.

Two more wins led him to another British grudge match with Tony Bellew, who Haye very much underestimated and lost resoundingly in the 11th and fifth rounds of their two-fight run to end his career.

Standing alongside Holyfield and Oleksandr Usyk as the only boxers to unify at cruiserweight and claim a heavyweight world title, his career may have petered out at heavyweight, but Haye certainly made a swift impact to collect his 28-4 record.

5) Henry Cooper

Everyone remembers Sir Henry Cooper as the man who almost beat Muhammad Ali. In 1963, the then-named Cassius Clay was knocked down in the fourth by ‘Our ‘Enry,’ only for the Brit to see the fight stopped due to his eye injury.

Three years later, Cooper met Ali once again, and this time, it was for a world heavyweight title. Once again, though, it was a cut to the Brit’s eye that led to the referee ending the bout early.

While these were the biggest fights of his career and had the Brits boasting that he could beat Ali if it weren’t for cutting so easily, Cooper would also set what remains a record as the standing British heavyweight champion for more than ten years.

In 1971, it was a young Joe Bugner who would take the British title from Cooper in what is still seen as at least a dubious decision. After that, Cooper retired with a 40-14-1 record with 27 wins by way of knockout.

Those are the top five best British heavyweight boxers ranked, and it’s great to see that at least two more active British heavyweights are already making very strong cases to muscle in amongst these legends of the sport.