Top Five Greatest Heavyweight Boxers of All Time

The Heavyweight category is one that often attracts the most eyes to boxing and within the current crop there are some incredibly talented and powerful fighters. Here we will take a look through the ages with a list of the top five greatest heavyweight boxers of all time.

5. Tyson Fury

A potentially contentious inclusion among the boxing purists, Tyson Fury’s place in this list is certainly up for debate but what cannot be ignored is that he is undoubtedly the best of his generation of fighters.

‘The Gypsy King’ is yet to retire and still holds an undefeated record, with 33 wins and one draw in his 34 professional bouts. Between his first and most recent fight Fury has probably had the biggest roller coaster of a career of any of the heavyweights on this list.

After possibly his greatest victory against the formidable Wladimir Klitschko to gain the WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring heavyweight title, Fury went AWOL. After three years of partying followed by mental health struggles, Fury returned to the ring with a victory against the relatively unknown Sefer Seferi.

Since his comeback Fury has dominated the heavyweight scene, winning two and drawing one fight in one of boxing’s great trilogies against Deontay Wilder. Fury currently holds the WBC heavyweight title and is unquestionably the best active heavyweight fighter.

4. Jack Johnson

Jack Johnson’s career requires us to cast our minds back over 100 years to 1897 when Johnson would have his first fight and victory against Charley Brooks.

Johnson was not only a great fighter but also a trailblazer and an icon in the height of the Jim Crow era as he became the first black world heavyweight boxing champion. He is widely considered to be not only one of the greatest, but also one of the most politically and socially influential boxers of all time.

Unlike the infrequent nature of modern heavyweight boxing, Johnson fought 93 times in his career picking up 68 wins, 11 draws and 11 losses, with 34 of his wins coming by knockout. Losses are inevitable for a man with 93 fights, the last of which came at the age of 53, and Johnson has to be considered amongst the greatest heavyweights of all time.

3. Rocky Marciano

Marciano will not thank Silvestre Stallone for the fact that when you think of Rocky, Marciano isn’t the man that comes to mind. Nonetheless, the shorter than most, incredibly driven and hard-hitting Marciano is the only man on our list to have retired with a perfect record.

Falling just one short of the half century ‘The Brockton Blockbuster’ retired with a record of 49 fights and 49 wins. The most impressive part of his record which truly shows just how much power he possessed is that 43 of his 49 wins came by knockout.

Marciano did actually beat one of the two fighters higher up on this list, but Joe Louis was almost 10 years his senior and when they fought in 1951 with Marciano and Louis aged 28 and 37 respectively, Louis could not have been considered to be in his prime.

Despite not necessarily being the most famous Rocky in boxing, Rockey Marciano is certainly one of the greatest and most devastating heavyweights to have ever stepped in the ring.

2. Joe Louis

Joe Louis started his career in 1934 with a victory and that would very much be the theme for the rest of his 17 year stint in the heavyweight division.

Louis fought 69 times throughout his career, signing off with a loss against the aforementioned Rocky Marciano at Madison Square Garden. That was one of just three losses in his career as he racked up 66 wins.

25 of those wins came in the longest defence of a title in terms of fights in the history of boxing. Louis was successful in 25 consecutive title defences and he still holds the longest ever reign as champion of any boxer before or after him.

Similar to Jack Johnson, Joe Louis was also a hero outside of the ring and is widely regarded to be the first African American athlete to have been considered a hero throughout the entirety of the United States.

Joe Louis has one of the most inspiring careers both in and out of the ring and has certainly earned his place in our list as the second greatest heavyweight of all time.

1. Muhammad Ali

The greatest heavyweight of all-time and to many the greatest ever athlete across all sports can be no other than the infamous Muhammad Ali.

Before even turning professional Ali found success at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome as he won the Gold Medal for the United States in the heavyweight boxing category. Ali’s professional career started in a similar vain as he was 19-0 in the first portion of his career.

Ali’s personality was getting him increased media attention but he really shot to fame when he beat heavyweight champion Sonny Liston to claim the WBA, WBC, NYSAC, and The Ring heavyweight titles. He would then defeat Liston with an emphatic first round knockout in the rematch.

Ali’s first career loss came at the hands of Joe Frazier in his 32nd fight and, unbeknown to boxing fans at the time, would spark the start of the greatest boxing trilogy of all time. Ali would gain his revenge three years later as he defeated Frazier at Madison Square Garden, setting up a title fight with George Foreman.

This would be Ali’s very next fight. Another of Ali’s great spectacles, this title fight was branded as ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’ with the fight taking place in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo). It was in the buildup to this fight that Ali’s words would once again make the headlines as he came out with the infamous monologue, “I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick; I’m so mean I make medicine sick.”. Ali was far from being all talk as he ducked and dived, tiring out Foreman, before delivering a devastating right hand to put the now former champion’s lights out and reclaim the WBA, WBC, and The Ring heavyweight titles.

Next and last on the list was the completion of the trilogy with Joe Frazier to find out who was the true king of the heavyweights. This time the fight would take place in the Philippines and was branded ‘The Thrilla in Manila’. Regarded as one of the greatest and most brutal fights in boxing history, the fight would last 14 of 15 rounds. Ali was quick from the off but Frazier grew into the fight, landing heavy blow after heavy blow, and by the ninth round he was seemingly in control, with Ali muttering to his corner “Man, this is the closest I’ve ever been to dying.”. With Ali now coming back he landed well on Frazier’s eye and his vision would deteriorate. With Ali now battering a partly blinded Frazier, cornerman Eddie Futch called for the fight to be stopped and Frazier would be forced to retire, but with his head held high.

Given that Ali is unquestionably the greatest of all time it is no surprise that these fights will live long in the memory and he has more than earned his spot as the greatest heavyweight boxer in history.