Ring Magazine\u2019s founder, Nat Fleischer, called Jack Johnson, 53-11-8 (33), of Raleigh, NC, the best heavyweight champion he ever saw.<\/p>\n
In 1910, Johnson stopped former champion James J. Jeffries, 19-0-2, in 15 rounds. He would lose to Jess Willard, 22-5-2, being stopped in the 26th round.<\/p>\n
Dempsey and the Roaring Era<\/p>\n
Jack \u2018The Manassa Mauler\u2019 Dempsey, 53-6-8 (43), out of Salt Lake City, Utah, was a very popular champion who busted up Willard but lost twice to light heavyweight champion Gene \u2018The Fighting Marine\u2019 Tunney, 65-1-1 (48), of Greenwich, CT.<\/p>\n
One considered one of the best or second best was Joe \u2018The Brown Bomber\u2019 Louis, 66-3 (52), of Detroit, MI. He had a record of 25 successful title defenses. He lost to another champion, Max Schmeling, 56-10-4 (39) of Germany. In his final bout, Louis was stopped by Rocky \u2018The Brockton Blockbuster\u2019, Marciano, 49-0 (43), of Brockton, MASS, who was 37-0 at the time.<\/p>\n
It was said that Marciano shed tears after beating his favorite fighter, who was well past his prime. Marciano had a style that would beat on one\u2019s arms, which could cause problems after about five rounds in holding them up.<\/p>\n
In 1952, behind on points, he stopped NBA champion \u2018Jersey\u2019 Joe Walcott, 49-18-1, in the 13th round. After the bout, Hank Cisco, out of the Marciano camp, went into Walcott\u2019s dressing room and heard the ring physician say, \u201cThis man should never fight again due to a broken bone under his eye. The first good blow would stop him\u201d. The mob put him in a rematch that ended in the first round.<\/p>\n
Another champion considered the best of one of them was 1960 Olympic Gold Medalist and 3-time champion Muhammad \u2018The Greatest\u2019 Ali, 56-5 (37), of Louisville, KY. He defeated four other Olympic Gold Medalists who were world champions in Floyd Patterson, 55-8-1 (40), of New York, \u2018Smokin\u2019 Joe Frazier, 32-4-1 (27), Philadelphia, PA, \u2018Big\u2019 George Foreman, 76-5 (68) of Houston, TX, and Leon \u2018Neon\u2019 Spinks, 26-17-3 (14), of St. Louis, MO.<\/p>\n
Ali had 19 defenses, Larry \u2018East Assassin\u2019 Holmes, 69-6 (44), of Easton, PA, 20, Wladimir \u2018Dr. Steelhammer\u2019 Klitschko, 64-5 (53), with 23, of Kyiv, Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Holmes was 48-0 when he lost to light heavyweight champion and Olympic Gold Medalist Michael \u2018Jinx\u2019 Spinks, 31-1 (21), whose only loss was to Mike Tyson in his final fight.<\/p>\n
Klitschko\u2019s brother, world champion Vitali \u2018Dr. Ironfist\u2019 Klitschko, 45-2 (41), was ahead of Lennox \u2018The Lion\u2019 Lewis, 41-2-1 (32), of London, UK. In Seoul, South Korea, he won an Olympic Gold Medal defeating future world champion Riddick \u2018Big Daddy\u2019 Bowe, 43-1 (33), of Ft. Washington, MD.<\/p>\n
Bowe defeated world champion Evander \u2018The Real Deal\u2019 Holyfield, 44-10-2 (29), of Atlanta, GA. Two out of three were also Olympians.<\/p>\n
\u2018Iron\u2019 Mike Tyson, 50-7 (44), of Henderson, NV, lost to Holyfield twice. Tyson was known for his punching power and fast hands out of the \u201cpeek-a-boo\u201d style. He lost twice to Holyfield.<\/p>\n
At 6\u201909\u201d Tyson \u2018The Gypsy\u2019 King, 34-2-1 (24), of Morecambe, UK, twice defeated Olympian Deontay \u2018The Bronze Bomber\u2019 Wilder, 44-4-1 (43), of Tuscaloosa, AL.<\/p>\n
The current champion is Oleksander Usyk, 24-0 (15), of Crimea, UKR, also once the cruiserweight champion.<\/p>\n
There you have them, and look forward to those comments on who you thought was the best heavyweight of all-time.<\/p>\n
Ken Hissner is a seasoned boxing journalist with over 20 years of experience covering the global fight scene. As a senior writer for Boxing News 24, he is well known in the boxing community for his detailed results coverage, in-depth historical pieces, and ringside reports from major events.<\/p>\n
Boxing News 24<\/a> \u00bb Joe Louis<\/a> \u00bb Looking Back at the Heavyweight Champions<\/p>\n Last Updated on 11\/05\/2025 \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ring Magazine\u2019s founder, Nat Fleischer, called Jack Johnson, 53-11-8 (33), of Raleigh, NC, the best heavyweight champion he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-246700","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}