The best heavyweight world title holders who never wore the real championship.

[Willow The Wisp]

The best heavyweight world title holders who never wore the real championship.

Anthony Joshua
Deontay Wilder
Sam Langford
Ken Norton
Luther McCarty
Jimmy Ellis
Earnie Terrell
Tim Witherspoon
Jimmy Bivins .....

Thoughts on how to top this out at 20?

Discuss

[max baer]

The best heavyweight world title holders who never wore the real championship.

Anthony Joshua
Deontay Wilder
Sam Langford
Ken Norton
Luther McCarty
Jimmy Ellis
Earnie Terrell
Tim Witherspoon
Jimmy Bivins .....

Thoughts on how to top this out at 20?

Discuss

Earnie Shavers and Jimmy Ellis because of the competition. I think we can all agree that the competition of Ali and Foremen and Frazier etc made that era possibly the best there has been. We even had Joe Bugner at that time!

[BattlingNelson]

What's 'the real championship'? Are we talking lineal and if so can you post the lineage you believe is the correct?

[QueensburyRules]

What's 'the real championship'? Are we talking lineal and if so can you post the lineage you believe is the correct?

- - He still battling for an exit from lineal nuthouse confinement.

Tubby Lar never ever beat a standing champ having won his title in the ring. Same deal with Deyonce, each of whom would match up badly vs each other if we think about the Cosmic marriage of those two in the fistic world...BIG TIME

[The D3vil]

Larry Holmes never unified & was never the lineal champ

[Kid Cauliflower]

The best heavyweight world title holders who never wore the real championship.

Anthony Joshua
Deontay Wilder
Sam Langford
Ken Norton
Luther McCarty
Jimmy Ellis
Earnie Terrell
Tim Witherspoon
Jimmy Bivins .....

Thoughts on how to top this out at 20?

Discuss

Great concept. Hmm...just from the list you have, Langford looks to me like the only guy whose flaws will not practically demand someone else on the list best him because of them. Langford's only flaw may be that he was small.

By popular consensus Holmes was undisputed heavyweight champion irrespective of any ABC proclamations.

Holmes does not belong on your list (which he isn't) but Greg Page does, for instance.

Much as I love him, Norton cannot win this tourney. His biggest flaw is more notable than anyone else's here.

Ken is a better fighter than either Wilder or Joshua, but they only have to find him once, and I believe they will. Many lesser fighters would find him--for instance Tommy Morrison would probably find him and score a blowout, and the same for Ray Mercer, as just fer instances.

Does Langford's punching prowess translate the same among today's ogres as yesteryear? I guess we would find out. I might expect him to be given more trouble by the boxers on the list like Terrell than by its big punchers.

I do expect him to be faster than anyone he fights here.

[Willow The Wisp]

What's 'the real championship'? Are we talking lineal and if so can you post the lineage you believe is the correct?

That is a fair (and anticipated) question from a respected poster.
A small number of minor to mid-level businessmen, such as Mauricio Sulaimán Saldivar, Gilberto Jesus "Gilbertico" Mendoza, Daryl J. Peoples and Francisco Valcarcel would disagree with me.


Casual fans might be lead astray by those disagreements, sadly.
In their defense, however; they're all apt to have more important matters in their lives to concern them, and it is a decades in the making effort that has been undertaken in order to confound those fans.
The cause, of course, beging to legitimize company belts sold to promoters and the profits derived therein.

But historians find themselves of one accord, knowing and thus acknowledging the infallibility of carefully documented and universally acknowledged history.





Acceptance of this history is a better measure than any other to a follower of the sport looking to rate his own "level of expertise".

Posters love a good debate, but choosing a round earth topic such as this one to take up against would absolutely disqualify the eager debater from being worth the time.

This is my personal errand because boxing is a ridiculous sport, were people are promoted by their acumen in injuring the opponent's organs and brain.
But why the sport matters, is based solely on it's long, storied, multicultural history.
If that becomes muddled regarding the latchpin world heavyweight championship, and boxing is disconnected from it's history; then perhaps they should just as well ban the sport as meaningless violence, like a number of other contemporary combat sports are.


So to be clear as can be, the REAL WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONS OF THE MODERN ERA are:

1. John L. Sullivan (1882 - 1892) USA

2. James J. Corbett (1892 - 1897) USA

3. Bob Fitzsimmons (1897 - 1899) UK

4. James J. Jeffries (1899 - 1905) Retired. USA

5. Marvin Hart (1905 - 1906) USA

6. Tommy Burns (1906 - 1908) Canada

7. Jack Johnson (1908 - 1915) USA

8. Jess Willard (1915 - 1919) USA

9. Jack Dempsey (1919 - 1926) USA

10. Gene Tunney (1926 - 1928) Retired. USA

11. Max Schmeling (1930 - 1932) Germany

12. Jack Sharkey (1932 - 1933) USA

13. Primo Carnera (1933 - 1934) Italy

14. Max Baer (1934 - 1935) USA

15. James J. Braddock (1935 - 1937) USA

16. Joe Louis (1937 - 1949) Retired. USA

17. Ezzard Charles (1949 - 1951) USA

18. "Jersey" Joe Walcott (1951 - 1952) USA

19. Rocky Marciano (1952 - 1956) Retired. USA

20. Floyd Patterson (1956 - 1959) ** USA

21. Ingemar Johansson (1959 - 1960) Sweden

22. Floyd Patterson (1960 - 1962) ** USA

23. Charles "Sonny" Liston (1962 - 1964) USA

24. Muhammad Ali (1964 - 1971) *** USA

25. Joe Frazier (1971 - 1973) USA

26. George Foreman (1973 - 1974) ** USA

27. Muhammad Ali (1974 - 1978) *** USA

28. Leon Spinks (1978) USA

29. Muhammad Ali (1978 - 1979) Retired *** USA

30. Larry Holmes (1980 - 1985) USA

31. Michael Spinks (1985 - 1988) USA

32. Mike Tyson (1988 - 1990) USA

33. James "Buster" Douglas (1990) USA

34. Evander Holyfield (1990 - 1992) ** USA

35. Rid**** Bowe (1992 - 1993) USA

36. Evander Holyfield (1993 - 1994) ** USA

37. Michael Moorer (1994) USA

38. George Foreman (1994 - 1997) ** USA

39. Shannon Briggs (1997 - 1998) USA

40. Lennox Lewis (1998 - 2001) ** UK

41. Hasim Rahman (2001) USA

42. Lennox Lewis (2001 - 2004) Retired ** UK

43. Wladimir Klitschko (2009 - 2015) Ukraine

44. Tyson Fury (2015 - 2024) UK

45. Oleksandr Usyk (2024 - Present) Ukraine

[QueensburyRules]

That is a fair (and anticipated) question from a respected poster.
A small number of minor to mid-level businessmen, such as Mauricio Sulaimán Saldivar, Gilberto Jesus "Gilbertico" Mendoza, Daryl J. Peoples and Francisco Valcarcel would disagree with me.


Casual fans might be lead astray by those disagreements, sadly.
In their defense, however; they're all apt to have more important matters in their lives to concern them, and it is a decades in the making effort that has been undertaken in order to confound those fans.
The cause, of course, beging to legitimize company belts sold to promoters and the profits derived therein.

But historians find themselves of one accord, knowing and thus acknowledging the infallibility of carefully documented and universally acknowledged history.





Acceptance of this history is a better measure than any other to a follower of the sport looking to rate his own "level of expertise".

Posters love a good debate, but choosing a round earth topic such as this one to take up against would absolutely disqualify the eager debater from being worth the time.

This is my personal errand because boxing is a ridiculous sport, were people are promoted by their acumen in injuring the opponent's organs and brain.
But why the sport matters, is based solely on it's long, storied, multicultural history.
If that becomes muddled regarding the latchpin world heavyweight championship, and boxing is disconnected from it's history; then perhaps they should just as well ban the sport as meaningless violence, like a number of other contemporary combat sports are.


So to be clear as can be, the REAL WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONS OF THE MODERN ERA are:

1. John L. Sullivan (1882 - 1892) USA

2. James J. Corbett (1892 - 1897) USA

3. Bob Fitzsimmons (1897 - 1899) UK

4. James J. Jeffries (1899 - 1905) Retired. USA

5. Marvin Hart (1905 - 1906) USA

6. Tommy Burns (1906 - 1908) Canada

7. Jack Johnson (1908 - 1915) USA

8. Jess Willard (1915 - 1919) USA

9. Jack Dempsey (1919 - 1926) USA

10. Gene Tunney (1926 - 1928) Retired. USA

11. Max Schmeling (1930 - 1932) Germany

12. Jack Sharkey (1932 - 1933) USA

13. Primo Carnera (1933 - 1934) Italy

14. Max Baer (1934 - 1935) USA

15. James J. Braddock (1935 - 1937) USA

16. Joe Louis (1937 - 1949) Retired. USA

17. Ezzard Charles (1949 - 1951) USA

18. "Jersey" Joe Walcott (1951 - 1952) USA

19. Rocky Marciano (1952 - 1956) Retired. USA

20. Floyd Patterson (1956 - 1959) ** USA

21. Ingemar Johansson (1959 - 1960) Sweden

22. Floyd Patterson (1960 - 1962) ** USA

23. Charles "Sonny" Liston (1962 - 1964) USA

24. Muhammad Ali (1964 - 1971) *** USA

25. Joe Frazier (1971 - 1973) USA

26. George Foreman (1973 - 1974) ** USA

27. Muhammad Ali (1974 - 1978) *** USA

28. Leon Spinks (1978) USA

29. Muhammad Ali (1978 - 1979) Retired *** USA

30. Larry Holmes (1980 - 1985) USA

31. Michael Spinks (1985 - 1988) USA

32. Mike Tyson (1988 - 1990) USA

33. James "Buster" Douglas (1990) USA

34. Evander Holyfield (1990 - 1992) ** USA

35. Rid**** Bowe (1992 - 1993) USA

36. Evander Holyfield (1993 - 1994) ** USA

37. Michael Moorer (1994) USA

38. George Foreman (1994 - 1997) ** USA

39. Shannon Briggs (1997 - 1998) USA

40. Lennox Lewis (1998 - 2001) ** UK

41. Hasim Rahman (2001) USA

42. Lennox Lewis (2001 - 2004) Retired ** UK

43. Wladimir Klitschko (2009 - 2015) Ukraine

44. Tyson Fury (2015 - 2024) UK

45. Oleksandr Usyk (2024 - Present) Ukraine

- - Calling 300lb 6 years retired champion Jeffries lineal champ almost as bad as calling deathly sick Ali the lineal champ when he fought Tubby Lar.

Now Vit was WBC Emeritus 4 yr retired when he whooped WBC Champ Samuel Peter, almost as impressive as When Big George came out of 10 yrs retirement to ultimately become the heavy champ.

Calling Blubber the lineal champ when he won the titles while he should've been on a drug suspension, and then cowered his way out of the Wlad rematch for a 4 year highly publicized drug and alcohol binge is pitiable.

[billeau2]

- - He still battling for an exit from lineal nuthouse confinement.

Tubby Lar never ever beat a standing champ having won his title in the ring. Same deal with Deyonce, each of whom would match up badly vs each other if we think about the Cosmic marriage of those two in the fistic world...BIG TIME

hic hic...

[billeau2]

The best heavyweight world title holders who never wore the real championship.

Anthony Joshua
Deontay Wilder
Sam Langford
Ken Norton
Luther McCarty
Jimmy Ellis
Earnie Terrell
Tim Witherspoon
Jimmy Bivins .....

Thoughts on how to top this out at 20?

Discuss

I like your list here. We'll have to think on this one. Would Jimmy young qualify?