Best Heavyweight Boxers of All Time: Top 10 Ranked

Holyfield's record looks ugly because he fought until 2011 and lost most of the late ones. Look at the names instead. He took the undisputed title from Buster Douglas, beat George Foreman and Larry Holmes, avenged his loss to Riddick Bowe in 1993, stopped Mike Tyson in eleven rounds on November 9, 1996 when the books opened him at 25-1, and knocked out Michael Moorer in their 1997 rematch.

He also gave a peak Lennox Lewis all he could handle in their 1999 rematch. A blown-up cruiserweight should not have been able to do any of that. He is the best heavyweight of the 1990s on resume, and only his chin and his stubbornness about retiring keep him this low.

Tyson is here for the peak, not the longevity. He became the youngest heavyweight champion ever at 20 years and 4 months when he stopped Trevor Berbick for the WBC title on November 22, 1986, held the WBA, WBC and IBF belts together from August 1, 1987, and wiped out an unbeaten Michael Spinks in 91 seconds at Convention Hall in Atlantic City on June 27, 1988.

The problem is what followed. He lost the title to Buster Douglas on February 11, 1990 as a 42-1 favorite, lost twice to Holyfield, and was knocked out by Lennox Lewis in Memphis on June 8, 2002. His only win over a man on this list came against Larry Holmes, who came out of retirement to face him. Three years of terror still buys a top-ten spot, but it cannot buy more.

Frazier's record is short and three of the four losses are to Ali and Foreman. What he did in between is why he is here. He won the Fight of the Century over an unbeaten Ali at Madison Square Garden on March 8, 1971, which Boxing News calls one of the greatest performances in the sport's history, and he beat Jerry Quarry, Jimmy Ellis, Oscar Bonavena, Eddie Machen and George Chuvalo along the way.

The left hook was the best in heavyweight history and the pressure never stopped. Foreman put him down six times in two rounds in Jamaica in 1973, which is the only reason he is not higher.

Johnson was the first Black heavyweight champion and, by most accounts, the first truly modern one. He took the title from Tommy Burns, then beat the undefeated former champion James J. Jeffries, who came out of retirement for the original Fight of the Century on July 4, 1910. Wins over Sam Langford, Stanley Ketchel, Joe Jeannette and Sam McVea fill out a resume nobody of his era could match.

His career ran from 1897 to 1931, and the loss count reflects an era of newspaper decisions and fights into his forties. At his best he was quicker, more skilled defensively and more complete than anyone before Louis.

Two careers, both great. The first Foreman destroyed Joe Frazier in two rounds for the title in 1973 and did the same to Ken Norton, then ran into Ali in Kinshasa. The second Foreman came back in 1987 after a decade away, heavier and smarter, and on November 5, 1994 knocked out Michael Moorer at the MGM Grand while behind on every scorecard. He was 45 years and 360 days old, the oldest heavyweight champion in history.

Sixty-eight knockouts in 76 wins is the kind of power that reorganizes a division. The 1974 loss to Ali and the long gap in the middle keep him out of the top five, but no heavyweight ever combined this much punch with this much durability across 20 years.

Lewis is one of only two heavyweight champions, with Marciano, to beat every man he ever fought. Both of his losses, to Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman, were avenged by knockout, and the Rahman rematch at Mandalay Bay on November 17, 2001 took four rounds. He beat Evander Holyfield, knocked out Mike Tyson in eight rounds in Memphis on June 8, 2002, and finished his career with a win over Vitali Klitschko in 2003.

Add David Tua, Ray Mercer and Tommy Morrison and you have the dominant heavyweight of the 1990s and early 2000s. The chin was the knock on him. The results say it only mattered twice, and he fixed both.

The only heavyweight champion to retire undefeated, with the highest knockout percentage of any champion in the division. Marciano won the title by knocking out Jersey Joe Walcott in the thirteenth round at Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia on September 23, 1952 while trailing on all three cards. He beat Walcott again in one round, beat Ezzard Charles, stopped Archie Moore, and retired a faded Joe Louis.

Critics call him crude and small for the era, and both things are true. Nobody beat him anyway. The conditioning and the pressure wore down every man he faced, and the record is still the most famous in boxing.

Holmes won the WBC title from Ken Norton by split decision on June 9, 1978 and held the top of the division for seven years. He made 20 title defenses, second only to Louis, beating Earnie Shavers, Gerry Cooney, Tim Witherspoon, Mike Weaver and Trevor Berbick. He was 48-0 and one win from Marciano's record when Michael Spinks outpointed him on September 21, 1985.

The jab was the finest in heavyweight history, and his recovery powers were nearly as good; he got off the floor more than once to win. He fought until he was 52, still beating contenders like Ray Mercer in his forties. Holmes was never loved because he followed Ali, but his seven-year reign stands up to anyone's.

Twenty-five title defenses over a reign that ran more than eleven years. No heavyweight has come close. Louis beat Max Baer, James Braddock for the title, Billy Conn, John Henry Lewis, Jersey Joe Walcott and, in the most important fight of his life, Max Schmeling in two minutes and four seconds at Yankee Stadium on June 22, 1938 to avenge his only loss in his prime.

He was the most precise finisher the division has produced, a boxer-puncher whose combinations ended fights in a way nobody before him managed. Two of his three losses came at the end, including the Marciano fight. The resume between 1935 and 1948 is the strongest argument against Ali at number one, and I take it seriously.

Three title reigns in the toughest heavyweight era that ever existed. Ali took the title from Sonny Liston as a 7-1 underdog in Miami Beach on February 25, 1964, lost years of his prime outside the ring, came back and lost to Frazier, then beat Frazier twice, including the Thrilla in Manila. He regained the title from an unbeaten George Foreman in Kinshasa on October 30, 1974 as a 4-1 underdog, and won it a third time from Leon Spinks in New Orleans on September 15, 1978.

The wins over Liston, Frazier, Foreman and Norton are four Hall of Fame-level heavyweights beaten at or near their peaks, something no one else here can claim. He also beat Floyd Patterson, Jerry Quarry, Ron Lyle, Oscar Bonavena, Ernie Terrell, Earnie Shavers, George Chuvalo and Cleveland Williams. Speed, ring intelligence and a chin that held up against the hardest punchers of his time put him on top, and the losses, most of them at the end, do not change that.