Top Ten HW contenders who never got a title shot.

[Brutu]

Who were the heavyweight fighters who were consistanly ranked in the top ten,more then a few times,
but never got a shot at the title for one reason or another?
such as overlooked a tune up fight,injuries from training.
To simplifie this thread,say top ten contenders when they were at their zenith, from the Golden Age of HWs
from around 1950 to 1980?

[jimglen]

this is a good post, we here so much about the middleweights and rightfully so - Boxings greatest division!

but the HW division has historically been where the money is - "the greatest prize in Sport!", right or wrong, this is where it is at. So your right, WHO were they, the Great HW Contenders, Shut - Out, or _ucked over, I'd too would like to know...

and ALL the other weight classes for that matter, a great reference thread, WELL DONE .

[raylawpc]

The one that immediately came to mind for me during that period was Eddie Machen. Eddie was on the brink of a title shot and then lost to Johansson. He cameback nicely in 1959 and then lost to Folley and Liston in 1960. In the 1940s, the guy who comes to mind is Jimmy Bivins. He can blame WWII for never getting his shot. He was undefeated between 1942 and 1946, but Louis was off to war.

[dempseyfire]

I was trying to make a top 10 list from 50 onwards but it's very hard b/c since the 70s every HW and their mother got a shot at some sort of title.

Including the 1940s:

Eddie Machen
Harold Johnson (beat a lot of top-flight HWs)
Elmer Ray
Clarence Henry
Jimmy Bivins
Lee Q Murray
Turkey Thompson
Bob Baker
Jeff Merritt
Nino Valdez

[Expug]

Im gonna throw a wildcard out there, A guy never talked about.
Leotis Martin.Belting Sonny Liston out of there should have put him in line.
An eye injury in that fight however forced him to shut it down.

[Brutu]

When was Mike DeJohn at his apex?
He was one of the most powerful punchers of his time.
Luck be a Lady tonight if he would have landed
a clean shot early on Floyd Patterson if he had a title shot before fighting Liston.

[Brutu]

It would have been cool if Bruce Woodcock and Joe Baski had a shot at the title Joe Louis still held in 1949.
Louis didnt fight too much in the later years of his defending the title.

[John Galt]

Johnny Summerlin.

[Robinson]

I was trying to make a top 10 list from 50 onwards but it's very hard b/c since the 70s every HW and their mother got a shot at some sort of title.

Including the 1940s:

Eddie Machen
Harold Johnson (beat a lot of top-flight HWs)
Elmer Ray
Clarence Henry
Jimmy Bivins
Lee Q Murray
Turkey Thompson
Bob Baker
Jeff Merritt
Nino Valdez

I like that list.

[Robinson]

Peter Jackson (while he did hold the coloured strap)

Henry Wills (as above)

I suppose any of the coloured greats who never got a title
shot..
Sam McVey, Sam Langford, Ed Martin, Joe Jeanette.

Frank Slavin is an Aussie who should have had his shot at
the title.


Bob Satterfield from that 1950s bunch to add into DF's list.

[dempseyfire]

I can't feel bad for Satterfield b/c due to his entertaining 'sink or swim' style he was giving LOTS of TV dates and title elimination chances . . more than other fighters with his suspect record would have. For every upset of the likes of Williams or Johnson Bob made, he'd then get KO'd.

[Robinson]

To wild for his own good a Tommy Morrison of his era no doubt.

[dempseyfire]

To wild for his own good a Tommy Morrison of his era no doubt.

I'd definitely rate him above Morrison but both were dynamite punchers with weak jaws.

One interesting fight and a war would've been Satterfield-Adamek. Tomasz has never faced a puncher in the league of Bob and Satterfield was faster and slicker but Adamek has the mixture of skills, patience and durability to give him problems.

[Robinson]

Ezzra Sellers is a guy I would like to have seen in a fantasy match up with
Satterfield. It would have been interesting in my opinion though a bit of
a yo yo affair at tmes.

[yancey]

Im gonna throw a wildcard out there, A guy never talked about.
Leotis Martin.Belting Sonny Liston out of there should have put him in line.
An eye injury in that fight however forced him to shut it down.

You beat me to it.

He probably would have gotten a shot at the title had he not been forced to retire, but I definitely cannot see him handling the likes of Frazier, Ali, or Foreman.

Jimmy Ellis damn near had Leotis out in the first rd in their fight.

Sadly, I think Martin passed away early.

[John Galt]

"Florida" Al Jones is another guy with a good record and a few good wins who never got a shot. Seems like I read that he had brittle hands that held him back. Plus, he was 6'6" and left handed at a time when it was rare to see a southpaw hywt. Even if a fighter beat him it would be hard to look good doing it.

[Brutu]

From late 1960's-early 1970's,Henry Clark and Larry Middleton.

[Brutu]

Duane Bobick never got a title shot,he always seemed to implode in the elimation bouts.

[Brutu]

"Young"Jack Johnson was said to have been a promising contender at one point in the early 1960's.

[Goodnight, Irene]

From late 1960's-early 1970's,Henry Clark and Larry Middleton.

Both are good shouts

[Brutu]

Before they stripped Ali of his title in 1967.
The Ali camp had plans to defend his title against Thad Spencer
possibly in Accra,Ghana Africa in late 1967.

[orbtastic]

Leotis Martin or Thad Spencer (although he had a couple of eliminators), but both have been mentioned.

Jimmy Young (although again, had an eliminator).

[Ambling Alp]

Young did get a title shot against Ali. (Hope that we don't go off on a tangent here.)

This sort of depends on what you consider a title shot.

-Eddie Machen did get a chance at the WBA title against Ernie Terrell.
-Ray Mercer never fought for any of the 3 major titles. However he was the WBO champion when it was considered a minor title. A lot of people don't seem to realize that. (Morrison was a WBO champ for that matter.)
-Oscar Bonavena did get a shot at Frazier, but only a few state athletic commisions considered Frazier the champ at the time.

Another guy to consider is Rex Layne. He beat both Walcott and Charles and fought Marciano. However, none were in title fights.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Ibeabuchi or Joe Mesi. Different circumstances, but an answer.

Everyone has pretty much covered the list.

Alex Stewart is a modern guy worth a shout. He just had the misfortune of pretty much fighting Holyfield twice & Tyson once in fights that would have given him a shot. His noneffort in the Holyfield rematch and even more so in the Tyson fight probably didn't do him any favors. Lost in a shootout to Moorer and a disputed decision to Foreman. He was certainly better than a ton of guys who have received shots.

Bob Cleroux won a series with Chuvalo, but I'd be lying if I said I knew a whole lot about him.

A couple guys earlier than your time line worth a mention are Steve Hamas & Roscoe Toles.

[orbtastic]

Young did get a title shot against Ali. (Hope that we don't go off on a tangent here.)

My mistake, I couldn't actually remember. I knew they fought and there's some controversy from some about the scoring etc but forgot a world title was at stake.