Heavyweight champions by age

[pundit]

The question came up in the "records" forum but I suppose it fits better here. With Patterson the second youngest fighter ever to win a world heavyweight title died. Here are at what age the other champs gained their titles for the first time. I included also some notable "colered" heavyweight title holders from the color line area; and from the 1960s Terrell and Ellis are in there. From the late 1970s when the belt inflation began I included only those guys who were widely consider champ, which is, of course, somewhat arbitrary.

The median-age for gaining the heavyweight championship is 26 and a half years.

1. Mike Tyson 20-5 (20 years 5 months)
2. Floyd Patterson 21-10
3. Muhammad Ali 22-1
4. Joe Louis 23-1
5. John L Sullivan 23-4 (I took the Paddy Ryan fight in 1882)
6. George Foreman 24-0
7. Jack Dempsey 24-1
8. Jim Jeffries 24-2
9. Leon Spinks 24-7
10. Tommy Burns 24-8

11. Max Schmeling 24-9
12. Jack Johnson 24-11 (colored title); 30-9 world title
12. Sam McVea 24-11 (colored)
14. Harry Wills 25-0 (colored)
15. Riddick Bowe 25-3
16. Max Baer 25-4
17. Ernie Terrell 25-9
18. Jim Corbett 26-0
19. Joe Frazier 26-1
20. Sam Langford 26-4 (colored)

21. Primo Carnera 26-8
22. Lennox Lewis 27-8
23. Ezzard Charles 27-11
24. Evander Holyfield 28-0
25. Jimmy Ellis 28-2
26. Marvin Hart 28-10
27. Rocky Marciano 29-0
28. Michael Spinks 29-2
29. Larry Holmes 29-3
30. Gene Tunney 29-4

31. Jack Sharkey 29-8
31. Joe Jeanette 29-8 (colored)
33. James Douglas 29-10
34. Jim Braddock 30-0
35. Sonny Liston 30-4
36. Vitali Klitschko 32-9 (ignoring the earlier WBO title)
37. Jess Willard 33-4
38. Bob Fitzsimmons 33-10
39. Ken Norton 34-2
40. Jersey Joe Walcott 37-6

[pound per pound]

Nicely done Pundit. Can someone else compile a list of who became champion with the least amount of fights?

[hhascup]

If you count all the alphabet soup champions, here's a list of all that won the title before their 25th birthday:

1. Mike Tyson 20 Yrs. 4 months 23 days (WBC)
2. Herbie Hide 21 Yrs. 8 months 14 days (WBB Title)
Herbie Hide 22 Yrs. 6 months 20 days (WBO Title)
3. Floyd Patterson 21 Yrs. 10 months 26 days
4. Muhammad Ali 22 Yrs. 1 months 8 days
5. Joe Louis 23 Yrs, 1 month 9 days
6. John L. Sullivan 23 Yrs. 3 months 23 days
7. George Foreman 24 years old
8. Jack Dempsey 24 Yrs. 0 months 10 days
9. Joe Frazier 24 Yrs. 1 months 21 days (when he beat Mathis)
10. Jim Jeffries 24 Yrs. 1 months 25 days
11. Michael Dokes 24 Yrs. 2 months 0 days
12. Tommy Morrison 24 Yrs. 5 months 15 days
13. Michael Moorer 24 Yrs. 6 months 3 days
14. Wladimir Klitschko 24 Yrs. 6 months 19 days
15. Leon Spinks 24 Yrs. 7 months 4 days
16. Tommy Burns 24 Yrs. 8 months 6 days
17. Max Schmeling 24 Yrs. 8 months 15 days
18. John Tate 24 Yrs. 8 months 21 days

[Expug]

Nicely done Pundit. Can someone else compile a list of who became champion with the least amount of fights?

Leon Spinks won The Heavyweight crown from Ali in his eighth pro fight.


Other divisions
Saensak Muangsurin won the WBC jr. Weltetrweight crown in his third pro fight.

Jeff Fenech won the IBF Bantamweight crown in his seventh pro fight.


Muangchi Kittikasem won the IBF jr Fly crown in his seventh pro fight.

Sot Chitilada won the WBC Fly crown in his eighth pro fight.

Davey Moore won the WBA jr middle crown in his ninth pro fight

Jung Il Byun won the WBC Bantam crown in his ninth pro fight.

Hiroki Ioka won the WBC minimum weight crown in his ninth pro fight.

Chan Hee Park won the WBC fly title in his eleventh pro fight.

Hilario Zapata won the WBC jr. Fly crown in his twelfth pro fight.

[Borinken25]

And the youngest ever to win a championship at any weight class was Wilfredo Benitez at age 17 and 1/2. In 1976 by split decision Wilfredo Benitez defeated Antonio Cervantes for the WBA light welterweight title.

[bollox]

Benitez was a boxing whiz and a manchild

[JAHamilton77]

to add to expug's list Eagle Kyowa captured the WBC Minimumweight crown in his 12th fight.

Jorge Mata captured the WBO Interim Minimumweight belt in fight 11 & the actual title in fight 12.

Napa Kiatwanchai captured the WBC Minimum title in fight 9, he had a draw for it in fight 7.

Alimi Goitia won the WBA Superflyweight title in his 12th fight.

Yokthai Sithoar won the WBA superflyweight title in his 11th fight.

Veeraphol Sahaprom won the WBA Bantamweight crown in his 4th fight

Joichiro Tatsuyosh won the WBC Bantamweight title in fight number 8 he lost it in fight 9 but won it back again (the interim version) in fight 11

How could we forget Oscar De La Hoya was only in fight 12 when he won the WBO Superfeatherweight title?

I am sure there are oters at the 12 & under fight mark that have won titles, but I am tired of looking, maybe I will find some more another time.

[Tantum]

1. Mike Tyson 20-5 (20 years 5 months)

Fact is, Tyson was 22 when he actually won the legitimate title of Heavyweight champion.

[MEISINGER]

i was hoping someone brought that up.tyson did not win the real title until he beat spinks.there fore floyd patterson still is the youngest undisputed champion in history,or linear champion in history.
i did not want to be the one to bring this up because tyson fans can be more brutal than tyson himself.lol
the fact is floyd patterson is the youngest undisputed heavyweight champion in history.

[pundit]

1. Mike Tyson 20-5 (20 years 5 months)

Fact is, Tyson was 22 when he actually won the legitimate title of Heavyweight champion.

So what's the "legit" title?
Lineal is not the same as legit, at least not in my book.

[Tantum]

Lineal is not the same as legit, at least not in my book.

In the case of Michael Spinks it was.

Michael beat the long reigning champ, and did not lose the REAL title until he lost to Tyson. And Tyson was 22.

[pundit]

Fact is, Tyson was 22 when he actually won the legitimate title of Heavyweight champion.

So what's the "legit" title?
Lineal is not the same as legit, at least not in my book.

And the WBC title is legit? I guess that Hasim Rahman's the legitimate champion right now, huh?

I didn't say that. But if lineal is legit, Shannon Briggs was the legit heavyweight champ - and this is at best good for a laugh.

The issue with the "linela" business is that it is an incomplete counterfactual. If the lineal "title" were the real title, some of the guys who became "lineal champs" never would have gotten a shot. Old fat Foreman vs. Shannon Briggs could never have been a matchup for the real world heavyweight title.

In the case of Spinks and Tyson it's a matter of judgement. I am inclined to give Tyson the benefit of the doubt; he was the clear favorite before the Spinks fight, and Spinks own claim was somewhat shaky after the Holmes rematch.

[Cojimar 1945]

Tyson could not be champion unless he defeats the reigning champion or defeats the top contenders following retirement of the champion. Tyson was not champion until he beat Spinks. The issue seems very clear to me.

[MEISINGER]

Tyson could not be champion unless he defeats the reigning champion or defeats the top contenders following retirement of the champion. Tyson was not champion until he beat Spinks. The issue seems very clear to me.

THAT WAS THE MOST LOGICAL AND WELL THOUGHT OUT STATEMENT ON THE SUBJECT.

[pundit]

Tyson could not be champion unless he defeats the reigning champion or defeats the top contenders following retirement of the champion. Tyson was not champion until he beat Spinks. The issue seems very clear to me.

THAT WAS THE MOST LOGICAL AND WELL THOUGHT OUT STATEMENT ON THE SUBJECT.

In my view it's attempt to enforce too much logic on that can't bear too much of it, and were sound judgement is more important.

By the time Tyson and Spinks fought, Tyson was the triple-unified heavyweight champion, while Spinks was without a belt and had been inactive for a year. At least since beating Tucker - if not earlier - Tyson was recognized as the leading heavyweight far and wide, and noone gave Spinks much of a chance.

Declaring Spinks the champ because of some "lineal" claim that didn't mean much because fighters didn't aspire to it is more than just a touch absurd.

[Ezzard]

Tyson could not be champion unless he defeats the reigning champion or defeats the top contenders following retirement of the champion. Tyson was not champion until he beat Spinks. The issue seems very clear to me.

THAT WAS THE MOST LOGICAL AND WELL THOUGHT OUT STATEMENT ON THE SUBJECT.

In my view it's attempt to enforce too much logic on that can't bear too much of it, and were sound judgement is more important.

By the time Tyson and Spinks fought, Tyson was the triple-unified heavyweight champion, while Spinks was without a belt and had been inactive for a year. At least since beating Tucker - if not earlier - Tyson was recognized as the leading heavyweight far and wide, and noone gave Spinks much of a chance.

Declaring Spinks the champ because of some "lineal" claim that didn't mean much because fighters didn't aspire to it is more than just a touch absurd.

Sound judgement is impossible to put intp practice, you only have to look at this site to see how many knowledgeable people disagree about the sport and it's great and not so great fighters.

The lineal champ is all boxing had. It wasn't always fair and it wasn't always for the best but everyone knew what was what. Once you start taking into peope's opinons as to who was champion you end up wth the sport in the state it is in now.

There have been plenty of not so great champions and plenty of great fighters who never got their shot.

If Tyson is proclaimed the champ by sound opinion then can't that same sound opinion proclaim someone else champ... The whole point is to beat the champion. If Tyson doesn'r have to do that to ebcome champion then why wasn't he good enough to be champion at 20 years, 4 months and 29 days? Joe Louis was the best HW before he beat Braddock... etc...

In a discussion like this you can't apply one set of criteria to one set of fighters and not to the rest.

[claudevsq]

Lomachenko won a world title (WBO) in his third pro fight. David Morrell won an interim WBA title in his third pro fight.

[littlepug]

Taking the lineal out of the equation Tyson was still older than Patterson by the time he’d claimed the 3 belts to be undisputed

[Onamastus]

Not Tyson's fault that Spinks refused to face Tucker or participate in the unification tournament, and also vacated. You have to be reasonable when judging these things.

[Ambling Alp II]

Lomachenko won a world title (WBO) in his third pro fight. David Morrell won an interim WBA title in his third pro fight.

Sort of tells you how important those "titles" are.

[margaret thatcher]

Loma actually beat a good opponent who is now a WBC champ on several defenses (he won the title only a fight or two after Loma beat him). These days the WBO is right up there with the others in terms of quality (looking at that case, the WBO guy was clearly better than the WBC), gotta get with the times. I guess if you can't do that, you can always worship the past at least.

[Ambling Alp II]

Several defenses? Oh, I didn't know about that. That changes everything.
This isn't about getting with the times. This is about knowing that winning one of the many WBS titles usually doesn't mean much.

[margaret thatcher]

Yep, a guy who scored a good title win, several defenses with wins over top 10 ranked guys, and undoubtedly an elite world class fighter in his division. USA Olympian before turning pro too. Had backing from the promoter of the event as well. Not just some random can cherry picked so Loma could win a belt easy. Not some title win over a hilariously outsized guy either lol

That was one of the better title fight wins, for Loma to clown him, doesn't matter that it was Loma's third fight or that it was for the WBO--which if anyone follows today they know it's at least right up there with IBF, WBC, and WBA (the WBA has like 4 'world' titles in each division and is the biggest lol of all).

Kinda a strange example to mock tbh, though I know you like to moan about pretty much everything that is even remotely recent, so it's expected. I agree the Morrell WBA win is pretty empty though and it was just all set up vs an old and weak opponent to get him a strap--the WBA is on some crack these days, that's true