The Top 100 Greatest Boxers Pound per Pound of All-Time

[elmersalsa]

After losing to the great Muhammad Ali for Ali's NABF Heavyweight title, the Sheriff, the great Bob Foster didn't fight for 9 months.

Why did he had to wait that long for a fight? Where were the mandatory challengers?

Maybe, at age 34, he needs a break like anybody else. To take time with his family after winning the biggest purse of his career ($125,000) in his last fight of 1972 with Ali. His fight with Chris Finnegan was The Ring Magazine Fight of the Year of 1972.

The year 1972 was certainly a great year for Foster. The year 1973? Well, I guess he decided to take it easy and relax.

After 9 long months, the champion prepared to fight challenger Pierre Fourie of South Africa.

Fourie, 27, had a an outstanding record of 43-1-1 with 9KOs. Among his best wins before fighting Foster, he beat World Jr Middleweight Champion Carmelo Bossi of Italy on points in ten rounds.
He also had ten-round decision wins over top contenders like Fraser Scott, Roger Rouse, Don Fullmer and Mark Tessman.

Fourie was also coming from a 30-fight win streak since August 1969. And was at the time the reigning South African Middleweight and Light-Heavyweight Champion.

So, he must be good, right?

The fight was made at the University Arena in Foster's hometown of Albuquerque, NM on August 21, 1973.

Leading up to the fight, the 34-year old aging champion wanted not just win, but to punish his white South African foe. Because according to the champ, Fourie called him a "Boy". That was a way to call a black man in those days in a derogatory fashion.

"Nobody calls me a boy, and get away with it!", said the champ.

Fourie, in the other hand, said that he apologized and that he would never insult Foster, who is a great champion.

At the time, Soutg Africa was one of the most unpopular and undesirable countries in the world because of their strict and unpopular apartheid crisis.

Fourie's manager, Allen Toweel, maintained that his fighter greeted the champion at the weigh in by saying "Tonight is the night, Bobby", misunderstanding the South African's accent.

Foster didn't buy none of it.

And for 15 rounds, the champion jabbed Fourie at will, causing a cut in the left eyelid. Fourie was tough and also cut Foster. The decision went Unanimous for the champion and retained his crown for the 12th time.

Foster improves his record to 50-5, with 42 knockout wins.

[elmersalsa]

It was also Bob Foster's only title defense in his hometown of Albuquerque, NM.

[elmersalsa]

Champion Bob Foster, returned the favor and travelled 11,000 miles granting a rematch to South African challenger Pierre Fourie for the World Light-Heavyweight Boxing Championship.

It was Foster's 13th title defense.

It was Saturday, December 1, 1973 at the Rand Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa.

It was a closer fight, but, still, the same result. Foster won by Unanimous decision. Foster had not had a knockout win since stopping Chris Finnegan in 1972.

Aftermath: Foster made another title defense against challenger Jorge Ahumada of Argentina . The fight ended a draw. Foster retired after the fight in 1974.

After losing to Foster for the second time for the World Light-Heavyweight crown, Fourie got back in contention winning his next 4 fights and challenged WBA World Light-Heavyweight Champion Victor Galindez of Argentina. He lost twice to Galindez by decision in a bid for the crown in 1975. Fourie retired in 1977 after losing by knockout to countryman and later WBA World Heavyweight Champion Pierre Coetzee in 3 rounds for Cotezee's South African Heavyweight title.

Fourie retired with a record of 52-7-1 with 10 knockouts.

[elmersalsa]

It was Monday, June 24, 1974 at the University Arena of Alburquerque, NM. Bob Foster, the Light-Heavyweight king defends his title for the 14th time. It was the second time that Foster defends his title in his hometown.

The challenger was a rough, tough and rugged scrapper from Argentina named Jorge Ahumada.

Ahumada, 27, was coming from a 13-fight unbeaten streak, winning 12 of them. Among his top victims, he beat top contenders like Hal Carroll, Ray Anderson, Andy Kendall and Vernon McIntosh, all of them he beat by knockout!

He had a 4-fight series with countryman and future WBA World Light-Heavyweight Champion Victor Galindez. Galindez stopped him in 3 occasions. Ahumada won only 1 fight in the series.

Ahumada came into the fight with a record of 40-5-1 with 22KOs.

It was a classic struggle from the beginning to end. It was Foster's most brutal fight of his career. For 15 rounds, both fighters threw leather at each other getting cuts from each other. It was a brutal affair, plus the summer heat of the New Mexico desert had these fighters wilting, but not quitting.

It was Foster's 14th title defense. In round 14th, it seemed that Foster went down from a right of Ahumada's, but the referee called it that Foster's feet tangled with Ahumada's. So it was not a knockdown.

When the fight ended, it seemed that the verdict was going to be on the Argentine's favor. That was the aura in the crowd.

When the final scorecards were announced, the fight was scored a draw by the judges. All judges were also American and from the city of Alburquerque, NM.

Foster held his crown, but he looked like the loser. If Ahumada didn't get the win, it was still a moral victory for him. He brought the fight to the aging champion each round. He took Foster's best shots. Which was amazing and astonishing.

Foster retired after the fight. He didn't look like the champion of old. At 36 years of age, it showed. He had not stopped an opponent since he stopped Chris Finnegan in September 1972.

Foster retired with a record of 51-5-1 with 42KOs.

[elmersalsa]

It was Monday, June 24, 1974 at the University Arena of Alburquerque, NM. Bob Foster, the Light-Heavyweight king defends his title for the 14th time. It was the second time that Foster defends his title in his hometown.

The challenger was a rough, tough and rugged scrapper from Argentina named Jorge Ahumada.

Ahumada, 27, was coming from a 13-fight unbeaten streak, winning 12 of them. Among his top victims, he beat top contenders like Hal Carroll, Ray Anderson, Andy Kendall and Vernon McIntosh, all of them he beat by knockout!

He had a 4-fight series with countryman and future WBA World Light-Heavyweight Champion Victor Galindez. Galindez stopped him in 3 occasions. Ahumada won only 1 fight in the series.

Ahumada came into the fight with a record of 40-5-1 with 22KOs.

It was a classic struggle from the beginning to end. It was Foster's most brutal fight of his career. For 15 rounds, both fighters threw leather at each other getting cuts from each other. It was a brutal affair, plus the summer heat of the New Mexico desert had these fighters wilting, but not quitting.

It was Foster's 14th title defense. In round 14th, it seemed that Foster went down from a right of Ahumada's, but the referee called it that Foster's feet tangled with Ahumada's. So it was not a knockdown.

When the fight ended, it seemed that the verdict was going to be on the Argentine's favor. That was the aura in the crowd.

When the final scorecards were announced, the fight was scored a draw by the judges. All judges were also American and from the city of Alburquerque, NM.

Foster held his crown, but he looked like the loser. If Ahumada didn't get the win, it was still a moral victory for him. He brought the fight to the aging champion each round. He took Foster's best shots. Which was amazing and astonishing.

Foster retired after the fight. He didn't look like the champion of old. At 36 years of age, it showed. He had not stopped an opponent since he stopped Chris Finnegan in September 1972.

Foster retired with a record of 51-5-1 with 42KOs.

51-6-1 with 42KOs

[elmersalsa]

After retiring as undefeated champion in 1974, Foster made a futile comeback starting in the year 1975 at age 37. He fought 7 more times until the year 1978, losing the last two.

Bob Foster is credited to be one of the top 5 greatest light-heavyweight boxers of all-time. He was one of the division's finest champions, as well as one of boxing's greatest punchers of any weight classification. A true all-time great. His career as we summed up, was that at his weight class, he was the man. But, when it was time to face any good heavyweight, he came in the losing column. It was proven that 7 of his 8 losses were against the Big Dogs, the heavyweights. But, still it doesn't deter his legacy as an a true all-time great pound per pound fighter. At 175lbs, he was something special.

[elmersalsa]

Next, we have another great one at position #73. That's the great Pinoy boxer, Pancho Villa! Philippines first boxing idol.

[elmersalsa]

So far, this is the countdown
100. Jersey Joe Walcott
99. Sonny Liston
98. Vicente Saldivar
97. Gene Fullmer
96. Mike Tyson
95. Eusebio Pedroza
94. Benny Lynch
93. Jack Britton
92. Tommy Ryan
91. Mike McCallum
90. James Toney
89. Tiger Flowers
88. Joe Brown
87. Ted "Kid" Lewis
86. Peter Jackson
85. Beau Jack
84. Lennox Lewis
83. Abe Attell
82. Holman Williams
81. Azumah Nelson
80. Erik "El Terrible" Morales
79. Luis Manuel Rodriguez
78. George Dixon
77. Ricardo "Finito" Lopez
76. Manuel Ortiz
75. Marco Antonio Barrera
74. Bob Foster


And at #73, we have the great Pancho Villa!

[elmersalsa]

#73. Pancho Villa:
Record: 77-4-4, 22KOs
KO Pct is 21%
Career: 1919-25
World Titles Held: World Flyweight Champion (1923-25)
Highlights: World Flyweight Champion that made 3 successful title defenses in 2 years. Did not lose his crown. Won his first 18 fights. Undefeated in his first 43 bouts (Record: 38-0-3, 2NC, 11KOs). From August 1921 to April 1922, Villa won 15 fights in a row. (Record: 15-0, 3KOs). Lost only 1 fight of his last 27 before his death. (Record: 18-1-1, 7NC, with 5KOs). Beat 2 out of 4 hall of fame boxers. (Record vs hofs is 3-3, 1NC, 1KO). Beat 4out of 6 world champions. (Record versus world champions is 10-3-2, 2NC, with 2KOs).

Historical Impact: Became the first Asian/Far East Oriental ever world champion. Was his country of Philippines first world champion. He is also considered one of the greatest all-time great flyweight boxers in history.

Defining Fight: WKO7 Jimmy Wilde....June 18, 1923....."Made boxing history by becoming the first Asian/Far East Oriental to win a world title"

Other Defining Fights: W10 Bud Taylor (II), L15 Frankie Genaro (II), W15 Mike Ballerino (VII), W15 Abe Goldstein, WTKO11 Johnny Buff, and L10 Jimmy McLarnin

[elmersalsa]

Your thoughts about this great Pinoy fighter. He gave the great Jimmy Wilde of Wales a shellacking beating to win the flyweight title.

[elmersalsa]

Pancho Villa has never been knocked out in 104 contests.

[elmersalsa]

A great Pinoy fighter, Pancho Villa was his country of Philippines first world champion and also the first world champion that came out of Asia/Far East.

He died young, at age 23 of a cavity tooth infection.

There are not too many fight footage of him. Only his title winning effort against the great Jimmy Wilde is on film.

[elmersalsa]

At #72, we got the great Jimmy Barry. The first World Bantamweight Champion in boxing history (1894-99). And he was a real good one!

[elmersalsa]

So far, this is the countdown
100. Jersey Joe Walcott
99. Sonny Liston
98. Vicente Saldivar
97. Gene Fullmer
96. Mike Tyson
95. Eusebio Pedroza
94. Benny Lynch
93. Jack Britton
92. Tommy Ryan
91. Mike McCallum
90. James Toney
89. Tiger Flowers
88. Joe Brown
87. Ted "Kid" Lewis
86. Peter Jackson
85. Beau Jack
84. Lennox Lewis
83. Abe Attell
82. Holman Williams
81. Azumah Nelson
80. Erik "El Terrible" Morales
79. Luis Manuel Rodriguez
78. George Dixon
77. Ricardo "Finito" Lopez
76. Manuel Ortiz
75. Marco Antonio Barrera
74. Bob Foster
73. Pancho Villa


And at #72, we have the great Jimmy Barry!

[gilgamesh]

At #72, we got the great Jimmy Barry. The first World Bantamweight Champion in boxing history (1894-99). And he was a real good one!

It really is hard to come up with where to put these guys respectively ain't it? I think I have Morales and Barrera somewhere in between my Top 40 thru 50 respectively, but I may be a little bias there admittedly because I really loved watching both of those guys, and Morales in particular I'm a huge fan of, but you can't rank Morales highly without putting Barrera right there with him.

[gilgamesh]

We oughta make it official sometime how Boxrec's posters rank these guys. I suppose the only way to do something like that would be like a Top 10 or so list from several posters where you assigned points based on how people ranked 'em, and sh*t.

I've seen pretty solid lists be compiled that way. Honestly one of 'em was done by a lot of guys that I know are up on their Boxing history and they were pretty definitive lists for the individual weight classes. Pound for Pound is a little trickier.

[elmersalsa]

#72. Jimmy Barry:
Record: 59-0-10, 3NC, 39KOs
KO Pct is 66%
Career: 1891-1899
World Titles Held: World Bantameight Champion (1894-1899)
Highlights: World Bantamweight Champion that made 9 successful title defenses in 5 years. Did not lose his crown. Won his first 36 fights. Undefeated throughout his boxing career of 72 total bouts. Retired undefeated champ.

Historical Impact: Became the first World Bantamweight ever champion. He is also considered one of the greatest all-time great bantams boxers in history. A great puncher for the history of boxing's little men. Lost killer instinct when he stopped Walter Croot in 20 rounds in a title defense. Considered the best fighting little man of his era.

Defining Fight: WKO28 Casper Leon....September 15, 1894....."Made boxing history by becoming the first Bantamweight World Champion"

Other Defining Fights: WKO17 Jack Levy, WKO3 Joe McGrath, D14 Casper Leon (II), WTKO4 Jack Madden, WKO20 Walter Croot, and [color=0000FF]D20 Casper Leon (IV)[/color].

Any thoughts about this great little fighter?

[elmersalsa]

#72. Jimmy Barry:
Record: 59-0-10, 3NC, 39KOs
KO Pct is 66%
Career: 1891-1899
World Titles Held: World Bantameight Champion (1894-1899)
Highlights: World Bantamweight Champion that made 9 successful title defenses in 5 years. Did not lose his crown. Won his first 36 fights. Undefeated throughout his boxing career of 72 total bouts. Retired undefeated champ.

Historical Impact: Became the first World Bantamweight ever champion. He is also considered one of the greatest all-time great bantams boxers in history. A great puncher for the history of boxing's little men. Lost killer instinct when he stopped Walter Croot in 20 rounds in a title defense. Considered the best fighting little man of his era.

Defining Fight: WKO28 Casper Leon....September 15, 1894....."Made boxing history by becoming the first Bantamweight World Champion"

Other Defining Fights: WKO17 Jack Levy, WKO3 Joe McGrath, D14 Casper Leon (II), WTKO4 Jack Madden, WKO20 Walter Croot, and [color=0000FF]D20 Casper Leon (IV)[/color].

Any thoughts about this great little fighter?

[margaret thatcher]

i wonder how many times the word 'great' appears in this thread

[elmersalsa]

#72. Jimmy Barry:
Record: 59-0-10, 3NC, 39KOs
KO Pct is 66%
Career: 1891-1899
World Titles Held: World Bantameight Champion (1894-1899)
Highlights: World Bantamweight Champion that made 9 successful title defenses in 5 years. Did not lose his crown. Won his first 36 fights. Undefeated throughout his boxing career of 72 total bouts. Retired undefeated champ.

Historical Impact: Became the first World Bantamweight ever champion. He is also considered one of the greatest all-time great bantams boxers in history. A great puncher for the history of boxing's little men. Lost killer instinct when he stopped Walter Croot in 20 rounds in a title defense. Considered the best fighting little man of his era.

Defining Fight: WKO28 Casper Leon....September 15, 1894....."Made boxing history by becoming the first Bantamweight World Champion"

Other Defining Fights: WKO17 Jack Levy, WKO3 Joe McGrath, D14 Casper Leon (II), WTKO4 Jack Madden, WKO20 Walter Croot, and D20 Casper Leon

Any thoughts about this great little fighter?

[gilgamesh]

I just found it odd that he kinda stopped midway through to highlight the guy at #72.

But yeah I'd definitely put De La Hoya over a guy like Beau Jack or Jersey Joe Walcott for sure.

[gilgamesh]

Why do you keep repeating your posts Elmer? If you post it once it's there man. People are gonna read it or they ain't, but it's there.

But anyway my thoughts on Jimmy Barry are that he has a great record numbers wise on paper, but I honestly know very little about his most notable foes. So his resume is a little inflated really to me, but I'm sure he was an excellent fighter in his day.

[elmersalsa]

At #72, we got the great Jimmy Barry. The first World Bantamweight Champion in boxing history (1894-99). And he was a real good one!

It really is hard to come up with where to put these guys respectively ain't it? I think I have Morales and Barrera somewhere in between my Top 40 thru 50 respectively, but I may be a little bias there admittedly because I really loved watching both of those guys, and Morales in particular I'm a huge fan of, but you can't rank Morales highly without putting Barrera right there with him.

Top 40 to top 50 you have to be extra special. There were many fighters that were way better than the greats Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik "El Terrible" Morales. Those two are top 100 for sure. No doubt.

[elmersalsa]

I just found it odd that he kinda stopped midway through to highlight the guy at #72.

But yeah I'd definitely put De La Hoya over a guy like Beau Jack or Jersey Joe Walcott for sure.

Beau Jack was one the greatest top 10 Lightweights ever.

Jersey Joe Walcott beat the great Ezzard Charles by knockout to win the World Heavyweight Title. Convincingly. And he did it at the age of 37.

De La Hoya just feasted in alphabet organizations. Titles are diluted greatly since the late 90s.

[gilgamesh]

1. Sugar Ray Robinson
2. Sam Langford
3. Harry Greb
4. Ezzard Charles
5. Henry Armstrong
6. Willie Pep
7. Roberto Duran
8. Muhammad Ali
9. Archie Moore
10. Sugar Ray Leonard
11. Joe Louis
12. Benny Leonard
13. Gene Tunney
14. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
15. Mickey Walker
16. Barney Ross
17. Joe Gans
18. Charley Burley
19. Marvin Hagler
20. Manny Pacquiao
21. Sandy Saddler
22. Ike Williams
23. Thomas Hearns
24. Carlos Monzon
25. Tony Canzoneri
26. Bob Fitzsimmons
27. Evander Holyfield
28. Pernell Whitaker
29. Bernard Hopkins
30. Larry Holmes
31. Michael Spinks
32. George Foreman
33. Bob Foster
34. Stanley Ketchel
35. Harold Johnson
36. Alexis Arguello
37. Roy Jones Jr.
38. Wilfredo "Bazooka" Gomez
39. Jimmy Wilde
40. Julio Cesar Chavez
41. Emile Griffith
42. Lennox Lewis
43. Billy Conn
44. Eder Jofre
45. Mike McCallum
46. Ruben Olivares
47. Kid Gavilan
48. Wilfred Benitez
49. Juan Manuel Marquez
50. Aaron Pryor
51. Carlos Ortiz
52. Jack Johnson
53. Jack Dempsey
54. Jake Lamotta
55. Rocky Marciano
56. Wilfredo Gomez
57. Johnny Dundee
58. Flash Elorde
59. Johnny Kilbane
60. Panama Al Brown
61. Marco Antonio Barrera
62. Abe Attell
63. Erik Morales
64. Ricardo Lopez
65. Lou Ambers
66. Khaosai Galaxy
67. Sammy Angott
68. Miguel Canto
69. Joe Calzaghe
70. Shane Mosley
71. Andre Ward
72. Wladimir Klitschko
73. Felix Trinidad
74. James Toney
75. Oscar De La Hoya
76. Kostya Tszyu
77. Nino Benvenuti
78. Sonny Liston
79. Mike Tyson
80. Julian Jackson


There's a few guys who are active now who will definitely be crashing this party when they retire. Canelo Alvarez, Oleksandr Usyk, Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez, probably Tyson Fury and Naoya Inoue as well. Jury's still out on some others.

Vasyl Lomachenko I'd think would need another major career surge to be in the conversation, and I don't see it happening. I feel like Terence Crawford has done let the window close on him proving himself worthy of Top 100 all time.

Those are the guys from now that could potentially wind up amongst the all time greatest like that.

A guy like Young Stribling probably belongs here as well. A lot of these guys are hard to know where to rank.