BoxRec

Which HW champions have the best records from before they won the title... You can count fights they had after they lost it...

Dempsey had a great pre-title run. Frazier, if you count Ellis for the title in 1970 (I do), qualifies. Liston really cleaned house. Tyson did, too, though the opposition varied, & was never at the standards he set. Louis is another stand-out. Off-hand, I count three ex-champs he beat before toppling Braddock, which was only three years into his pro career. Look at Tunney & Holyfield (taking into account his Cruiser championship & early HW days) before they became Heavy champs, too.

As with Frazier, if you hold off on Lewis being champ until he beats Briggs in 1998 (again, I do), he'd beaten many of the top 90's Heavies.

Doesn't seem like anyone really stands out. Dempsey did have a great run after Kearns became his manager/trainer. However he had some losses before that.
Louis got ko's by Schmeling. Louis did beat 3 ex-champs, though Sharkey was washed up by then. He also beat Levinsky and Pastor.
Liston lost to Marty Marshall; though he the wins over Williams, Machen, and Folley.

It gets a little tricky with the whole WBC/WBA etc. I considered Lewis the champ before that and don't consider Briggs a champion. But that is another story.

Holyfield didn't have a lot of heavyweight fights before winning the title, but he faced pretty good competition.

If you take into consideration how little experience he had, Jeffries deserves a mention. He had draws with Ruhlin and Choynski and knocked out Hank Griffin and Pete Everrett, and decisioned Sharkey.

Gotta give Jack Johnson a shout.
He used to fight guys like Langford,McVea and Joe Jeanette every week seems like.

Ambling Alp wrote:Doesn't seem like anyone really stands out. Dempsey did have a great run after Kearns became his manager/trainer. However he had some losses before that.
Louis got ko's by Schmeling. Louis did beat 3 ex-champs, though Sharkey was washed up by then. He also beat Levinsky and Pastor.
Liston lost to Marty Marshall; though he the wins over Williams, Machen, and Folley.

It gets a little tricky with the whole WBC/WBA etc. I considered Lewis the champ before that and don't consider Briggs a champion. But that is another story.

Holyfield didn't have a lot of heavyweight fights before winning the title, but he faced pretty good competition.

If you take into consideration how little experience he had, Jeffries deserves a mention. He had draws with Ruhlin and Choynski and knocked out Hank Griffin and Pete Everrett, and decisioned Sharkey.

I think you're being pretty hard on Louis, Liston & Dempsey.