BoxRec

I found this on the net years ago and printed it out and saved it, but it is no longer on the net.

Mike Paul made his All Time Ratings of the 1449 months from December of 1881 to August of 2002 of the 61 men who have been rated as the #1 fighter in the world, in order to see true greatness.

I first found the list in 2007 and printed it out while researching former World Light Heavyweight Champion George Gardner.


Does anyone know where he got these ratings? Was this pound for pound ratings?


Joe Louis - 109 months rated at #1
Larry Holmes - 96
Muhammad Ali - 84
Evander Holyfield - 62
Sonny Liston - 61
James J. Jeffries - 60
Jack Dempsey - 59
John L. Sullivan - 58
Jack Johnson - 54
Peter Jackson - 49
Rocky Marciano - 45
Lennox Lewis - 45
Riddick Bowe - 44
Floyd Patterson - 43
Joe Frazier - 41
Bob Fitzsimmons - 40
Gene Tunney - 38
Max Schmeling - 34
Jimmy Bivins - 34
Ezzard Charles - 28
Mike Tyson - 28
Max Baer - 27
Pat Killen - 25
Jack Sharkey - 2
George Foreman - 21
Tommy Burns - 19
Philadelphia Jack O' Brien - 14
Fred Fulton - 14
Frank Slavin - 13
Sam Langford - 13
Jim Corbett - 12
Gunboat Smith - 12
Young Stribling - 12
Jess Willard - 11
Ingemar Johanssan - 10
Tom Sharkey - 9
Billy Miske - 9
Tommy Gibbons - 9
Jersey Joe Walcott - 9
Ken Norton - 8
Frank Moran - 7
Michael Spinks - 7
Archie Moore - 7
Jim Coffey - 6
Kid McCoy - 4
Al Kaufman - 4
Sam McVey - 4
Harry Wills - 4 (#2 six times)
Melio Bettina - 4
Mike Cleary - 3
George Godfrey - 3
Jack Root - 3
Marvin Hart - 3
Elmer Ray - 3
Harry Greb - 2
Tommy Ryan - 1
George Gardner - 1
Carl Morris - 1
Tom Lees - 1
Georges Carpentier - 1
Tami Mauriello - 1


That's the list from 1881 to 2002, and of course others have been added.

Does anyone know when George Gardner was rated as the #1 fighter in the world? I assume it was in July of 1903 after Gardner knocked out Jack Root for the World Light Heavyweight Title. The list sounds legit to me.

P4P lists weren't common until Ray Robinson's era...I assume when the person that put that list together he meant how many months these fights were #1 in their respective weight class. I could be wrong though.

It can't be in each weight class because that's not enough names and months.

Of course it's not pound for pound.

That is an amazing list. Pat Killen was considered the number one fighter for this long a time and i have never even really bothered to look at his career. This surely cant be right is it?

Some other really strange names in there. When was Tommy Ryan considered no 1?

I can see why Jackson was considered so good by so many now. Evander was surprisingly dominant for me too. It would be good to see someone extend things past this date, to see how the klitchskos might stack up. I wonder if Ruiz, or byrd might sneak their name into this list as well.

I am not sure where the names came from, but they certainly give an interesting perspective.

Pat Killen had 18 first round knockouts, but most of his wins were over bums, usually guys making their debut or with not much experience.

Mike Paul had these men rated at #1 and he stated that the only heavyweight champs to never be #1 were Jim Braddock, Primo Canera, and Shannon Briggs, and a few others.

It was on some website and it is no longer around.

Does anyone have an email address for Matt Donnellson, he was a friend of his I believe?

But a quick glance at his record shows Kelliher, Lannon, Dalton and Cardiff to start with. There is probably more quality heavyweight wins even there than David Haye probably has. Arguably it isnt too far off what someone like Jimmy Braddock, Michael Spinks , Leon Spinks or even a Gene Tunney.

And his loss to McCauliffe is certainly no disgrace, particularly by the boxrec account (well except for the condition he entered the ring in). It is strange and tough times. I wonder what years/months he was considered number one. I presume he took over after he beat Patsy Cardiff who had just drawn with Sullivan?

Those ratings were pretty cool. I actually saved the html on one of my computers years ago but I doubt I would be able to find it.

George Gardner was probably rated as the #1 fighter in the world in July of 1903 after he knocked out Jack Root. He was regarded as the Middleweight Champion of New England, the Middleweight Champion of Great Britain, the Middleweight Champion of the World, and the Light Heavyweight Champion of the World. Gardner fought some of the best of the era.

Gardner KO'd Peter Maher in the first round; he beat Joe Walcott in a rematch when he was the reigning World Welterweight Champion; he knocked out Jack Root twice in title fights; he went 20 rounds with Jack Johnson and Bob Fitzsimmons.

Gardner TKO'd Marvin Hart, due to Hart's broken hand and fought a draw with him the next year.

Sadly, he is always tagged for losing his title to Bob Fitzsimmons. Fitz was a popular fighter back then. The East Coast newspapers stated it was a close decision on points and that George was knocked down twice. The West Coast newspapers had a lot of fan wank for Fitzsimmons.

Billy Madden stated in 1903 that if George Gardner put on 20 more pounds he "could whip any fighter in the world."

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article ... rchLimits=

That list there has Jake kilrain as number 1 in February 1889. Killen was ranked quite highly by the writer at no 6. Frank Glover was an interesting choice at number 8, as was Mike Conley.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article ... rchLimits=

Here is a good article from November 1889. It seems that Killen may have insulted Peter Jackson but refused to fight him.

http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLib ... 011001.pdf

That one is a short unreported loss to St Joe Kid.

http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLib ... 012006.pdf

Killen seemed to go better against St JOe Kid, who was known as Len McGregor in this one. He only lost because the kid lasted the distance. It is possible that this is the same fight.

Thank you for finding this.

I guess the newspapers rated who was the best back then.


Jim Jeffries was retired as the Heavyweight Champion of the World back then when George Gardner was the Light Heavyweight Champion of the World.

This maybe why he was at #1, and I believe Jack Root was very popular back then, so that's why he was rated at #1 for 3 months, and the newspapers loved Fitzsimmons, a lot of "fan wank" as the British say.

The list is pretty good, being as this is who people thought of as the #1 fighter in the world. All of these men were held in high regard during their careers. As I said before, Billy Madden stated he believed George Gardner could "whip any fighter in the world" according to the Sun in January of 1903, if Gardner put on 20 more pounds.

Bib Fitzsimmons and Sam Langford are a virtual tie in my mind for these honors.