Top 10 list of most heavyweight title defenses

Here's what we have so far. Wlad belongs in here somewhere sans WBO title defenses. If anyone would volunteer for this project I'd be very grateful.

1 - Joe Louis (25)
2 - Larry Holmes (20)
3 - Muhammad Ali (19)
4 - Lennox Lewis (13)


Tyson and Frazier have 9 a piece. Ezzard has 8. That's all I can contribute at the moment.

 

Wlad has 16 defenses of the IBF. If you are counting all of Lewis' WBC defenses, than those count.

 

I was under the impression the Chageav fight was not for the Lineal crown.

 

There are quite a few that recognize it as such.

Lewis wasn't lineal for all 13 WBC defenses being counted either. This looks to just be a count of major belt defenses.

In which case Vitali would enter the list with 10 defenses of the WBC.

 

Yes I am. And thank you.

 

Extensive debate in which the Chagaev fight is discussed:

http://www.boxingforum24.com/showthread.php?p=16037151

 

Would you mind volunteering for this particular assignment? I'd appreciate it if you could! :thumbsup

 

Who cares, the dude done clarified that's not what he meant.

 

If you are counting alphabet titles, then are you also counting coloured titles? If so, i think Johnson, Langford and Wills would be right in the mix.

Also, do John L Sullivan's defences where he had to KO the opposition to win the fight count? Because if they do, he would be a long, long way ahead. Given that a loss in any of those fights would almost certainly have seen him lose any claim to the world title (Gloved), i don t think that it is out of the question to count them.

 

Yes and yes. We should probably make a list of top 30 perhaps? If not a top 20 would be sufficient. Thank you! :good

 

Tommy Burns had 11.
Evander Holyfield had 7.

 

John L Sullivan had 25 if we include exhibitions where the title was on the line, but by that logic Louis has 26.

 

Vitali boy was on the scene then and to many was the best HW in the division.

 

We talking cumulative or consecutive? Because Ali lost the title once or twice and then regained it just like Robinson at middleweight. Come to think of it, what are the records for number of times regaining a title?