Long title I know , but which weight class had the most top level guys who never attained the title in that division? I go for middleweight.
light heavyweight Sam Langford, Ezzard Charles, Harry Greb, Gene Tunney, Tommy Gibbons, Jimmy Bivins, Lloyd Marshall .... etc.
It's something I'm looking at right now tbh. I've looked at people who weren't the lineal champ but we're, imo, the best in the division. I've only got as far as WW atm but I see it lIke this (I've omitted uncrowned champs who went on or had previously held the lineal title to save confusion) HW: Jackson, Langford, Bivins CW: Daniels, Czyz, Norris, Miller, Tiozzo, Hill, Jirov, Toney, Braithwaite LHW: Langford, Gibbons, Greb, Tunney, Bivins, Charles, Conteh, Galindez, Rossman, Hill, Hearns, Jones, Tarver, Johnson, Calzaghe, Pascal SMW: Leonard, Hearns, Toney, Jones, Ottke, Froch, De Gale MW: O'Brien, Kelly, Gibbons, Apostoli, Corbett, Garcia, Overlin, Burley, Williams, Kid, Carter, Jones, Golovkin LMW: Griffith, McCallum, Jackson, Vasquez, Whitaker, Vargas, Trinidad, Mayorga, Forrest, Mora, Foreman, Cotto WW: Mosley, Margarito, Pacquiao LWW: Arredondo, Hamada, Mayweather, Phillips, Millet, Mitchell, Bradley. Imo LHW has the most depth but people night have different opinions on what constitutes an uncrowned champ.
Surprisingly this is one of the shallowest divisions in this category from what I've seen so far. Almost all of the WW champions have been the best at the time imo.