Who was the worst fighter that was a Champion?

What on Earth compels you to believe that Josh Taylor is the worst champion in the history of the sport of boxing. There have been droves of hapless fighters who've stumbled their way into winning titles but The Tartan Tornado certainly isn't one. He was a decorated amateur, an undisputed champion, and a staple on P4P lists. He cleared out a stacked 140 division. How is Josh Taylor in any worse a worse boxer than the likes of Adrian Curiel, Charles Martin, Jim Braddock, Jess Willard, Muhammad Rachman, Alfonso Frazer, Rolly Romero, Leon Spinks, Demetrius Andrade, Cesar Cuenca, Ishe Smith, Julius Indongo, John Ruiz, Caleb Truax, or Cornelius Bundrage?

 

Leon Spinks.

 

You may have a point. But if he was never under ideal circumstances to achieve his full potential then we can’t rate him for what he “ could have “ been. If we started doing that then the entire landscape of boxing history would look different

 

Yeah I think I started a thread on that topic a while ago and some of the answers I got presented it as sort of a grey area.

 

I don`t think amateur boxing is that good and Taylor was just a face first brawler with no skill or power and he was a lot bigger than most of his opponents, he was verry tall for his weight class and had a long reach.

 

Amateur boxing isn't that good??? WTF do you mean by that? Amateur boxing is an incredibly tough sport and just as difficult and competitive as professional boxing. You clearly haven't been in an amateur bout, met amateur boxers, or scarcely seen any amateur fights if you hold such a preposterous view. I don't even think you've seen any Josh Taylor fights judging by your description of him either. If Taylor had no power than how did he drop Jose Ramirez twice, drop Barinchyk twice, drop Postol, stop Ryan Martin (who was doping for that fight btw), and stop the very tough Miguel Vazquez?
"No skills" is just a moronic thing to say. You don't make it out of a sparring session in any half-decent gym if you don't have boxing skill, let alone the elite level of championship boxing. His footwork, his feint game, his punch selection, his counter-punching ability, and his aptitude on the inside all show that Josh Taylor does have boxing skill, and plenty of it.
If you can make the weight and compete at it, then I don't really see a problem. Taylor has the same opportunities as everybody else when it comes to taking off weight from his naturally lanky frame. Taylor didn't even hire a nutritionist until the Teo fight and has said he would make weight the old-fashioned way through running and saunas up until that fight. I don't see how being skinny and tall makes someone a worse fighter, especially not in the case of Taylor who would often negate his reach and height advantages to trade on the inside and apply pressure, not that you'd know that of course since you don't know how he fights. The mental caricature you have of Josh Taylor and his style of fighting is inaccurate.

 

If you don't include Hart, then the lineage ends with Jeffries.

 

Primo Carnera

 

Wilder has gotta be up there.

 

Steve Little.

 

Chuck Davey thankfully never won the title. I'm personally of the conviction that most of his big wins were fixed. Lew Jenkins isn't a bad shout honestly though. Never really scored a significant victory over a serious contender or champ apart from an ageing Lou Ambers.

 

I am going to stand up for Hart here.

When you actually look into the detail of his record, it is a lot better than most people think.

We held a thread on here a few years back, which your probably remember, where we collectively ranked every lineal heavyweight champions best five wins.

Hart came out as a surprising winner among the traditional WOAT candidates.

 

Fair

 

He also beat Bob Montgomery, former FW title claimant Mike Belloise, & future jr.WW champ Tippy Larkin & drew w/ Fritzie Zivic.