Heavyweight Champions: 50-0?

Which Heavyweight Champion of the World, could have gone 50-0, if he could have fought one former or future World Heavyweight Champion 50 times in a row, with both at their best every time? Name the two.

Example: Sonny Liston could have gone 50-0 against former Heavyweight World Champion, Floyd Patterson, with both at their best for each fight (if you believe that).

 

I think you hit the best example.

Tyson would have gone 500-0 against Bruce Seldon

 

Jack Dempsey goes 50-0 against Jess Willard.

And it never goes the distance in any fight.

 

Yes to Dempsey v Willard, but no to Liston v Patterson. After ten wins Liston would turn up untrained and with a hangover and lose the next fight.

 

Probably not too many beyond those mentioned which is why they were champs in the first instance. Only other comes to mind is Jack Johnson vs Tommy Burns.
Could Ali beat Liston 50 times consecutively ? I wouldn’t bet too much on it. Perhaps but seems unlikely.
Could Louis beat Braddock 50 times in a row? Possible, but again not a lock.

 

Foreman would beat Frazier 50 times in a row.

 

Can’t believe I didn’t think of this. Yes, regardless of version just a horrid matchup for Joe

 

Could Mike Tyson beat Michael Spinks 50 times in a row?

 

Yes.

Jack Johnson - Tommy Burns

 

Absolutely not. After two straight wins, he'd be out partying all night, but maybe after two tough knockouts, Michael wouldn't be able to do anything.

I also think Spinks with a bandaged knee from 1988 takes on Tokyo Mike from 1990, although I'm not convinced.

 

We had one or two guys from that Foster v Hearns thread who had a real good grasp of probability. I really want to hear their opinions on this matter.

I don't remember the posters I'm talking about.

I think to understand whats needed to go 50-0 people should go back to the 1900s and 1910s when guys might not have fought 50 times but they fought 10 or 20. To go 15-0,25-0 or beyond means the loser doesn't really have the ability to win rounds against and/or hurt the winner. To run a table 50 fights long a fighter has to be much better.

Foreman and Liston have the best chance of doing this to the most HW champions. Stiverne would be the easiest champ to do it against?

I do not think Seldon would lose 50 times in a row against Mike Tyson. Seldons better than that. Peter McNeeley might not be but Peter McNeeley never fought for a HW title. Tyson won 1 rematch in his career. Rematches mean the other guy got to go back to the drawing board and see what they did wrong and get a chance to correct it. Going 50-0 means giving someone 49 chances to do this.

 

Ali vs Liston.

 

Willard was coming on in that fight. And then he just quit. Jack was a 4 round fighter. I'm sure Jess could have grabbed one out of ten, if not more.