Criteria: heavyweights who never won a heavyweight world championship (Lineal, WBA, WBC, IBF, or WBO) 1890's: Peter Jackson- i would love to see film of him, he probably beats Sullivan 1900's: Joe Jeannette 1910's: Sam Langford- Langford is at his peak from 1910-14, him not getting a title shot is as terrible as Wills not getting one 1920's: Harry Wills 1930's: Larry Gains 1940's: Elmer Ray 1950's: Archie Moore 1960's: Jerry Quarry 1970's: Jimmy Young 1980's: Gerry Cooney 1990's: Ike Ibeaubuchi 2000's: Tua
1900: Joe Jeanette 1910: Sam Langford 1920: Harry Wills 1930: Tommy Loughran 1940: Jimmy Bivins 1950: Archie Moore 1960: Ernie Terrell 1970: Jerry Quarry 1980: Tim Witherspoon 1990: Oliver McCall 2000: Chris Byrd 2010: Alexander Povetkin
When I say make a list of best contenders, I always go by people who weren't lineal, and I take it we're not including them if they were lineal in a different decade. I also don't really know the dates well around the turn of the century, so I'll just start from 1910. 1910: Langford 1920: Wills 1930: Risko (@me mutha****er) 1940: Bivins 1950: Moore 1960: Quarry 1970: Young 1980: Witherspoon 1990: Tua 2000: Vitali 2010: Povetkin 2020: Joshua (I know it's early lol)
DMT, I don't think I would dispute much with your opinions. Maybe I would supplant Gains with Lou Nova for the 30s and Jimmy Bivins for Elmer Ray in the 40s. The 50s is a bit of a conundrum. Moore is right there along with Zora Folley and Eddie Machen. Too close to dispute. Same with the 60s. Folley and Machen again are right there as well as Oscar Bonavena, but I won't dispute Jerry Quarry. Good list, my man.
Meeting the criteria of this post gets much more difficult in the 1980's and beyond, since there were so many titles to go around. Even in the 1940's, Jimmy Bivins was an interim champion. And do we count the race-based "World Championships" of the first two decades of the twentieth century? Are we not counting the NBA, predecessor of the WBA and as legit as sanctioning bodies come? Finally, as I like to often point out to illustrated the ridiculous nature of titles in boxing, even Buster Mathis was a World Super Heavyweight Champion for three and a half weeks in 1972.
