Does Ezzard Charles have the best list of scalps of any fighter?

I've been thinking lately that Ezzard Charles has got to have the best list of scalps out of any fighter in history just going by wins over quality of opposition.

4 wins over Joey Maxim
4 wins over Jimmy Bivins
3 wins over Archie Moore
2 wins over Charley Burley
2 wins over Lloyd Marshall
2 wins over Jersey Joe Walcott

He also beat:

Joe Louis
Jose Basora
Oakland Billy Smith
Gus Lesnivich
Teddy Yaroz
Bob Satterfield
Coley Wallace
Elmer Ray
Rex Layne

Along with about a dozen other top contenders. Crazy **** and the great list of scalps I've ever seen. I'd rather have three wins over Archie Moore than 5 wins over Jake Lamotta and I'd rather have four wins over Joey Maxim than 4 over Chalky Wright.

 

For names that have stood the test of time? There might well be noone better in that regard people have more hof victories etc but charles has beaten people still considered atg's today.

 

To further what I mean there, when fitz beat dempsey he was most likely the goat. When he beat corbett he could well have been the goat also and fitz himself would have been the goat at that point.

However today, np and gentleman jim aren't in that many top 20 lists let alone many people's goat.

 

Is Coley Wallace really worth mentioning? Joe Baksi, Fitzie Fitzpatrick and Anton Christoforidis are better record-padders, surely, among others.

Anyways, I'd go with Greb still: Gene Tunney, Tommy Loughran, Mickey Walker, Jack Dillon, Mike Gibbons, Tommy Gibbons, Maxie Rosenbloom, Kid Norfolk, Tiger Flowers, Jeff Smith, Jimmy Slattery, Lou Bogash, George Chip, Jack Blackburn, Soldier Bartfield, Battling Levinsky, Billy Miske, Eddie McGoorty, Mike McTigue, Johnny Wilson, Al McCoy, Willie Meehan, Bill Brennan, etc. Most of them multiple times.

 

Yeah I anticipated Greb as the other candidate for this distinction and I think you can really make a case for either man. While Greb probably has more notable scalps the qaulity of Charles' scalps is superior in my mind, especially because I think if you line up Ezzard's victims head to head with Greb's Ezzards would probably dominate.

I just think its an interesting question and I hope it'll spark some good debates.

 

Really? I think they're quite evenly matched.

Charles: Jersey Joe Walcott, Joe Louis, Jimmy Bivins, Archie Moore, Charley Burley, Lloyd Marshall, Joey Maxim, Jose Basora, etc.

Greb: Gene Tunney, Tommy Loughran, Mickey Walker, Jack Dillon, Mike Gibbons, Tommy Gibbons, Maxie Rosenbloom, Kid Norfolk, Tiger Flowers, etc.

Where does Charles hold the edge, exactly?

 

Charles is one of my favourites, Greb is a hard master to be favoured for sure. Though perhaps a general consenses of the better period, in my understanding favours Charles and that era in general.

But as I always say at the Top, there is little between great fighters!

 

Greb's wins over walker and tunney certainly stand the test of time.

As do langford's victories over gans and walcot.

 

Muhammad Ali

Archie Moore
Cleveland Williams
Bob Foster
George Chuvalo
Zora Folley
Jerry Quarry
Oscar Bonavena
Sonny Liston
Floyd Patterson
Joe Frazier
Ken Norton
Ron Lyle
Earnie Shavers
George Foreman
Jimmy Young

 

Well I think Moore and Burley (going by Spring Toledo's rankings) are a big big plus for Ezzard. Two top 10 P4P, Greb just has the one in Walker.

 

That's if you're going by Springs Toledo's rankings.

 

The way I see it Charles was more consistent in his series against such opposition. However, he was near the same size or even bigger than his opposition (Although he has the HW scraps like Louis & Walcott). Greb on the other hand was often the much smaller man. That's why he's considered greater. But you're correct when looking at opposition, rather than taking in both record and achievement.

 

You think Foster, Moore, and Williams are really worth noting? I mean, I could grant Foster, even though he'd already proven himself not to be a top notch Heavyweight. He was still a very highly rated fighter at the time, so I could understand him being included to pad Ali's record. The other two were shot to ****.

 

Great writer, smart guy, knows boxing....massive ****ing hipster

 

Well his seem to be some of the most rationa out there, and I dont have my own