Heavyweight Champions from Ancient to Present (WIP)

Archaic Era

Onomastos of Smyrna - 688, 684, 680, & 676 BC

Daippos of Kroton - 672 BC

Komaios of Megara - 652 BC

Pythagoras of Samos - 588 BC

Tissandros of Sicilian Naxos - 572, 568, 564, & 560 BC

Praxidamas of Aigina - 544 BC

Glaukos of Karystos - 520 BC

Philon of Korkyra 500 & 496 BC

Kleomedes of Astypalaia - 492 BC

Diognetos of Crete - 488 BC

Euthymos of Lokroi - 484 BC

Theagenes of Thasos - 480 BC

Classical Era

Euthymos of Lokroi - 476 & 472 BC

Menalkes of Opous - 468 BC

Diagoras of Rhodes - 464 BC

Akousilaos of Rhodes - 448 BC

Alkainetos of Lepreon - 444 BC

Kleomachos of Maiandros - 424 BC

Eukles of Rhodes - 404 BC

Demarchos of Parrhasia - 400 BC

Phormion of Halikarnassos - 392 BC

Eupalos of Thessaly - 388 BC

Damoxenidas of Mainalos - 384 BC

Illegible of Samos - 380 BC

Labax of Lepreon - 376 BC

Aristion of Epidauros - 368 BC

Philammon of Athens - 360 BC

Asamon of Elis - 340 BC

Mys or Taras - 336 BC

Satyros of Elis - 332 & 328 BC

Hellenistic Era

Archippos of Mytilene - 300 BC

Kallippos of Rhodes - 296 BC

Cleoxenus of Alexandria - 240 BC

Kleitomachos of Thebes - 212 BC

Roman Era

Epitherses of Erythrai - 184 & 180 BC

D [three illegible letters] gonos of Rhodes - 160 & 156 BC

Xenothemis of Miletos - 144 BC

Agesarchos of Tritia - 120 BC

Atyanas of Adramyttion - 72 BC

Thaliarchos of Elis - 32 BC

Nikophon of Miletos - 8 BC

Demokrates of Maiandros - 25, 29, & 33 AD

Melankomas of Caria - 49 AD

Herakleides of Alexandria - 93 AD

Marcus Tullius of Apameia - 141 & 145 AD

Photion of Ephesos - 173, 197, & 201 AD

Horus of Alexandria - 364 AD

Varazdat of Armenia - 385 AD

*Banned by Theodosius I in 393 AD

English Era

The Unnamed Dark Age Butcher - 1681

JamesFigg - 1719

Ned Sutton - 1724

James Figg - 1725

Robert Whittaker - 1725

Nathaniel Peartree - 1726

John Gritton - 1727

Tom Pipes - 1730

Bill Gretting - 1730

Tom Pipes - 1730

Bill Gretting - 1732

Tom Pipes - 1733

George Taylor - 1734

Jack Broughton - 1736

Jack Slack - 1750

William Stevens - 1760

George Meggs - 1761

George Millsom - 1762

Tom Juchau - 1765

William Darts - 1766

Tom Lyons - 1769

William Darts - 1769

Peter Corcoran - 1771

Harry Sellers - 1776

Duggan Fearns - 1779

Tom Johnson a.k.a Thomas Jackling - 1787

Benjamin Brain - 1791

Daniel Mendoza - 1794

John Jackson - 1795

Thomas Owen - 1796

Jack Bartholomew - 1797

Jem Belcher - 1800

Henry Pearce - 1805

John Gully - 1807

Tom Cribb - 1808

Tom Molineaux - 1810

Tom Spring - 1823

Tom Cannon - 1824

Jem Ward - 1825

Peter Crawley - 1827

Jem Ward - 1827

James Burke - 1833

Samuel O'Rourke - 1833

William Thompson - 1839

Ben Caunt - 1840

Nick Ward - 1841

Ben Caunt - 1841

Tom Hyer - 1841

Daniel Knox - 1842

William Thompson - 1845

William Perry - 1850

Harry Broome - 1851

John Morrissey - 1853

Tom Paddock - 1856

Tom Sayers - 1858

John Carmel Heenan - 1860

Tom Curran - 1860

Sam Hurst - 1860

Jem Mace - 1861

Tom King - 1862

Joe Coburn - 1863

Joe Wormald - 1865

Jimmy Elliott - 1865

Jem Mace - 1866

Mike McCoole - 1866

Tom Allen - 1869

Jem Mace - 1870

Tom Allen - 1873

Charlie Smith - 1876

Joe Goss - 1876

'Morris Grant - 1878

Paddy Ryan - 1880

Charles Hadley - 1881

John L. Sullivan - 1882

George Godfrey - 1883

 

American Era

'The Great' John L. Sullivan - 1885

Peter 'The Great' Jackson - 1888

'Gentleman Jim' James J. Corbett - 1892

Peter Maher - 1895

Bob 'The King of the Battle Royal' Armstrong - 1896

'Ruby' Robert James Fitzsimmons - 1897

Frank 'The Crafty Texan' Childs - 1898

George Byers - 1898

Klondike - 1899

James 'The Boilermaker' J. Jeffries - 1899

Frank 'The Crafty Texan' Childs - 1899

Frank 'The Crafty Texan' Childs - 1901

Ed 'The Colorado Giant' Martin - 1902

Jack 'The Unforgivable Blackness' Johnson - 1903

Marvin 'The Louisville Plumber' Hart - 1905

Noah Brusso a.k.a. Tommy 'The Little Giant of Hanover' Burns - 1906

Jack 'The Unforgivable Blackness' Johnson - 1908

Sam McVea - 1909

Jeremiah "Joe" Jeannette - 1909

Samuel 'Boston Bonecrusher' Langford - 1910

Al Palzer - 1911

Sam McVea - 1911

Sam 'Boston Tar Baby' Langford - 1912

Luther McCarty - 1913

Arthur Pelkey - 1913

Edward 'Gunboat' Smith - 1914

Harry 'The Black Panther' Wills - 1914

Georges 'The Orchid Man' Carpentier - 1914

Sam 'Boston Terror' Langford - 1914

Jess 'Pottawatomie Giant' Willard - 1915

Harry 'The Black Panther' Wills - 1916

Sam 'Greatest Fighter Nobody Knows' Langford - 1916

'Big' Bill Tate - 1917

Sam 'Boston' Langford - 1917

Harry 'The Black Panther' Wills - 1918

Jack 'The Manassa Mauler' Dempsey - 1919

James Joseph Tunney a.k.a Gene 'The Fighting Marine' Tunney - 1926

Feab Smith Williams a.k.a. George 'The Leiperville Shadow' Godfrey - 1926

(Lawrence Samuel) 'Loopin'' Larry Gains - 1928

Maximillian Adolph Otto Siegfried Schmeling 'Black Uhlan of the Rhine' - 1930

Maximillian Adolph Otto Siegfried Schmeling 'Black Uhlan of the Rhine' - 1931

Feab Smith Williams a.k.a. George 'The Leiperville Shadow' Godfrey - 1931

Joseph Paul Zukauskas a.k.a Jack 'Sharkboy' Sharkey - 1932

Primo Carnera - 1933

'Bearcat' Obie Dia Walker - 1933

Maximilian Adelbert Baer - 1934

James J. (Walter) 'Pride of the Irish' Braddock - 1935

Feab Smith Williams a.k.a. George 'The Leiperville Shadow' Godfrey - 1935

'Loopin' Larry Gains - 1935

Joseph 'The Brown Bomber' Louis Barrow - 1937

Ezzard Mack Charles 'Cincinnati Cobra' - 1949

Lee 'The Battling Bartender' Savold (Hulver) - 1950

Ezzard Mack Charles 'Cincinnati Cobra' - 1950

Ezzard Mack Charles 'Cincinnati Cobra' - 1951

Arnold Raymond Cream a.k.a Jersey Joe Walcott - 1951

Rocco Francis Marchegiano a.k.a Rocky 'The Brockton Blockbuster' Marciano - 1952

Floyd 'The Gentleman of Boxing' Patterson - 1956

Ingemar 'The Hammer of Tho' Johansson - 1959

Floyd 'The Gentleman of Boxing' Patterson - 1960

Charles L. 'Sonny' 'The Big Bear' Liston - 1962

Cassius 'The Louisville Lip' Clay - 1964

Muhammad 'The Greatest' Ali - 1964

Ernie Terrell - 1965

Muhammad 'The Greatest' Ali - 1967

Smokin' Joe (William) Frazier - 1968

Jimmy (Albert) Ellis - 1968

Smokin' Joe (William) Frazier - 1970

'Big' George (Edward) Foreman - 1973

Muhammad 'The Greatest' Ali - 1974

'Neon' Leon Spinks - 1978

'Neon' Leon Spinks - 1978

Ken 'The Jaw Breaker'(Howard) Norton - 1978

Larry 'The Easton Assassin' Holmes - 1978

Muhammad 'The Greatest' Ali - 1978

'Big' John Tate - 1979

Mike 'Hercules'(Dwayne) Weaver - 1980

Michael (Marshall) 'Dynamite' Dokes (Doakes) - 1982

Gerhardus 'Gerrie' 'The Bionic Hand' Christian Coetzee - 1983

Larry 'The Easton Assassin' Holmes - 1983

'Terrible' Tim Witherspoon - 1984

'Pink' Pinklon Thomas - 1984

Greg Page - 1984

Tony 'TNT' Tubbs - 1985

Michael 'Jinx' Spinks - 1985

Trevor Berbick - 1985

'Terrible' Tim Witherspoon - 1986

'Iron' Mike Tyson - 1986

James 'Bonecrusher' Smith - 1986

'Iron' Mike Tyson - 1987

Tony 'TNT' Tucker - 1987

Mike Tyson - 1987

Francesco Damiani - 1989

James 'Buster' Douglas - 1990

Evander 'The Real Dea' Holyfield - 1990

Ray 'Merciless' Mercer - 1991

Michael 'Double M' Moorer - 1992

Riddick 'Big Daddy' Bowe - 1992

Riddick 'Big Daddy' Bowe - 1992

Lennox 'The Lion' Lewis - 1992

Tommy 'The Duke' Morrison - 1993

Michael Bentt - 1993

Evander 'The Real Deal' Holyfield - 1993

Herbert Okechukwu Maduagwu a.k.a. Herbie 'The Dancing Destroyer' Hide - 1994

Michael 'Double M' Moorer - 1994

Oliver 'The Atomic Bull' McCall - 1994

'Big' George Foreman - 1994

'Big' George Foreman - 1995

Riddick 'Big Daddy' Bowe - 1995

Bruce 'The Atlantic City Express' Seldon - 1995

Frank Bruno - 1995

'Iron' Mike Tyson - 1996

Michael 'Double M' Moorer - 1996

Henry Adetokunboh Akinwande - 1996

'Iron' Mike Tyson - 1996

'Iron' Mike Tyson- 1996

Evander 'The Real Deal' Holyfield - 1996

Lennox 'The Lion' Lewis - 1997

Herbert Okechukwu Maduagwu a.k.a. Herbie 'The Dancing Destroyer' Hide - 1997

Evander 'The Real Deal' Holyfield - 1997

Vitali 'Dr. Ironfist' Klitschko - 2000

Lennox 'The Lion' Lewis - 1999

Chris 'Rapid Fire' Byrd - 2000

Lennox 'The Lion' Lewis - 2000

Evander 'The Real Deal' Holyfield - 2000

Wladimir 'Dr. Steelhammer' Klitschko - 2000

John 'The Quietman' Ruiz - 2001

Hasim 'The Rock' Rahman - 2001

Lennox 'The Lion' Lewis - 2001

Lennox 'The Lion'Lewis - 2002

Chris 'Rapid Fire' Byrd - 2002

Roy 'Captain Hook' Jones, Jr. - 2003

Corrie 'The Sniper' Sanders - 2003

John 'The Quietman' Ruiz - 2004

Lamon 'Relentless' Brewster - 2004

Vitali 'Dr.Ironfist' Klitschko - 2004

Hasim 'The Rock' Rahman - 2005

Nikolai 'Beast from the East' Valuev - 2005

Siarhei 'The White Wolf' Liakhovich - 2006

Wladimir 'Dr.Steelhammer' Klitschko - 2006

Oleg 'The Big O' Maskaev - 2006

Shannon 'The Cannon' Briggs - 2006

Ruslan 'The White Tyson' Chagaev - 2007

Sultan(-Ahmed Magomedsalihovich) Ibragimov - 2007

Wladimir 'Dr.Steelhammer' Klitschko - 2008

Samuel Okon Peter - 2008

Nikolai 'Beast from the East' Valuev - 2008

Vitali 'Dr.Ironfist' Klitschko - 2008

David 'The Hayemaker' Haye - 2009

Wladimir 'Dr.Steelhammer' Klitschko - 2011

Alexander 'Sasha' Povetkin - 2011

Bermane 'B.Ware' Stiverne - 2014

Ruslan 'White Tyson' Chagaev - 2014

Deontay 'The Bronze Bomber' Wilder - 2015

Tyson 'The Gypsy King' Fury - 2015

'Prince' Charles Martin - 2016

Lucas 'Big Daddy' Browne - 2016

Anthony 'AJ' Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua - 2016

Ruslan 'White Tyson' Chagaev - 2016

Joseph (Dennis) Parker - 2016

Anthony 'AJ' Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua - 2017

(Mahmoud Omeirat) Manuel 'Diamond Boy' Charr - 2017

Anthony 'AJ' Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua - 2018

Andy Ruiz Jr. - 2019

Anthony Joshua - 2019

Tyson Fury - 2020

Trevor Bryant - 2021

Oleksandr Usyk - 2021

Daniel Dubois - 2022

Mahmoud Charr - 2023

Oleksandr Usyk - 2024

Daniel Dubois - 2024

Kubrat Pulev - 2024

*Roman boxing was ended when the pope St. Siricius deemed boxing anti-christian. The claim was man is made in the image of god so disfiguring a man's face is akin to or symbolic of disfiguring the face of god and that is blasphemy. Roman emperor Theodosius I was the first to make boxing illegal, then the rest of christendom followed. So boxing became blasphemy and there can't be a champion because the church would have his head, but there is still training and underground matches. Due to the illegal nature of boxing, strength of the church, and general mood of politics during the dark ages there is an extreme lack of decent record keeping leaving us with very little known about the period that follows Roman boxing and predates English boxing.

 

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wrong section obviously, sorry lads I thought I had classic bookmarked.

 

I don't know for sure right off hand. Eventually I'll get around to doing a thread on him and provide what details I can gather, but for now I think if his numbers are even close to true it's unlikely he was able to stack over 1k in Ws without causing a death.

There is one story that said his statues was attacked and fell over killing it's attacker. The statues of Theagenes was convicted of murder and thrown into the sea.

Appreciate it

 

It was rare for the hellanodikai to stop a match, to my knowledge anyway. I'll try to get a figure for you, but it's pretty safe to say most were either unable to continue or admitted defeat.

 

Updated, Charr, Knox, and Curran added.

Curran I'm not sure of at present. I know for sure he won a HW championship match in 1860 so I'll leave him there for now, but I'm not certain if he was ever considered HW champion in dispute of the Sayers lineage.

There are plenty of matches in boxing history where a new champion can only be crowned if the right guy wins, and I'm not sure if Tom fought for a "world" title or a local title. He could have been the wrong man or just a city champion. There were loads of "champion of london"s. I believe he's an Aussie, but I'm not certain. I'm not sure if he was black or not, it could have been for the colored version of the title.

Anyone got info on Tom?

Not much is know about Knox, he's only got a few matches on record, but I am absolutely certain he was crowned colored HW champion when he defeated Sam Briggs. He defended that title one time against "Butcher" Mack in 1843. I'm not sure what Butcher's first name is, could very well be Butcher. Daniel was 5'10" and 165lbs. I don't know when or where he was born or died.

 

It depends on how you mean. I've yet to dip into claimants who just claimed to be the best but I do have as many claimants as I am aware who were validated by others be it fans, fighters, or promoters.

If someone other than the man himself ever called him champ he's probably on the list. If he's just some guy who called himself the best like Davie Joyce does presently then I may add him at some point but I'm still looking for guys with more legitimate claims who actually tried to push the issue.

Take for example Klondike. Klondike was just a black man trying to get a shot at the title. He called himself the Black HW Champ. He never did get a shot at the white title but he fought and lost to a man who merged his BHC with the Colored HW championship. Then of course that lineage fall onto Johnson who legitimized the whole thing, imo, by winning the lineal and beating the retired lineal champ back into retirement. Had Klondike's claim never merged with the colored champ and then onto Johnson's lineage I'd not have him up there yet.


The loosest I've been has been the inclusion of the official White HW championship. Which was held during Johnson's reign as a sort of promotional tool for the racist audience. The White HW championship is not to be confused with lineal which I often call white given it was held by whites and a colorline was drawn on it, but officially the lineal is a different title from the white title.

 

John Gritton and Nathaniel Peartree added.

Peartree won his title by defeating Whittaker, Gritton then won the title by defeating Peartree. Pretty cut and dry case for the title.

 

George 'The Leiperville Shadow' Godfrey not to be confused with George 'Old Chocolate' Godfrey won the IBU version of the HW champion of the world in 1935 some months after Braddock was universally recognized. After. This raises some academic questions.

Why is Braddock considered an undisputed champion if for a time he was only recognized by the NYSAC and NBA not all three of the orgs?

I mean why do historians point out Max being less than universal but not James?

Why is Lee's IBU alone and Max's IBU/NBA with no NYSAC recognized, but George can't make the list o champs one time for having done the exact same as Lee?


Of course this is mostly rhetoric, I don't expect anyone to have answers for me, but if you do I'm very interested.


I'll be doing a thread on George in a bit. Dude was fascinating. He once KO'd Dempsey in training and reported weighed between 220 and 260. Was IBU champion and x2 colored (NSC?) champion, dude deserves some spotlight.

 

Added Cleoxenus of Alexandria in 240 BC. It seems not so long ago I got my hands on Eusebius' Chronicle in it's complete form for the first time. At first I wasn't sure if I'd read it, but by the end it's pretty clear I had, fragmented across the internet.

I went through the whole blasted thing, noticed Cleoxenus fairly early and continued to read thinking surely it'd have more to offer than a name, but no luck.