Heavyweights Who Never Received World Title Shot

If you’re implying that Joshua had a “real” belt and Wilder didn’t, I don’t follow at all. He beat Charles Martin and the guy who beat Dimitrenko to get those belts.

 

I could have swore Philidelphia Jack O'Brien challenged Tommy Burns. The fight was famous because they were both under the LHW limit, so, technically, it could have been for both belts, though Burns declined it.

Did I imagine all that, or was that right? I am getting old.

 

Quite surmising that Sugar Helenius has never had a shot. Bad injury lay off albeit.

 

As someone stated above, "I was assuming this is lineal not these nonsense letter champs."

I feel another book-length post coming on. Sigh.

The lineal concept is flawed, obviously. I was just reading an article in a 1959 Ring magazine about champions, Ray Robinson in this case, who sit on the title without defending it against worthy challengers. Of course, these were the days of (for the most part) one World Champion. The writer of the article was wondering what the solution was. The solution boxing came up with is having all these sanctioning bodies and what I call "organizational titles." It's gotten so confusing that even people on a boxing board don't understand who was lineal (what I call "The World Heavyweight Championship") champion and who wasn't. Some people even argue that certain sanctioning bodies are the legitimate title while others aren't.

Even the matter of which retirement ("a champion loses his title when he retires" per some folks, or "a champion loses his title when he is beat" per others) is legit and which isn't is open for debate. I recognize Ezzard Charles as World Heavyweight Champion for beating Walcott in their first fight. Louis retired. But did he really? If I recall correctly, he was boxing exhibitions and basically only took 1949 off from official bouts. Louis took more "time off" between bouts during the war. So he came back against Charles; the win for Charles solidified his claim to The World Heavyweight Championship.

Muhammad Ali announced his retirement prior to the Joe Frazier - Jimmy Ellis fight, so I recognize Ali as The World Heavyweight Champion through January 1970 and Frazier from February to January 1973. Frazier's win over comebacking Ali solidified his claim to The World Heavyweight Championship. But Ali also announced his retirement several times in 1976 and 1977. I don't recognize those retirements.

According to some posters, Tyson Fury announced his retirement during his downtime. I don't remember an announcement of retirement. I'm not saying it didn't happen and that someone couldn't easily find video or a news story of it, but I don't remember it. I do remember some "I'm still the champ and I'll be back" announcements from Fury. So I recognize him as The World Heavyweight Champion from the Klitschko win on (thus Wilder got two shots at The World Heavyweight Championship, contrary to what's been posted).

Did George Foreman retire between the Schulz and Grimsley fights? Though I do recall an "I'm coming back" announcement prior to Grimsley, I don't recall a retirement announcement in the first place. Thus, I recognize Foreman as The World Heavyweight Champion from the Moorer win to the Briggs "loss".

Foreman was a terrible champ the second time around. So was Michael Spinks. So was Joe Frazier between the Ali and Foreman bouts (one of the state commissions that recognized Frazier as champion for beating Buster Mathis (who was like the #10 contender) stripped his title in 1972.). They didn't fight anyone in the top ten, as I recall. Certainly not anyone in the top five.

I'd be okay with stripping a champion for not fighting the best contenders within a stated period of time. The problem is, the sanctioning organizations are so arbitrary about it; about who they strip and why, and who they name to fight for their vacant title. So I just can't give them any credence. I mean, Sonny Liston, a man who was kept from a title shot for nearly four years after earning one, deserved a return shot at Ali. Ali, an ATG fighter, deserved a return shot against Spinks. When Frazier was champ, Ali certainly deserved a rematch. He was cleaning out the division. When Foreman was champ the second time, Bowe, then Holyfield certainly deserved shots. But the sanctioning bodies, the powers that be, just don't run things with any kind of logic or consistency to be taken seriously. The lineal system is flawed, but it beats what the sanctioning bodies do.

As Dubblechin has astutely pointed out, it can take time to ascertain who was lineal champ - The World Heavyweight Champion - and who wasn't.

So... history is filled with top contenders who never got a shot at The World Heavyweight Championship. Some got organizational title shots. Some even won organizational titles. But they never got a shot at the real, time-tested, World Heavyweight Championship. These contenders include, off the top of my head and certainly not a comprehensive list, Harry Wills, Jimmy Bivins, Nino Valdes, Eddie Machen, Jerry Quarry, Oscar Bonavena, Leotis Martin, Gerrie Coetzee, Greg Page, Andrew Golota, Chris Byrd, and Anthony Joshua. Thank God for active champions like Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes (who did miss some important challengers), or that list would be a lot longer.

 

But this is a problem the lineal championship cannot resolve. In part, the ABCs were a response to this, because the likes of Robinson and Moore were hanging onto the title but refusing to face their top challengers. If a champion goes years without fighting worthy challengers (or in some cases, not fighting anyone at all), then IMO he loses the right to call himself champion. A champ doesn't (or at least shouldn't) have carte blanche to do whatever he likes and freeze out everyone else. It is a sport after all. Yet by the lineal rules, he's the champion until someone finally beats him.

I also understand the rationale for stripping Ali, which was in response to the title essentially being locked up for years by a handful of men fighting endless return bouts. There was Johansson-Patterson I, II and III, followed by Liston-Patterson I and II, which was then followed by Ali-Liston I and II. The only other person who got a shot in between was Tom McNeeley. Presumably had Liston beaten Ali in the rematch, it would have been followed by a rubbermatch.

Isn't this really re-writing history though? Like them or not, WBA/WBC/IBF champs are generally recognised as world champions without regard for linearity. I don't think, for instance, that Coetzee, Page, Byrd or Golota or people following boxing at the time would believe that they didn't get a title shot. Far from it, three of them would say they were world champions. Joshua calls himself world champion right now and I'd think he'd be surprised to find himself thrown in with Harry Wills and Nino Valdes.

 

In answer to the question, Harry Wills spent the entirety of Dempsey's reign as #1 contender, so he's probably the poster boy for this. Honourable mentions for Sam Langford, who was the standout challenger during Johnson's reign, and Nino Valdes, who was rated #1 or "logical contender" a few times during Marciano's reign.