Is Louis's 25 title defenses the greatest accomplishment in boxing?

For me it's the great Ray Robinson:

-He went undefeated in 91 fights from 1943 until he fought Turpin in 1951. He went 88-0 with 2 draws and 1 NC in that timespan. His overall record at the time of the first Turpin match was 128-1-2 with his only loss to Lamotta (when SRR was only 21 years old) being avenged several times over.

 

How could he break it when he has never been undisputed champion? Even to this day he is not undisputed.
While Wlad's accomplishments are to be lauded, the cheapening of the title because of the splintering of them into however many versions has lead to situations like this, where a beltholder can with some legitimacy claim to be 'the champ.'

Wlad held the WBO title when Lewis held the lineal title and was rightly seen as the champ. Wlad held a belt, that's all. That does not make him 'the champ.' Louis was the one and only champ for the entire duration of his reign.

I think any purist would put this into context and realise the difference.

 

You can make the case.

It is probably the single most dominant tile reign in the history of the sport.

You can make a case that George Dixon had more title defences.

 

Greatest accomplishment in boxing - ever? Difficult to say. Louis' 25 defences must be up there, and so is Robinson's incredible run, Armstrong's 3 titles, etc... and it boggles the mind to think that Hopkins is still around, doing what he does at almost 50 years of age.

However, for me the most amazing thing in boxing will probably always be Hary Greb's 1919, where he went 45-0... with 10 of those wins coming against future HOFers. In this day and age, that is almost incomprehensible!

 

Armstrong for me.

 

it's definitely right up there with great accomplishments in boxing.

 

Foremans regaining the heavyweight title 20 years on aged 44 was some achievement
Roberto duran making 12 lightweight defences going 71-1 then jumping 2 weights to take the welterweight title from sugar ray leonard, not to mention winning the light middle and the middleweight title nearly a decade later

 

An awesome accomplishment

 

One of the greatest, for sure. Equally impressive is his 11-year title reign, especially if you consider that he did it in an age when healthcare, nutrition, and general wealth was poor. Most boxers were washed up by 30-35. During the last several decades, we've seen top boxers still competitive up to - and sometimes into - their 40's. Despite that, the 11-year title reign record still stands today, and probably will for many decades to come.

Some other accomplishments at heavyweight that stand out to me:

• Marciano fighting the #1 contender five times and the #2 contender once as his title defenses, knocking out all of them as well as every rated opponent he ever fought.

• 
  Tyson's destruction of the heavyweight division between 1986-1990. The only stone unturned was Holyfield (wasn't considered much of a threat at the time, nevertheless, he was scheduled after Douglas), and maybe Witherspoon, but he got knocked out of contention.

• 
  
  Joe Louis KO1 Max Schmeling in the rematch. So much pressure, the psychological disadvantage of having been knocked out and humiliated in their previous fight, the political aspect, etc, etc. Arguably the biggest fight ever, and he won it in a single round.
  

 

How many defenses is Wlad on since the Byrd fight? He could well beat Louis's record.

 

If Wlad goes on to win the WBC belt, I (and many others) will consider all of his title defenses as reigning as the legitimate "Undisputed Champion".

I consider the 4 belt splinter similar to the NFL. The NFL is enforcing new rule changes making it a more high-scoring affair which makes it more difficult on defenses to prevent less scoring (TD passes, receptions, yards, etc.) Rules change and you have to deal with it.

Any fighter has to grab all 4 belts (which seems to be incredibly difficult for a variety of reasons: politics, fighter ducking, etc.)

Records are meant to be broken.

 

1 more belt away.

If Wlad grabs that last belt all of his previous defenses should be included under the legitimate HW title.

I can understand not including his WBO reign, but his reign has not been seriously challenged since he has held the IBF title. His "Co-champions" have lost the belt to him eventually.

 

Crazy.

 

It's more difficult to unify all 4 belts today than to win the classic title back then, but it's obviously easier to win one belt today than the classic title back then. So, what is comparable? Two belts? Three? I don't think a comparison can be made at all, except that having all 4 belts counts at least as heavy as the classic title. And it will probably take more than a century for someone to unify all 4 belts and then follow up with 25 defenses.

For comparison, Patterson become undisputed by beating Archie Moore. Wlad beat Peter (both top contenders), but wins only an IBF title shot (Byrd). Then there's the political bull**** making unification difficult: HBO vs Showtime, Haymon vs K2 vs King vs Top Rank vs Sauerland vs Arum, etc. Not to mention the mandatory defenses, which make unified title retention almost impossible (certainly, historically this has been the case).

TL;DR Joe Louis' record will stand for many, many decades.