Is Zora Folley the gold standard for sustained contender status?

Heavyweights?

Look no further than the forehead in @NoNeck's avatar.

2007
2008
2009
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2011
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2015
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2020

= 13. I think he was banned in 2016 or it would've been 14.

 

Best H2H heavyweight contender in history imo

 

One of the few contenders picked on the forum to be a possible threat to Ali, too.

 

Unless Im mistaken I think Patterson entered the rankings earlier and stayed longer, of course part of that time he was champion.

 

This is the data when Povetkin was ranked as Top 10. I was just searching for Povetkin, forgetting that he was "out of the question". Zora Folley seems to be the gold standard. Hardly anyone has been ranked in the Top 10 12 or more times without being a champion.
P.S. I wouldn't have guessed it was Povetkin from @NoNeck's profile pic, but now I do.

 

Zora Folley was in The Ring annual ratings from 1956 to 1966, or 11 years. He was rated every year.

In the National Boxing Association ratings Folley was first rated in January 1957 and was last rated in March of 1967.

I think in both cases he never left the ratings.

Folley was not rated over the longest period back them. At least two fighters were in the ratings over a longer period in the NBA or Ring ratings.

Henry Cooper was first rated in October of 1958, and last rated in April, 1971 in the NBA ratings. He was rated by The Ring from 1958 to 1970.

Lee Savold was first rated by the NBA in December of 1939 and last rated in April of 1951. The NBA did quarterly ratings back then and Savold was not in the July, 1951 ratings. Only 4 men were listed in that rating--Charles, Louis, Layne, and Walcott. Savold was rated by The Ring from 1939 to 1950.

Neither Cooper nor Savold were rated every year. They fell out of the ratings and then returned, while Folley sustained a rating every year.

Savold was rated at one time or another in the quarterly NBA ratings in 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1948, 1949, 1950, and 1951.

My reaction is while this sort of thing is certainly worth noting, Folley, Cooper, and Savold were clearly not the best contenders out there. Their strong suit was that they lasted a long time. None beat champions, as for example Elmer Ray did. All lost more often than not to their top opponents.

 

Great research, as it should be...

 

Tim Witherspoon deserves a mention.