Longest careers ever in boxing?

Not the longest in terms of years but fights is Len Wickwar.. 473 fights over a 19 year career .. would have been more had the war not halted it.. lived to a decent age too considering all those fights.. there's a bit of footage on him and he looks a good fighter actually..

 

Harry Wills must’ve felt timeless… he had an exhibition with Joe Louis and had a mutual opponent with Jack Blackburn. HW fought for 21 years and was a bridge between the caveman era of fighting and the dawn of the “Golden Age” of boxing.

 

Both Jack Johnson and Roberto Duran had a lengthy boxing career within 33 years.

Saoul Mamby fought from 1969 all the way to 2000 which would have been 31 years. And then made a come back briefly in 2008. Therefore that would be a 39 years.

 

Oliver McCall

 

Larry Holmes did 29 years. Not a record I know but comes to mind.

 

The stop and go portion of careers can throw this question off. Such as Harold Johnson fought from 1946 to 1971 on paper, but he was off 3 years before his last fight. However, in spirit of the question, Eddie Cotton fought from 1947 to 1967, Baby Vasquez fought from 1949 to 1974 and Kid Azteca actually fought from 1929 until 1961.

 

That Duran fought in 5 decades, is astonishing.

 

Mamby was my first thought. A marvel in so many ways.

 

Since Manny Pacquiao is still technically fighting his career has spanned up to 30 years now.

 

I think for age gap between first and last win in a title fight, Manny is near the top. The gift against Shultz is the only thing keeping Foreman currently ahead.

 

Even more impressive considering how taxing his style is as well.

 

B-Hop and Roy Boy should be there..

 

Duration and actual fighting career are two different things.

Someone like Manny or Hopkins have only have a quarter of the rounds of a Greb, Langford and Stribling who are the leaders among the larger weight classes. McCall has fought 40 years and has only about 10% the rounds of a Len Wickwar.

In baseball someone like Satchel Paige was pitching at a high level until he was in his 50s. But because of segregation he played in a league with shorter seasons and threw less innings a year then anyone of his caliber ever threw. You'll notice that in boxing all the 50 and 60 somethings except Archie Moore (whose longevity has a medical explanation) are in an era where fighters don't fight much. Even in the 1800s someone like Bob Fitzsimmons who made it to 40 at a high level logged only 316 rounds in 78 contests. In MMA we're going to see a lot more late 40s and early 50s guys because MMA guys fight less than half an hour a year on average(they also don't make enough money to retire).