The heavyweight champions that most capture your imagination, and why...

My favorite boxers who were at one point heavyweight champion in their careers. You gave 8 so I'll give 8.

1. Muhammad Ali
2. Sam Langford (I'm counting the "colored" world title.)
3. Evander Holyfield
4. Jersey Joe Walcott
5. Joe Frazier
6. Bob Fitzsimmons
7. Joe Louis
8. Floyd Patterson

 

An obvious one, but Ali for me. I think the journey he went on inside and out of the ring is fascinating and truly unique. He spanned different eras, was unfairly banned from boxing, reinvented his style and had so many great victories. Plus he was such a huge personality. I don't think we will ever see a fighter quite like him again.
Like you, I always had a lot of affection for Lennox Lewis. I was just a kid when he turned pro, but he was the first HW whose career I watched unfold in real time so I invested a lot in him!
As I've got older I also really appreciate Foreman's later career comeback. I still think what he did in his 40s is really underrated outside of hard-core boxing circles.

 

Several I could mention for various reasons, but to me the most intriguing is Jimmy Ellis, transforming himself from a good-but-not-great middleweight to a heavyweight title holder …. He was never THE guy but in an era as deep as his to hold the secondary championship belt was pretty amazing.

 

Sam Langford's 40+ defenses of the Colored championship whilst being a former featherweight is just ridiculous

If you told me about it 2-3 years ago when i didn't knew jack**** about the sport then i wouldn't have believed you

Fun fact: if Floyd Mayweather came out of retirement, won a belt, and defended that same belt twice a year for 10 years straight, he still wouldn't have as many defenses as Sam Langford

 

In chronological order -

Jack Johnson
Sam Langford
Jack Dempsey
Joe Louis
Rocky Marciano
Muhammad Ali

They were all great in the ring and added something to their sport. Even non-boxing fans would have known who they were. The only exception to that factor may have been Sam but I still include him because of how he made a mockery of weight limitations.

 

Vietnam vet Mike Weaver. Never had the roads paved for him or the ability to take the easy road. Slow hands. Not good defensively. Would pull an EMM during the bout and just sleepwalk. Overcame multiple ko losses before becoming champion. And still scored a brutal ko over a good fighter in his backyard and ruined the guy to become world champion. And he was able to make a few successful defenses of the title which so many guys other than LH and MT could not in the 80's.

 

Once again have to pay tribute to my all-time favorite fighter: "Smokin" Joe Frazier.

I don't think any fighter alive ever had more heart than Joe. He was the ultimate no bull**** man's man! A proud, humble dude with a warrior spirit!

 

1 Holmes.. That JAB
2 Dempsey.. the bob n weave attacker that fought like he wanted to kill you then help you up after he knocks you out.
3 Frazier.. to quote Larry Merchant "he was the ultimate truth machine "
4 Joe Louis..beautiful complete fighter
5 Walcott..that sweet footwork. Slippery and could punch.
6 Charles..similar to Louis in being a complete fighter. Master mechanic who could do it all.
7 Ken Norton..liked his style
8 Max Schmeling..cold and calculated. Being a WWII buff he was part of the very elite Fällschirmjäger
9 George Foreman..when I was a very young boy the men would talk like he was indestructible. He looked so much bigger than his 215-220 and mean. An executioner

 

I love your list, and would add John L. Sullivan and George Foreman.

 

Hi Guys.
Jerry Quarry.
Just writing his name a moment ago evokes memories of my and his youth, in an era pretty much dominated by Ali and Frazier, it was hard to stand out, but for me Quarry did indeed stand out, right from the early days, when he sported the marine like crewcut, the slightly bucked front teeth, he looked and was the all American boy, the type us brits only saw in magazines, or in shows like " I dream of Genie " in the background, with tight tapered trousers, and sporting cardigans, he had USA coursing through his veins, I bet every high school had a Jerry Quarry, top of the class at sports, and a killer with cheerleaders, there were lots of photos with his mum, as I recall, perpetrating the all American persona, adverts extolling the virtues of hair cream, and after shave, polo necks and such, you want to appeal to the youth of the day, get Jerry on your screen, what was not apparent, and would surface much later, in dark undertones, was the tyrannical rule of his cruel vindictive, and totally abbrotent father, who would regularly entice his brood to don the gloves and beat each other senseless, he had some kind of rep as a former bare knuckle/ street fighter, which came to an abrupt end when he noticed potential in his sons in that arena, like all failed men/sportsmen, he turned his attention to making his boys do much better than him, but like this genre without compassion and feeling, his flesh and blood were mere commodities' to be sold on the open market to the highest bidder, he seemed to derive unnatural pleasure in goading Jerry to beat up poor Mike, but they " loved " their dad, and would do anything he asked, in the early years Jerry was a slick, mobile counter puncher, with a vaunted left hook, and he could withstand an inordinate of punishment , that would cost him dearly later in life, I am not going to chronicle his long and bitter sweet career, you are all adverse with that, just to say he is enshrined in my formative years, and not just me I would contend, but thousands, maybe millions, of young men, coming out of the troubled 60s into the new decade, hoping for the better.......
stay safe guys, chat soon.
Mike.

 

Undoubtedly Joe Freizer,this guy was too good, he was the epitome of courage

 

Joe Frazier and Rocky Marciano,because they're built like cruiserweights but crunched man bigger than them using infighting,awesome fights usually has then fighting in it.

Then Charles and Walcott,I admire Charles because he was the perfect pack and was the uncrowned version of SRR,before he got the heavyweight title and actually put some good work with it before that Walcott KO.

Walcott himself was an enigma,he started out a journeyman,until some trainer gave him better nutrition and training routine,making him realize that he..has a feet,he would become a personally more complete version of Ali IMO

 

Mike Tyson s story I find fascinating, still do.
Probably cos he was coming up just as my interest in boxing hit an all time high.
His story transcends boxing, just like Ali before him.
However old I get, he'll always be that Man child, smashing his way through the division.