Top 20 Light-Heavyweights of all time

You lost me at no Maske. And then you lost me many more times.

Plus, Greb was better and more accomplished than Conn.

Also, Burns never fought at something called lightheavy... and he kinda sucked regardless.

 

B/c he weighed w/in the LHW range for a good many of his fights. His peak weight was probably around 165 lbs.

Whether he actually fought @ it or not, he was one.

 

I get that but he never fought for any sort of LHW belt or had fights at "LHW".

By this logic the all time CW and Bridgerweight rankings would be an absolute mess.

 

I just think theres a sheer lack of quality Light Heavyweights on Foster's resume and most people rate him as a top 5 Light Heavyweight which is always a bit baffling to me.

I think in general Foster is a bit overrated at Light Heavyweight.

 

Division didn't exist when he was relevant so know he wasn't. And performances against HW do not count as they are not within division. Thus the over ranking of Conn also.

 

One man's mess is another man's treasure.

A top 10 list that would have Vassiliy Jirov or Jean-Marc Mormeck in it would sound rather uninspiring to me.

 

@Greg Price99 do you have a work-up on Maxim at light heavy? I know he was a small heavyweight frequently, which can throw off perception of him at 175. If you do, would you mind sharing?

(I’m not asking you to go through the research just for me if you haven’t done it, but something tells me you have — your dedication and thoroughness is always above and beyond.)

And fwiw, I have as my top five at 175:

1. Michael Spinks

2. Ezzard Charles

3. Archie Moore

4. Gene Tunney

5. John Henry Lewis

I don’t really keep lists of such things, but that’s about how I see it.

 

Yes it did, Philly Jack beat Bob Fitz for the publicly acknowledged title a mere 2 months before Burns beat Hart for his HW title claim.

"SAN FRANCISCO, Cal., Dec. 20. -- "Philadelphia Jack" O'Brien defeated Robert Fitzsimmons in the thirteenth round to-night for the light heavyweight championship of the world, the Cornishman being seized with a hemorrhage after going to his corner, and was unable to continue."

Jan 6, 1906: "That gives O'Brien the light heavyweight and practically the middleweight championship,"

The division's existence continued to be acknowledged a year after Burns' title reign ended when the National Sporting Club of London declared "175 pounds, light-heavyweight" to be "disputed, practically vacant" and "failed to declare Ketchel light heavyweight champion."

This article from Jan 7, 1909, references "Sam Langford, the colored light heavyweight," so he was formally acknowledged as a LHW even in his own day.

 

Jack Twin Sullivan also beat Schreck for a LHW belt around the same time as O Brien beat Fitzsimmons. Neither pressed their claim opting to go to HW. With Burns as champion all the big MWs and small HWs were just going to campaign at HW. After the end of 1905 there were no LHW title fights until 1912 when Jack Dillons earliest claim started. I made a thread a few months back asking if anyone knew of any fights in that over 6 year hiatus. There were no responses.

Its got to be remembered there is no minimum weight for HW. A LHW fight is a fight where both guys are under the weight limit.

 

Yeah it was a weak era. I think H2H he's an obvious monster however. Eddie Futch definitely thought so.

 

I sure do, Pat.

In fights contested under 180lbs, Maxim went 17-6-1.

He was 3-3 in LHW world title fights and reigned for almost 3-years.

I'm not sure any of his losses at this weight were truly in his prime, his SD loss to Jimmy Bivins aged 20 in his 19th fight and his 3 x losses to Archie Moore aged 30 and 31, towards the end of a long, hard career, were about as close as you get.

He beat Gus Lesnevich, a green (13-0) Floyd Patterson, SRR, Freddie Mills, Bob Murphy & Nate Bolden in fights contested at this weight.

Most of his fights were contested above 180lbs & if fights contested under 180lbs are all we consider, he has no argument for top 10, imo. In fact, referring to my notes again just now, that were compiled during lockdown in 2020, I may have been pretty favourable in ranking him as high as #19. Looks like I gave him the benefit of the doubt in so much as he beat some good names at the weight, whilst the only loss during his 20's, was an SD defeat to an ATG, aged just 20, in only his 19th fight.

 

Great thread TS and all the contributors! Every list here is terrific. Kudos to you, Lads. However I believe Dwight Muhammad Qawi is a bit underrated here. Just my .02 cents

 

Dwight is a handful for anyone H2H.

 

Qawi just didn't have long enough at the top to rate him really highly. But if you're talking strictly about on a H2H basis then I think he could be in the top 10.