Consecutive Heavyweight Lineal defences. With Tyson Fury recent win over Wilder, Fury has now surpassed Lewis & Marciano! WOW Louis: 25 Burns: 13 Holmes: 12 Wladimir: 11 Ali (2nd): 10 Johnson: 9 Jeffries: 9 Ali (1st): 9 Charles: 8 Fury: 7 Marciano: 6 Lewis: 6
Lol. So 3 were against one opponent and the other 4 were against Seferi, Pianeta, Wallin and Schwarz. The idea that any of those 4 were legitimate challengers for the lineal title is as laughable as it is farcical. Nothing historical about that.
Tyson should just keep fighting Deontay Wilder until he surpasses Louis. That would be enough for OP to regard him as the greatest of all time. WOW!
If you examine the lineal defences of many past fighters you'll see plenty of opponents worse than those Fury defended against. And I don't know how anyone but an ignorant or rabid boxing fan can regard Wallin as a bad opponent, especially considering that alleged top contender Dillian Whyte just ducked him.
You can bash most of the defenses of nearly all these guys. Ezzard Charles is right above him. Ezzard Charles * Gus Lesnevich (a light heavyweight coming off a loss in a vacant 175-pound title bout, fought for the heavyweight title in his last pro fight) * Pat Valentino (only won three of his last eight - got a title shot by becoming the champion of California, fought for the heavyweight title in his last pro fight) * Freddie Beshore (coming off back-to-back losses - one win in his last four) * Nick Barone (a journeyman) * Lee Oma (career journeyman, fought for the heavyweight title in his last pro fight) * Joey Maxim (the light heavyweight champion fighting Charles for the FOURTH time - Charles won them all). Those are SIX of Ezzard's EIGHT successful defenses. Two light heavyweights and four journeymen (three of them fighting for the last time.) Can you see Fury fighting Jean Pascal or Marcus Browne? Or him defending against the California Heavyweight champ? I think the last one was Damian Wills. Most of Fury's defenses are fine. They've all got their own versions of Jean Pierre Coopman, Richard Dunn, Alfredo Evangelista, Scott Frank, etc. Frank and Wepner were the New Jersey heavyweight champions. Not the US champ. Or the British champ. The champion of New Jersey.