What are some of the most impressive title reigns of all time?

Mike Tyson's rein was short, but he cleared the decks as well or better than anyone, until he ran into Buster Douglas.

 

yeah when a fighter is considered invincible as some point in their championship career its safe to say they succeeded in achieving an impressive reign I think, Tyson obviously wasn't invincible but I cant think of many heavys after him that got the "invincible" tag, he also spellbound the world when he was on top in the 80s and still lives off that prime to this day. Liston and Foreman got that tag despite short reigns, but impressive ones.

 

Joe Brown, Carlos Ortiz and Victor Galindez all put their crown on the line often and against very stiff opposition. That is what I call impressive reigns.

 

Bob foster, undisputed lhw champ tried at hw, he could not win here but he had no problem winning again the lhw title ,dominant lhw champ

 

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Pedroza was very good, but I wouldn't throw his name out there. He wasn't "the champion" for most of it and his main contemporary's reign (Sanchez) was more impressive.

Benny Leonard belongs. He had a good number of defenses against top-level opposition, took on all-comers while holding the title, looked dominant, and made a near-successful foray north.

 

-Hopkins middleweight reign.
-Robinson welterweight reign.
-Wlad last reign.
-Duran lightweight reign.
-Holyfield cruiser reign.
-Calzaghe reign.

 

Now I'm probably going to get a lot of guys mad at me here, but I am addressing the actual language of this thread. People here have mentioned Roberto Duran, Bob Foster and Bernard Hopkins, but if we're talking 'impressive' title reigns, then their names don't belong. If you're going to ask me if they belong on atg or top ten lists, then I say yes. But their title reigns - for me anyway - left a lot to be desired. In my previous post I mentioned Brown, Ortiz and Galindez. They put their titles on the line often, against steep opposition and weren't afraid to rematch tough fights. That's what I call an impressive reign. Duran's reign of 12 title defenses had 2 fights with DeJesus which were excellent and the fight with lampkin and that's really it. He could have done better by giving Buchanan his deserved rematch and unifying with Rodolfo Gonzalez. In both of those instances his management ducked out of them. Still, I rate him #1 at 135, but that's on talent rather than championship reign. Also the same can be said for Bob Foster, one of the greatest at 175, but remember, he was stripped of the WBA title for failure to defend. He wins the title in May of '68 and by the time he's stripped almost 3 years later he's only made 4 defenses. See what I'm saying? He had decent defenses over 14 against Quarry, Kendall, Finnegan, the unification against Rondon and Fourie. He rematched Fourie, but why? The first fight wasn't even close. it was obviously the unreal money South Africa offered for the rematch. Can't deny Bob a good payday, but it didn't add lustre and neither did the robbery draw against Ahumada. As for Hopkins, that was one of the poorest batch of challengers I have seen at 160. Nothing to be lauded there. Again, guys, I'm going by the letter of this thread, not these great fighters talent level. One might also bring up the name of Archie Moore and his 9 title defenses. But that was over the span of 10 years. Impressive fighters, not impressive reigns.

 

Sanchez and Leonard had impressive championship reigns (though your reign doesn't get credited for what you did up north). I do believe that the quality of opposition for Pedroza was a bit underrated and that it does warrant mention.

Joe Gans' reign definitely warrants mention.

 

Two old ones that still rank among the most impressive on paper:

John L Sullivan

George Dixon

Some historians have argued that these two both had more than 30 title defences apiece!

 

Bit surprised that Ali's 60's reign hasn't been mentioned yet. When he was done there were the new guys like Quarry, Frazier, Bonavena and Eliis showing up, but he had cleaned out just about everyone of the old guard. It doesn't measure up to Louis's full HW reign and perhaps not to Wlad's, but certainly to any else in the division.

Btw, has Wlad's reign been mentioned yet? Hardly losing a round for 10 years isn't all that bad.

 

Bump as I was going to start a thread like this myself.

What would be your top 10 title reigns in history?

 

Buchanan is on the record as turning down an offered rematch with Duran in Panama. Says he decided to manage himself and turned it down — it was lowball but in the same neighborhood as what Duran was paid to challenge him.