Which is the best heavyweight contender never to win a piece of the title, and WHY?

I might throw Razor Ruddock on there as well.

 

Povetkin, or Ibeabuchi.

Of those listed I’d say Williams but really theirs quite a few people not on the poll that are better than everyone on there.

 

I voted for Ibeabuchi, and Povetkin should not be in the selection, because he "wins a piece of the title". If Povetkin can be in the selection, then I would choose the name - Ken Norton.
Ibeabuchi ended his career at a moment when he could have added quality to an already great era.

 

You're correct about Povetkin. I missed the piece of the title part. Didn't even see Ibeabuchi's name. Unfortunately, I'm unable to change my vote.

 

Wills clearly, I'd say. That is looking at resume, not doing a fantasy h2h.

 

Easy, that distinction would go to Shavers. He was a tactically weak fighter (so without the package deal he had to rely on his awesome punching power. His KO ratio nearly matches foreman. So even if he was limited he could still compete at a high level in terms of punching power., but just not enough to make him champ. Not knocking Shavers but all he had was power.



It's also a shame Holmes got up from that flush powershot, I really like watching holmes get KOd.

 

This name always comes up in these threads and rightfully so since he beat multiple former world heavyweight champions and had a rare combination of power and chin.

David Tua certainly had his flaws but he has wins over Moorer, Ruiz, Rahman, Maskaev and was a former Olympic bronze medalist and a silver medalist at worlds.

 

I'd go for Langford.

 

Harry Wills is the highest in my all time HW list to never be lineal champion. That's based solely on what each achieved in their own era and entirely disregards fantasy fight H2H.

 

Peter Jackson
Sam Langford
Harry Wills

My top 3. There have been lots of them.

 

Bob Pastor. Beat Roscoe Roles, Turkey Thompson, Jimmy Bivins, Lem Franklin. Held the up and coming Maurielo to a draw and survived 10 rounds against prime Louis twice (got knocked out in the 11th on their second fight).
Very underrated fighter who stayed in the top ten for a long time. If anyone should have won the title, he is definitely one of them.

 

Harry Wills on both resume and fantasy h2h fights. He does very well in HtH against heavyweights right before this era of giants.

 

The best three in chronological order are:

Peter Jackson
Sam Langford
Harry Wills

Of the three Peter Jackson stands out as the one who we would make favorite over the champion, because his prime came in teh reign of a totally shot if once great champion.

Sam Langford and Harry Wills are more complicated cases, because their primes coincided with they reigns of exceptionally strong champions, and they might have been denied on this alone.

However i think that a strong case can be made for putting Langford and Wills on a top 20 all time heavyweight list.

Obviously once you remove the color bar, teh quality of the best men to never hold a title, falls off a bit.

You are largely looking at men who didn't hold the title for a reason.