From June 22, 1938 to April 17, 1939, a period of just 9 months and 26 days... Joe Louis scored 3 1st-round ko wins in title fights (against Schmeling, Lewis and Roper). No one had previously accomplished this in such a short time. But who has since won 3 world title bouts, recognized by BoxRec, in the opening round... over an even shorter period of time?
That was quick! Yes, McClellan was the one who beat Louis' record. In just 9 months and 1 day, from August 6, 1993 to May 7, 1994... he made 3 defences of his WBC middleweight crown - all inside a round. Ok, that was an easy question... but can you also name the man, who has since bettered McClellan's record?
In Louis's defence, his three fight run included two lineal champions! Don't expect that to be matched in the near future!
Because Louis was for the linear title, I'd say G-man and Juanma need an asterisk in the same way Tyson needs one for youngest HW champ over Floyd.
By "bettered" I mean scoring 3 1st-round knockout wins in world title fights, in even less time than McClellan... so you got it right, as Lopez did the trick in just 5 months and 29 days in 2008.
very much agreed. they were great titlists but there's that little extra prestige that comes with being the lineal champ
I've always thought the Floyd/Tyson "youngest champ" argument could go either way. Patterson only needed to beat one guy to win the vacant title, whereas Tyson needed to unify several belts AND beat Spinks. It would be one thing if Tyson turned out to be an average "paper" beltholder after he beat Berbick, but his later bulldozing of the division shows that he was clearly head and shoulders above the others as well.
