Worst Lineal Heavyweight Champions: A List

While I find the concept of the list to be somewhat pointless, if we are going to go through with it Gene Tunney and James Corbett deserve mentions.

 

What should we look for when compiling a list like this?

In my opinion the first few places, should be taken by men who only have one or two good wins.

It might be that they fought weak opposition, or it might be that they lost when they stepped up, but they have a very small number of elite wins.

If a champion has lots of good wins, then he his pulling clear of the men at the bottom, even if he picked up some bad losses getting them!

 

I am going to say right now, that they all have a bit of an X factor to them!

Only exceptional men seem to do it, even when all the stars align for them!

 

Like Douglas and Leon Spinks it might have been for one night only, but damn what a night it was to have in their memory bank, to hear your name announced as "The NEW Heavyweight champion of the world" that has got to be nigh on the best feeling possible.

I can still remember watching the fight of Spinks vs Ali with guys from my unit, and to this day the image of Leon Spinks being lifted arms aloft, head back, eyes shut and a massive gap toothed grin on his face at the announcing of him as the champion, still is one of my favourite boxing images, as a teenaged boxing fan it was a true real life Rocky moment, the sort of story you might read about but say no that could never happen in real life, but it sure did.

 

Fair enough.

There I would have to disagree with you.

Wladamir Klitschko is head and shoulders above all those men, because greatness somewhere, trumps consistency against weak opposition.

Again I disagree.

Losses are mitigated, if the fighter was outside their prime, or simply fought a very high number of elite opponents.

 

Marvin Hart and Braddock are the worst for me

 

Bottom line when you’re making a list like this of lineal heavyweight champions you’re saying ‘these guys were the least great of the best.’ You don’t get on this list by accident. You earn your way onto it. There are hundreds of champs who weren’t lineal and contenders who didn’t make the cut and thousands of others who would love to have the honor of being last on such a list.

There are guys who are practically revered on this forum who didn’t make the cut.

 

I kinda liked Johansson. He never had a defense but he won the crown from a legit great and lost to a legit great

 

Tunney's heavyweight resume is paltry.

Pound for pound, yes, he was a great fighter.

 

Is Hart lineal? Didn't he beat Jack Root for the vacant belt? Does that count?

Anyway, where is Michael Moorer, a guy who struggled with Bert Cooper, Leslie Smith, and only won the title by decision because Evander Holyfield had a heart attack?

Paul Zukauskas was awesome, by the way.

Johansson beat every man he shared a professional ring with, including Floyd Patterson, Eddie Machon, and Henry Cooper, so I am not sure where that noise is coming from. Maybe, technically, he wasn't one of the better lineal champs, but he certainly earned his title and had a good career.

 

Lol I know what your saying about Leon. I can remember that fight, was young when it happened but Leon's face stands out.
My dad saying, that's it now for Ali, he needs to call it a day.

 

I am not critical of the thread, we all here on the forum debate who would beat who, how they would do it etc, i am merely not keen on the label 'worst', that's my issue and most likely not issue for others which is fair enough, not seeking to defend my viewpoint or criticise others for theirs.

We all of course know that Leon Spinks and Marvin Hart would each beat Louis, Tyson, Dempsey and Lewis all inside a round........

 

Please. You only prove my point.

Carpentier and Tunney weighed 173 each. Not heavyweights. And Carpentier had almost ZERO credibility at heavyweight thus he was handpicked as a title defense for Dempsey.

Gibbons was in the final fight of a long and damaging career. And again, he made his name at lightheavy and had little to claim at heavyweight... besides being a supposedly easy mark for the champ years before.

Dempsey was shot, more than a couple steps slower, softer in mentality. Inactivity of that sort doesn't keep a fighter sharp, especially one who relies on athleticism. This is Tunney's claim to a heavyweight legacy. You have to make your case here.

Greb was 167 for their final match. Not a heavyweight. And Tunney did not stop Greb.

 

One reason why I am not comfortable with including men like Tunney or Fury on these lists, is that they were unequivocally the best in the world at some point.

A common factor with most men on these lists, is that they were not the best in the world, or at least it was a highly debatable claim.

 

Greatness tends to turn on lots of wins over good opponents, rather than few performances against exceptional opponents.

Almost everybody thinks that Larry Holmes was great, but few argue it for James Douglas!