This is Rummy’s Corner.
Good evening boxing fans and welcome to the latest in the Boxing Survey Series - The Top
50 All Time Boxing Fan Favorites.
The results here are based on an open survey I conducted in the Classic Section of BoxingForum24.com.
I did not personally participate in this survey, as I did not want my personal opinions to
impact the outcome.
A special thanks to the 61 volunteers who did participate.
Each volunteer provided me with a chronological list of their Top 35 favorite boxers of all
time.
This is the scoring system that was applied to each of those 61 lists, so each volunteer
was responsible for allocating 905 points based on these values.
In total, there were 472 unique boxers who received at least 1 point in this Survey.
That’s pretty extraordinary, and I believe it covers a wide variety of tastes and preferences
when it comes to boxing fan favorites.
So just missing the cut at #51 we have Bernard ‘The Executioner’ Hopkins.
Using him as an example, at the bottom we have the rank and name, and on the right side
we have the total points earned, the number of lists the boxer appeared on (in this case
Bernard appeared on 15 out of 61), and then the bottom is the number of fans who had a
particular boxer as their #1 favorite of all time.
Now I’m going to go through the countdown fairly quickly here, so without further ado…
#50 is Rubén Olivares, a two-time champion at both bantamweight and featherweight.
At #49 we have Ken Norton, who was WBC heavyweight champion.
#48 is Willie Pep, the Will o’ the Wisp.
Pep was a two time featherweight world champion.
#47 is Felix ‘Tito’ Trinidad.
Tito was a three division champion, winning titles at welter, junior middle, and middleweight
At #46 we have Wilfredo ‘Bazooka’ Gómez, a two division champion at junior feather
and featherweight.
#45 is Mike McCallum, The Bodysnatcher.
McCallum won titles at junior middle, middle, and light heavyweight.
#44 Harry Greb.
The man, the myth, the legend.
Greb was the middleweight world champion who was also a standout at light heavy and heavyweight.
At #43 we have Marco Antonio Barrera.
The Baby Faced Assassin was a three division champion.
At #42 we have Vitali Klitschko.
Doctor Ironfist was a two-time WBC heavyweight champion, and he also held the WBO title.
#41 is Gennady Golovkin.
Triple G is a two-time middleweight champion, and the reigning IBF middleweight champ, making
him the first active boxer to appear on this countdown.
#40 is Dwight Muhammad Qawi, a two fivision champion at light heavyweight and cruiserweight.
At #39 we have Arturo ‘Thunder’ Gatti, a two division champion at junior lightweight
and junior welter.
#38 Naoya Inoue.
The Monster is a three division champion, and is the reigning unified IBF/WBA bantamweight
world champion, marking him as the second active boxer in this Survey.
At #37 we have Bobby Chacon.
Schoolboy was a two division champion at featherweight and junior lightweight.
#36 is José Nápoles, a two time world champion in the welterweight division.
#35 is Rocky Marciano, the only heavyweight world champion in history to retire and remain
retired with an undefeated record.
#34 Henry Armstrong.
Homicide Hank is a three division world champion at featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight.
Armstrong once held all three titles simultaneously, a unique feat in boxing history.
At #33 we have Salvador Sanchez.
Chava was the featherweight world champion.
#32 Floyd Mayweather Jr. Undefeated in his career, Money May is a five division champion
who won titles at junior lightweight, lightweight, junior welter, welter, and junior middle.
#31 is Joe Gans.
The Old Master was the lightweight world champion.
At #30 we have Lennox Lewis, a three time heavyweight world champion.
#29 is Román González.
Chocolatito is a four division champion, winning titles at strawweight, junior fly, flyweight,
and junior bantam.
He is the third active boxer on this Survey.
#28 is Floyd Patterson, two-time heavyweight world champion and the first boxer in history
to regain the heavyweight crown.
At #27 we have Jack Dempsey.
The Manassa Mauler was heavyweight world champion.
#26 is Sam Langford, a standout legend in the sport who competed from lightweight all
the way up to heavyweight.
At #25 we have Matthew Saad Muhammad, light heavyweight world champion.
At #24 we have Jersey Joe Walcott, heavyweight world champion.
#23 is Érik Morales.
El Terrible was a four division world champion, winning titles at junior feather, feather,
junior lightweight, and junior welter.
#22 Archie Moore, The Old Mongoose.
The Old Mongoose was the light heavyweight world champion.
#21 is Juan Manuel Márquez, a four division world champion who won titles at featherweight,
junior lightweight, lightweight, and junior welter.
#20 is Julio César Chávez, a three division world champion who won titles at junior lightweight,
lightweight, and junior welter.
#19 Sugar Ray Leonard, a five division world champion who won titles at welterweight, junior
middle, middleweight, super middle, and light heavyweight.
#18 is Ezzard Charles.
The Cincinnati Cobra was heavyweight world champion.
At #17 we have Manny ‘Pac-Man’ Pacquiao, the only boxer in history to win titles in
8 different weight classes spanning from flyweight to junior middle.
Pac-Man fought just a couple of months ago, but it remains to be seen if he will box again.
#16 ‘Big’ George Foreman.
Big George was a two-time heavyweight world champion, and he is also the oldest boxer
in history to win the heavyweight crown.
At #15 we have Sonny Liston, heavyweight world champion.
#14 is Roy Jones Jr, a four division world champion who won titles at middleweight, super
middle, light heavy, and heavyweight.
#13 is Pernell Whitaker.
Sweet Pea was a four division world champion who won titles at lightweight, junior welter,
welter, and junior middle.
#12 Larry Holmes, The Easton Assassin.
The Easton Assassin was the heavyweight world champion.
At #11 we have Evander ‘Real Deal’ Holyfield, a two division undisputed world champion at
cruiserweight and heavyweight, and the only four time heavyweight champ in history.
#10 is James ‘Lights Out’ Toney, a three division world champion who won titles at
middleweight, super middleweight, and cruiserweight.
#9 Sugar Ray Robinson.
Sugar Ray was a two division world champion who won titles at welterweight and middleweight,
and he is the only five time world champion in middleweight history.
#8 is Alexis Argüello.
El Flaco Explosivo was a three division world champion, winning titles at featherweight,
junior lightweight, and lightweight.
At #7 we have Smokin’ Joe Frazier, heavyweight world champion.
#6 Iron Mike Tyson.
Iron Mike was a two-time heavyweight world champion, and the youngest champion in heavyweight
history.
#5 The Motor City Cobra, Thomas ‘The Hitman’ Hearns.
The Hitman was a five division world champion, winning titles at welterweight, junior middle,
middleweight, super middle, and light heavyweight.
#4 Joe Louis.
The Brown Bomber was the longest reigning heavyweight world champion during the long
rich history of professional boxing.
At #3 we have Muhammad Ali.
The Greatest was a three time heavyweight world champion.
#2 is Marvelous Marvin Hagler, middleweight champion of the world.
Those of you paying attention to the number on the right might notice that Hagler appeared
on 45 out of 61 lists.
That is the most mentions any boxer received in this entire Survey.
And #1 - ‘Manos de Piedra’ Roberto Durán.
Durán was a four division world champion, winning titles at lightweight, welterweight,
junior middleweight, and middleweight.
Durán was the #1 favorite boxer according to 7 volunteers in the Survey, more than any
other boxer received, which enabled him to edge out Hagler for the top spot.
And there we have it.
Two things jumped out to me.
First there is a pro-heavyweight bias, but this was to be expected.
We had 4 career heavyweights in the Top 10, and also James Toney, whose career spanned
across five weight classes including heavyweight.
The heavyweight bias is understandable because it is the marquee weight class historically.
Heavyweight film is more readily available throughout history, and the division otherwise
has generally gotten and generated the most exposure.
What surprised me was the fact that the Top 2 positions were non-heavyweights.
And that was the other thing that jumped out to me, the fact that every member of the 80s
Fab Four finished inside the Top 20, and 3 of those 4 were actually in the Top 5.
Ironically Sugar Ray Leonard officially holds a victory against each of them, and he finished
the lowest among the Fab 4 in the Survey.
Now this is by no means a scientific Survey of boxing fan favorites, this instead basically
just boils down to the collective opinions of 61 volunteers from the Classic Forum at
BoxingForum24.
But I believe it was a worthwhile exercise, and every boxer who did land inside the Top
50 is certainly someone worth looking into if you’re a boxing fan looking to learn
about some new boxers you might not be familiar with.
Once again, a very special thanks to the 61 volunteers who participated in this Survey.
Thank you all for your time and effort.
So who is your favorite boxer of all time, and who is your favorite boxer of all time
who didn’t make the cut inside the Top 50?
Please share your thoughts in the comment section.
Thanks for watching everyone, I hope you enjoyed, and have a wonderful night.
This is Rummy’s Corner.