Maximilian Adolph Otto Siegfried Schmeling was a German boxer who was heavyweight champion of the world between 1930 and 1932. His two fights with Joe Louis in 1936 and 1938 were worldwide cultural events because of their national associations. Schmeling is the only boxer to win the world heavyweight championship on a foul.
George Edward Foreman is an American former professional boxer, entrepreneur, minister and author. In boxing, he competed between 1967 and 1997 and was nicknamed "Big George". He is a two-time world heavyweight champion and an Olympic gold medalist. As an entrepreneur, he is known for the George Foreman Grill.
Jimmy Young was an American heavyweight professional boxer. Young was known for his awkward, defensive style and counterpunching. He was one of the top contenders of the 1970s, most notably earning a victory over George Foreman in 1977 and losing a unanimous decision against Muhammad Ali in 1976. Young fought many significant fighters of his era, including twice outpointing Ron Lyle and losing only by a split decision to then-number one contender Ken Norton in a title eliminator in late 1977. A fellow boxer, Bobby Watts, was his cousin.
Riddick Lamont Bowe is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1989 and 2008. He held the undisputed world heavyweight championship in 1992, and won the super heavyweight silver medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics.
Primo Carnera, nicknamed the Ambling Alp, was an Italian professional boxer and wrestler who reigned as the boxing World Heavyweight Champion from 29 June 1933 to 14 June 1934. He won more fights by knockout than any other heavyweight champion in boxing history.
Maximilian Adelbert Baer was an American professional boxer and the world heavyweight champion from June 14, 1934, to June 13, 1935. He was known in his time as the Livermore Larupper and Madcap Maxie. Two of his fights were rated Fight of the Year by The Ring magazine. Baer was also a boxing referee, and had occasional roles on film or television. He was the brother of heavyweight boxing contender Buddy Baer and father of actor Max Baer Jr. Baer is rated #22 on The Ring magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.
Billy Papke was an American boxer who held the World Middleweight Championship from September 7 to November 26, 1908. In 1910-12, he also took the Australian and British versions of the World Middleweight Championship, though American boxing historians generally take less note of these titles. With a solid and efficient punch, 70 percent of his better publicized career wins by decision were from knockouts, and roughly 40% of his reported fights were as well. Papke was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2001. Sportswriter Nat Fleischer, original owner of "Ring" Magazine, ranked Papke as the seventh best middleweight of all time. Announcer Charley Rose ranked him as the tenth greatest middleweight in boxing history. He was elected to the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1972.
Jack Sharkey was a Lithuanian-American boxer who held the NYSAC, NBA, and The Ring heavyweight titles from 1932 to 1933.
James Jackson Jeffries was an American professional boxer and World Heavyweight Champion.
Jacob Henry "Buddy" Baer was an American boxer and later an actor with parts in seventeen films, as well as roles on multiple television series in the 1950s and 1960s.
George Godfrey (II) The Leiperville Shadow was the ring name of Feab Smith Williams, a heavyweight boxer from the state of Alabama who fought from 1919 to 1937. He named himself after George "Old Chocolate" Godfrey, a Black Canadian boxer from the bare-knuckle boxing days who had been a top name during the John L. Sullivan era. Old Chocolate had been the fourth fighter to reign as World Colored Heavyweight Champion while the second George Godfrey was the 20th fighter to hold the colored heavyweight title.
Joe Walcott, also known as Barbados Joe Walcott to distinguish him from the more recent American boxer known by the same name, was a Bajan professional boxer who reigned as the World Welterweight Champion from 1901 to 1906, becoming the first black man ever to capture the title. He was elected to The Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1955 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.
Thomas "Sailor Tom" Sharkey was a boxer who fought two fights with heavyweight champion James J. Jeffries. Sharkey's recorded ring career spanned from 1893 to 1904. He is credited with having won 40 fights, 7 losses, and 5 draws. Sharkey was named to the Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.
Benny Leonard was an American professional boxer who held the world lightweight championship for eight years, from 1917 to 1925. Widely considered one of the all-time greats, he was ranked 8th on The Ring magazine's list of the "80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years" and placed 7th in ESPN's "50 Greatest Boxers of All-Time". In 2005, the International Boxing Research Organization ranked Leonard as the #1 lightweight, and #8 best pound-for-pound fighter of all time. Statistical website BoxRec rates Leonard as the 2nd best lightweight ever, while The Ring magazine founder Nat Fleischer placed him at #2. Boxing historian Bert Sugar placed him 6th in his Top 100 Fighters catalogue.
Jack Delaney was a world light heavyweight boxing champion and contender for the heavyweight crown. One of the most popular fighters of the 1920s, the French Canadian was born Ovila Chapdelaine in Saint-François-du-Lac, Quebec, Canada. His parents moved their family to the United States on August 15, 1904, where they initially lived in Holyoke, Massachusetts before settling in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Delaney became a United States Citizen on October 23, 1936.
Patrick Ryan was an Irish American boxer, and became the bare-knuckle American heavyweight champion on May 30, 1880, after he won the title from Joe Goss. He retained the title until losing it to the exceptional John L. Sullivan on February 7, 1882.
Samuel Berger was an American heavyweight boxer who won the first Olympic Gold Medal in heavyweight boxing in 1904, competed as a professional, and acted as a promoter and manager for heavyweight Jim Jeffries in the first two decades of the 20th century.
Arthur Lakofsky, also known as Art Lasky, was a heavyweight professional boxer from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Frankie Neil was a World Bantamweight champion. Fighting at 114 1/2 pounds, he took the world title from reigning champion Harry Forbes on August 13, 1903, at the Mechanics Pavilion in San Francisco in a second-round knockout of a match scheduled for twenty rounds. Eddie Graney was the referee. Neil held the title only a little over a year, losing it on October 17, 1904, to British boxing champion Joe Bowker.
Frankie Klick was an American boxer who became a World Jr. Lightweight boxing champion when he defeated Kid Chocolate, on December 25, 1933, at the arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in a seventh-round technical knockout. In his career he fought the exceptional champions Henry Armstrong once, Barney Ross twice and Tony Canzoneri four times. His managers were Joe Doran and Ray Carlin.
