Tommy Burns was a Canadian professional boxer. He is the only Canadian-born World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. The first to travel the globe in defending his title, Burns made 13 title defences against 11 different boxers, despite often being the underdog due to his size. Burns took on all challengers as Heavyweight Champion, leading to his legendary bout with the African American Jack Johnson. According to his biographer, Burns insisted, "I will defend my title against all comers, none barred. By this I mean white, black, Mexican, Indian, or any other nationality. I propose to be the champion of the world, not the white, or the Canadian, or the American. If I am not the best man in the heavyweight division, I don't want the title."
Thomas Hearns is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 2006. Nicknamed the "Motor City Cobra", and more famously "The Hitman", Hearns's tall, slender build and oversized arms and shoulders allowed him to move up over fifty pounds in his career and become the first boxer in history to win world titles in five weight divisions: welterweight, light middleweight, middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight.
Walker Smith Jr., better known as Sugar Ray Robinson, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is often regarded as the greatest boxer of all time, pound-for-pound.
Henry Jackson Jr. was an American professional boxer and a world boxing champion who fought under the name Henry Armstrong.
Kenneth Howard Norton Sr. was an American professional boxer who competed from 1967 to 1981. He was awarded the WBC world heavyweight championship in 1978, after winning a close split decision over Jimmy Young in a title eliminator bout, after which Leon Spinks refused to fight with him.
Archie Moore was an American catch wrestler and professional boxer and the longest reigning World Light Heavyweight Champion of all time. He had one of the longest professional careers in the history of the sport, competing from 1935 to 1963. Nicknamed "The Mongoose", and then "The Old Mongoose" in the latter half of his career, Moore was a highly strategic and defensive boxer. As of December 2020, BoxRec ranks Moore as the third greatest pound-for-pound boxer of all time. He also ranks fourth on The Ring's list of "100 greatest punchers of all time". Moore was also a trainer for a short time after retirement, training Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Bob Foster, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Earnie Shavers and James Tillis.
Jerry Quarry, nicknamed "Irish" or "The Bellflower Bomber", was an American professional boxer. During the peak of his career from 1968 to 1971, Quarry was rated by The Ring magazine as the most popular fighter in the sport. His most famous bouts were against Muhammad Ali. He is regarded as being one of the best heavyweight boxers never to win a title. He beat former world heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson and top contenders Ron Lyle, Earnie Shavers, Brian London, Thad Spencer, Buster Mathis, Randy Neumann, Jack Bodell, Mac Foster and Eduardo Corletti. He accumulated damage from lack of attention to defense against larger men at the top level, no head guard sparring, and attempted comebacks in 1977, 1983 and 1992 resulted in Quarry developing an unusually severe case of dementia pugilistica.
James Joseph Tunney was an American professional boxer who competed from 1915 to 1928. He held the world heavyweight title from 1926 to 1928, and the American light heavyweight title twice between 1922 and 1923. A highly technical boxer, Tunney had a five-fight light heavyweight rivalry with Harry Greb in which he won three, lost once, and drew once, though many ringside reporters believed Greb should have won the decision in their second meeting. Tunney also knocked out Georges Carpentier and defeated Jack Dempsey twice; first in 1926 and again in 1927. Tunney's successful title defense against Dempsey remains one of the most famous bouts in boxing history and is known as The Long Count Fight. He retired undefeated as a heavyweight after his victory over Tom Heeney in 1928, after which Tunney was named Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine.
Thomas Patrick Loughran was an American professional boxer and the former World Light Heavyweight Champion. Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Loughran as the #7 ranked light heavyweight of all time, while The Ring Magazine founder Nat Fleischer placed him at #4. The International Boxing Research Organization rates Loughran as the 6th best light heavyweight ever. Loughran was named the Ring Magazine's Fighter of the Year twice, first in 1929 and again 1931. He was inducted into the Ring Magazine Hall of Fame in 1956 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991.
Edward Henry Greb was an American professional boxer. Nicknamed "The Pittsburgh Windmill", "The Smoke City Wildcat" and "The Pittsburgh Bearcat," he is widely regarded by many boxing historians as one of the best pound for pound boxers of all time.
A bolo punch is a punch used in martial arts. The bolo punch is not among the traditional boxing punches.
Carl "Bobo" Olson was an American boxer. He was the World Middleweight champion between October 1953 and December 1955, the longest reign of any champion in that division during the 1950s. His nickname was based on his younger sister's mispronunciation of "brother".
Giuseppe Antonio Berardinelli was an American professional boxer. He was a World Light Heavyweight Champion. He took the ring-name Joey Maxim from the Maxim gun, the world's first self-acting machine gun, based on his ability to rapidly throw a large number of left jabs.
Charley Burley was an American boxer who fought as a welterweight and middleweight from 1936 to 1950. Archie Moore, the light-heavyweight champion who was defeated by Burley in a 1944 middleweight bout, was one of several fighters who called Burley the greatest fighter ever. Burley was the penultimate holder of both the World Colored Welterweight Championship and the World Colored Middleweight Championship.
Sam McVey or Sam McVea was a Hall of Fame heavyweight boxer who fought during the early 20th century. Known as the Oxnard Cyclone, he ranked alongside Jack Johnson, Joe Jeanette, Sam Langford, and Harry Wills as the top black heavyweights of their generation. All of them, except Johnson, were denied a shot at the world heavyweight championship due to the color bar, which ironically was maintained by Johnson when he became the first black fighter to win the world heavyweight title. Despite being denied a title shot, McVea enjoyed a famed career that took him across the globe.
Thomas "Tommy" Jackson, often known as "Hurricane" Jackson, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1951 to 1961. In July 1957, he fought Floyd Patterson for the heavyweight championship. Jackson was noted for his stamina, bravery, and unorthodox style as a fighter. He was trained and managed by Whitey Bimstein.
Duane David Bobick is an American former boxer. As an amateur, Bobick won the gold medal at the 1971 Pan American Games and fought at the 1972 Olympics. He then turned professional in 1973 and retired in 1979 with a record of 48 wins and four losses, all by knockout. He scored notable wins over future heavyweight champion Mike Weaver and contenders Chuck Wepner, Scott LeDoux, Randy Neumann and Manuel Ramos. From 1973 to 1977, he compiled a record of 38–0 with 32 knockouts which made him the number 3 contender in the division before he was defeated by number 1 contender Ken Norton.
Kid Norfolk was an American professional boxer who fought as a Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight from 1910 through 1926, holding wins over many notable boxers of his day including Joe Jeanette, Billy Miske, Jack Blackburn, Harry Greb, Tiger Flowers, Battling Siki, and Gunboat Smith. Norfolk was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2007.
George Raft "Scrap Iron" Johnson was an American heavyweight boxer whose career spanned the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Johnson fought many of the top fighters of his era, including George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Sonny Liston, Ron Lyle, Duane Bobick, Joe Bugner, Jerry Quarry, and Eddie Machen.
Marcos López, better known as Marcos Geraldo, is a Mexican former boxer who was champion at both middleweight and light heavyweight.
