My 2015 list of the top 100 fighters of the Queensberry Rules era

[Britkid]

100 Jem Mace
99 Wlad Klitschko
98 Kid McCoy
97 Tony Zale
96 Carmen Basilio
95 Jung Koo Chang
94 Joe Frazier
93 Eusebio Pedroza
92 Dick Tiger
91 Nicolino Loche
90 Jack McAuliffe
89 Rinty Monaghan
88 Freddie Welsh
87 John L Sullivan
86 James J Corbett
85 Ken Buchanan
84 Al Brown
83 Mike McCallum
82 Felix Trinidad
81 Georges Carpentier
80 Shane Mosley
79 Mike Tyson
78 Nino Benvenuti
77 Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis
76 Lennox Lewis
75 Juan Manuel Marquez
74 Pancho Villa
73 Young Griffo
72 Jack Dempsey (The Nonpareil)
71 Kid Gavilan
70 Benny Lynch
69 Kid Chocolate
68 Wilfred Benitez
67 Carlos Ortiz
66 Wilfredo Gomez
65 Salvador Sanchez
64 Jimmy Carruthers
63 Antonio Cervantes
62 Aaron Pryor
61 Bob Montgomery
60 Ruben Olivares
59 Stanley Ketchel
58 James J Jeffries
57 Maxie Rosenbloom
56 Tommy Loughran
55 George Foreman
54 Rocky Marciano
53 Jim Driscoll
52 Abe Attell
51 Azumah Nelson
50 Ike Williams
49 Jose Napoles
48 Alexis Arguello
47 Jack Dempsey
46 Michael Spinks
45 Bob Foster
44 Larry Holmes
43 Tony Canzoneri
42 Manuel Ortiz
41 Pascual Perez
40 Carlos Zarate
39 Eder Jofre
38 Jimmy McLarnin
37 Evander Holyfield
36 Tommy Hearns
35 Ricardo Lopez
34 Marvin Hagler
33 Roy Jones Jr
32 Jack Johnson
31 Oscar de la Hoya
30 Emile Griffith
29 Manny Paciquao
28 Mickey Walker
27 Terry McGovern
26 Bernard Hopkins
25 Gene Tunney
24 Jimmy Wilde
23 George Dixon
22 Joe Gans
21 Julio Cesar Chavez
20 (Barbados) Joe Walcott
19 Barney Ross
18 Pernell Whitaker
17 Floyd Mayweather Jr
16 Charley Burley
15 Willie Pep
14 Sandy Saddler
13 Ray Leonard
12 Sammy Langford
11 Archie Moore
10 Carlos Monzon
9 Benny Leonard
8 Ezzard Charles
7 Joe Louis
6 Muhammad Ali
5 Harry Greb
4 Bob Fitzsimmons
3 Roberto Duran
2 Henry Armstrong
1 Ray Robinson

[erics44]

You know that list deserves a like because of the shear effort you have put in to it

I don't agree with loads of it tho

[Britkid]

You know that list deserves a like because of the shear effort you have put in to it

I don't agree with loads of it tho

LOL, no one will! I started it here back in 2003 and have updated it every four year since, so it does get a little easier to do each time.

[Primo Carnera]

No Mike Tyson??

[Britkid]

No Mike Tyson??

79

[walrus]

Sullivan seems far down the list but definitely a solid effort. I was going to ask you how long it took you but you said you started in 03 do you use an algorithm

[Primo Carnera]

No Mike Tyson??

79

My apologies. I must've gone through it 5 times and never saw it. A lot of effort put into that. Fair play , I couldn't have done it.
I have to say it's impossible to do because there's virtually no footage of the old fighters, and probably too much footage of the modern guys. It almost works against today's guys, because we're bound to find some "bad days at the office."
Good work.

[Beanz]

Having Jem Mace at 100 discredits your entire list.

[Jimanuel Boogustus]

Having Jem Mace at 100 discredits your entire list.

Where (roughly) would you put him?

[Beanz]

Having Jem Mace at 100 discredits your entire list.

Where (roughly) would you put him?

Not sure, but if you are going to have Fitzsimmons at 4 you can hardly have the guy who discovered him and virtually single handedly invented the jab, combinations and footwork still used today, 96 places below him. Mace amassed a fortune, fought all over the world, would have no part in the avoiding of black fighters like Langford and regularly beat heavyweights and others in weights above him, despite being a middle.

He was smart and adaptable, teak tough and could find a way to win in any era against many of those in the list below him. It's only my opinion but there are also a myriad other reasons his image has been on my profile page since the moment i landed here.

Mace is the father of the modern gloved game but was honed in an era when slugging it out in the mud for hours would have given him a heart big enough to spit many others on the list out like a used Wad of tobacco.

[Fenster]

It's like when Britkid was in his pomp. Nice.

I looked up some of the fossils. 73rd ranked Young Griffo turned up for one fight so blotto that he quit within one minute of it starting, claiming he had been in a car crash the day before and was to ill to fight. Beat that.

[p4pking]

Great effort I'd say... Didn't Jem Mace more or less help to bring in Queensbury rules, but without actually having many fights under it? His record is listed as mostly Newspaper decisions also, understandably a tough guy to place I'd say. It's so hard to contrast fighters from early days as the nature of the sport was so different, not to mention when there is no footage. You had to fight all the time to make a living in those days, a lot of unquestionably great guys fought horrible opponents well throughout their career or fought the same guy 10 times in a month and won 9 of them, etc. Does that help their standing, really? It's more or less called sparring now.

[Britkid]

Having Jem Mace at 100 discredits your entire list.

I decided as of 2011, as the de-facto inventor of the gloved sport he would always be my #100.

It is a recognition of achievement. As the first time I did it, it soon became obvious an already almost impossible task is made even harder if you try and work out if a fighter from 1870 could beat a fighter from 2000, when they basically are involved in different sports. But I decided as a starting point, that the one thing all fighters have in common, no matter what era they fought in or the weight division, was the opportunity to win titles and beat title holders*.



*Of course that too is complicated by politics and discrimination.