Muhammad Ali

The 10 Greatest Boxers Of All Time (Dangerously Deadly)

5. Manny Pacquiao, Philippines

Manny Pacquiao

Manny Pacquiao is regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time as he is the first and only eight-division world champion. The professional boxer is known to have won eleven major world titles, as well as being the first boxer to win the lineal championship in five different weight classes. He is also a three-time Ring magazine and BWAA Fighter of the Year, winning the award in 2006, 2008, and 2009. The Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA), WBC, and WBO named him as “Fighter of the Decade” for the 2000s. Magazines and websites such as ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Sporting Life, Yahoo! Sports, About.com, BoxRec, and The Ring have rated him as the best pound for pound boxer in the world until his losses in 2012.

He was popular enough to get his biography in the Pacquiao: The Movie. Pacquiao became the first Filipino athlete to appear on a postage stamp.

4. Muhammad Ali, USA

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali is one of the most decorated and significant sports figure in the world. Ali has been an inspirational, controversial and polarizing athlete from his initial career.  The legendary boxer won a gold medal in the light heavyweight category in the 1960 Summer Olympics, Rome. At the age of 22 in 1964 he won the WBA, WBC and lineal heavyweight titles. He is the only boxer to receive The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year award six times. The Sports Illustrated magazine ranked Ali as the greatest athlete of the 20th century. Ali had extremely quick reflexes, foot movements and hand speed. He was known for his highly unorthodox boxing style who would punch the opponent powerfully from unpredictable angles. Ali is regarded as one the best pound-for-pound fighter in boxing history. Ali’s punches produced approximately 1,000 pounds of force.

3. Rocky Marciano, USA

Rocky Marciano

Rocky Marciano is known for his relentless fighting style, stamina and iron chin. Many boxing historians rank him as one the best boxers of all time in history. Out of a total of 49 professional boxing matches he won 43 by knockouts making the record as the best in history. The incredible boxer has never lost any matches during his career. The heavyweight boxer held the world heavyweight title from 1952 to 1956. Rocky Marciano became the inspiration for the American classic Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky movie series. In 2006, an ESPN poll voted Marciano’s 1952 championship bout against Walcott as the greatest knockout ever. Several magazines and media polls have voted the legend as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. Marciano won the Sugar Ray Robinson Award in 1962.

2. Sugar Ray Robinson, USA

Sugar Ray Robinson

Sugar Ray Robinson was an American professional boxer known today as one the greatest boxers of all time. He won 108 matches with a knockout. At the age of 19, Robinson became a professional boxer. He became the first boxer in history to have won five divisional world championships. The boxer is known for his extremely quick reflexes with a mix of dangerous knockout blows even by going backwards. Robinson is known for his versatility, speed and could use both hands with equal efficiency.

He is historically associated with the phrase “pound for pound”. Hall of Fame fighters such as Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis consider Robinson as the greatest “pound for pound” fighter. Two times the title of “fighter of the year” made him more one of the greatest ever. In 2007, Robinson stood first on the list of “50 Greatest Boxers of All Time” by ESPN.com. Several magazines and media have listed him as one of the greatest punchers ever and as best pound to pound fighters in history. Robinson has become an inspiration to several other boxers and fighters who took his nickname “sugar” considering it as respect.

1. Mike Tyson, USA

Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson is deadly, brutal hitter, extremely fast, dangerous and powerful making him the world’s greatest boxers of all time. He became the youngest boxer to hold titles of WBA, WBC and IBF when he was 20 years, 4 months and 22 days. The American boxer won his first 19 professional boxing matches by knockouts, 12 knockouts in the first round itself. He successfully defended the heavyweight championship 9 times. He holds the nicknames “Kid Dynamite”, “Iron” and “Baddest Man on the Planet”. Tyson has always been underestimated for his skills and greatness. He is known to have lost only 6 matches till now.

He is one the best heavyweights of all time. Tyson was at number 1 on ESPN.com list of “The Hardest Hitters in Heavyweight History.” Sky Sports rated him as “the scariest boxers ever” and “perhaps the most ferocious boxer to step into the professional ring”. The movie Tyson (1995) describes his biography after he became so popular in 80s and 90s.The controversial boxer is known for his comeback fights when he won the WBA and WBC titles in 1996. He became the only other boxer to have won the titles after losing it.

Special mentions: 

Joe Frazier
Roberto Duran
Sonny Liston
José Ángel Nápoles
Willie Pep
Marcel Cerdan
Marvelous Marvin Hagler
Jack Dempsey

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Vinod Suthersan is an young tech enthusiast, Blogger addict, Internet craze and thriving to learn new things on the world of Internet.