The People Have Spoken: The All-Time List

10.10.05 – By Aaron King: About a week ago, readers were asked to e-mail their lists of top ten fighters of all-time. After sorting through around 80 lists, consisting of 68 different names, a popular list has finally been calculated.

To make the final poll, a point system was used to assess each fighter: 10 points for a 1st place vote, nine points for 2nd, 8 points for 3rd and so on. All in all, 18 boxers were given 1st place votes (1st place votes were used to break ties in the top ten). The entire poll, 1 to 64, is listed below, with the point totals in parentheses next to the top ten. Once again, the following is not the opinion of any one person, yet a cumulative survey. Without further ado…

Top Ten

1. Muhammad Ali (466)

2. Sugar Ray Robinson (463)

3. Roberto Duran (291)

4. Joe Louis (222)

5. Sugar Ray Leonard (200)

6. Marvin Hagler (165)

7. Julio Cesar Chavez (162)

8. Mike Tyson (154 – 7 1st place votes)

9. Roy Jones Jr. (154 – 5 1st place votes)

10. Henry Armstrong (130)

The Best of the Rest

11. Willie Pep

12. Salvador Sanchez

13. Jack Johnson

14. Rocky Marciano

15. Archie Moore

16. Floyd Mayweather

17. Carlos Monzon

18. Larry Holmes

19. Ricardo Lopez

20. Eder Jofre

21. George Foreman

22. Thomas Hearns

23. Felix Trinidad

24. Joe Frazier

T25. Evander Holyfield

T25. Pernell Whitaker

T25. Bernard Hopkins

T28. Sam Langford

T28. Jack Dempsey

30. James Toney

31. Aaron Pryor

32. Oscar De La Hoya

T33. Harry Greb

T33. Lennox Lewis

35. Joe Gans

36. Jimmy Wilde

37. Hector Camacho

38. Ezzard Charles

T39. Alexis Arguello

T39. Benny Leonard

T39. Charley Burley

T42. Jake LaMotta

T42. Marco Antonio Barrera

44. Terry Norris

45. Chris Eubank

T46. Gene Tunney

T46. Jersey Joe Walcott

T48. Sandy Saddler

T48. Nigel Benn

T48. Naseem Hamed

T48. Iran Barkley

T52. Barry McGuigan

T52. Wilfred Benitez

T52. Floyd Patterson

T55. Erik Morales

T55. Wilfredo Gomez

T55. Khaosai Galaxy

T55. Ted “Kid” Lewis

T59. Winky Wright

T59. Mark Johnson

T59. Pipino Cuevas

T59. Jack “Kid” Berg

T59. John L. Sullivan

T64. Carmen Basilio

T64. Stanley Ketchel

T64. Sonny Liston

T64. Mike McCallum

T64. Michael Spinks

If you would like more information on the poll, send an e-mail to aking1@ithaca.edu