A few months ago I posted my choices as the 100 greatest boxers using a system I set up to grade all of the boxers in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
I liked it, but when I ran through some modern boxers they just scored way too high because of all the additional weight classes and sanctioning bodies. There is just a pea soup of champions today.
So I reworked it. Boxers still score points based on wins, but I had to do some additional breakdowns for era.
It's still based on a 60 fight career so fighters who fought more than 60 fights had their point totals divided and fighters who fought less than 60 points had their non-title fights multiplied.
In any era, a world title win against a Hall of Famer was worth 100 points with a knockout being an additional 25. For the 1983 on era a world title fight is one for a WBA, WBC or IBF belt. If they were knocked out they had five points deducted.
The oldtimers who won world title fights before 1963 (fewest divisions and usually only one recognized world title holder) received 80 points. Knockouts were worth an additional 20 points. Getting knocked out was a -10.
Wins over Hall of Famers in non-title bouts or lesser title fights (WBO, IBU, whatnot) earned 70 points. A KO is a plus 17.5 and getting KO'd is a negative 12.5.
Then it gets messy. World title wins in the WBA-WBC only era of 1963-1982 is worth 60. A pre-1963 lesser title fight (European or just one of the N.Y. bodies) is worth 40. The modern 1983 plus title wins are worth 35. The 1963-1982 lesser title fights (NABF etc.) drop to 30. WBO or IBC titles from 1983 on are worth 25 points and the stepping stone titles from 1983 on (WBU, IBU and all the rest are worth 15.
Non title fights -- after they've been adjusted for the 60 fight total -- are worth 10 with a KO an additional 5 points. Getting KO'd in a non-title bout takes 25 points off your score.
You get a career score -- which helps guys like Ricardo Lopez and Rocky Marciano -- where wins are worth 25 points, draws 12.5, KOs 6.25 and getting KOd a negative 8.25.
You take all of those points and then divide by 60 for a score.
Now, at this point a few boxers seemed out of place. Several fighters with less than 30 fights scored awfully high and a few that accomplished major wins over all-time greats seemed low.
So I adjusted points downward for fighters with fewer than 30 fights and created a bonus system based on quality wins.
My original score treated wins over Hall of Famers evenly and truthfully there are a lot of weak hall of famers. Why is Lew Jenkins or Fritzie Zivic in the hall of fame? Without the bonus system, a knockout win over Sammy Mandell in a title fight had the same weight as Joe Frazier's KO of Muhammad Ali.
I took the top 125 scorers on the unadjusted list and gave fighters points for wins over those fighters. So a win over the top ranked golfer in any fight would be an additional 125 points, the second fighter on the list would be worth 124 and so on. The bonus points were one-time additions. You didn't get the points each time you beat the fighter and you just needed one win over a great even if you lost five other times (Jake LaMotta's 1-5 mark against Sugar Ray Robinson).
The bonus points painted a truer picture. Sugar Ray Leonard, who fought relatively few title fights because of a mid-career eye injury but scored victories over Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran, jumped up the rankings considerably.
One thing to remember is boxers can gain or lose points even after they retire. Take Leonard and Hagler for example. Both defeated Thomas Hearns by knockout. Those wins are worth 43.75 points right now (35 for the victory, 8.75 for the knockout). Thanks to Hearns' comeback this decade, he is not in the Hall of Fame. Of course, he's a shoe-in. Once he is elected, the wins by Hagler and Leonard will be worth 125 points (100 for the win and 25 for the knockout).
With the all-time standings so close once you get past the top four boxers, those extra points will be enough for Hagler and Leonard to move past several boxers.
The best part is that I can keep the rankings up to date with each fight. There are several fights in the coming months that will affect the rankings and I'll update the list after each.
This post is long enough. I'm going to post my greatest 100 boxers over the next four days. I'll begin with No. 25 down to No. 1.
Rank, fighter, years, country, points
25. Roy Jones Jr., 1989-07, U.S., 53.998
24. Julio Cesar Chavez, 1980-05, Mexico, 54.110
23. Roberto Duran, 1968-01, Panama, 54.210
22. Jose Napoles, 1958-75, Cuba, 55.300
21. Eder Jofre, 1957-76, Brazil, 55.391
20. Ricardo Lopez, 1985-01, Mexico, 55.620
19. Salvador Sanchez, 1975-82, Mexico, 56.066
18. Marvin Hagler, 1973-87, U.S., 56.382
17. Willie Pep, 1940-66, U.S., 57.253
16. Barney Ross, 1929-38, U.S., 57.954
15. Archie Moore, 1936-63, U.S., 58.743
14. Carlos Ortiz, 1955-72, Puerto Rico, 58.871
13. Manuel Ortiz, 1938-55, U.S., 59.017
12. Aaron Pryor, 1976-90, U.S., 59.526
11. Ezzard Charles, 1940-59, U.S., 59.653
10. Larry Holmes, 1973-02, U.S., 59.879
9. Alexis Arguello, 1968-95, Nicaragua, 60.008
8. Joe Gans, 1891-09, U.S., 60.416
7. Carlos Monzon, 1963-77, Argentina, 61.664
6. Wilfredo Gomez, 1974-89, Puerto Rico, 62.715
5. Rocky Marciano, 1947-55, U.S., 62.793
4. Sugar Ray Robinson, 1940-65, U.S., 75.382
3. Henry Armstrong, 1931-45, U.S., 79.451
2. Joe Louis, 1934-51, U.S., 84.329
1. Muhammad Ali, 1960-81, U.S., 85.805
I'll admit there are some head scratchers in here. Ezzard Charles at No. 11? He had 25 losses, but he lost 13 of his last 23 fights at the end of his career after losing to Rocky Marciano. He also was knocked out by Jersey Joe Walcott.
Still, he was a very light heavyweight, usually fighting between 175 and 190 pounds, and he took on the best of his day early and often. He was 15-2 against Hall of Fame fighters in non-title or lesser title fights and he had bonus point wins over Joe Louis and Archie Moore.
Aaron Pryor at No. 12 also seems high. Few mention prior when they talk about the best fighters of the 1980s and 1990s. The conversation usually revolves around Hearns, Leonard and Hagler.
But Pryor had a great career record -- 39-1 with 35 KOs -- and a perfect 12-0 mark with 10 knockouts in title fights. Three of those knockouts were bonus point wins over Antonio Cervantes and Alexis Arguello.
The top two actually changed places after the bonus points were figured in. Joe Louis was well ahead of Muhammad Ali thanks to his 26-1 record in world title fights, but only one of Louis' wins was over a fighter in the top 125 of my unadjusted rankings. And even that fighter, John Henry Lewis, deserves an asterisk. Lewis was at the end of his career, had eye injuries and only fought Louis because Joe knew he needed a final payday before retiring.
Ali, on the other hand, scored wins over Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Floyd Patterson and great light heavyweights Bob Foster and Archie Moore. Ali didn't even get bonus points for his shocking wins over Sonny Liston. Liston is highly regarded but had so few title fights -- four total -- that he didn't make the unadjusted top 125.
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