Top 10 greatest light-heavyweights in history

By Dan Morley

ARTUR Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol have handily cleared out the light-heavyweight division, cementing themselves levels above the rest of their generation. Ultimately, it was Beterbiev who prevailed in their clash for undisputed supremacy, yet the fight was so competitive and intriguing that an immediate rematch will be just as hard to call a victor.

Beterbiev’s victory has crowned an undisputed light-heavyweight champion for the first time in 25 years. This historic moment allows us to look back on the great light-heavyweight champions in history who paved the way for this clash to mean so much.

In truth, the light-heavyweight division is often one of the most overlooked in history. Many of the greatest fighters that you will see on this list are more well-known for their achievements in other divisions, for the most part. 

While elite Russian technicians like Beterbiev, Bivol, and Kovalev have solely dominated the division in recent years, many of the greatest light-heavyweights in history don’t get the same applause for their dominance at the weight. 

This may be partly due to the politics of their era, with some of the most elite boxers at the class never even getting a title shot or the fact that they pulled off accolades in other divisions so freakish that their light-heavyweight form was overshadowed.

Upon looking back into the weight class’s illustrious history, I was reminded how stacked with elite talent the light-heavyweight division has been. 

Bivol boxed well on the front foot and back foot. (Picture By Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing)

Here are my 10 Greatest light heavyweights in History:

For the context of this list, I won’t be including Artur Beterbiev or Dmitry Bivol, as their careers are still unfolding and it’s more difficult to put them amongst fighters whose legacies have been fulfilled.

10) Tommy Loughran – the Phantom of Philly was a truly great fighter

Tommy Loughran was a genius in a boxing sense, decades ahead of his era. Experts described him as one of the purest boxers in a talent-stacked 1920s, possessing the greatest jab of his time. Loughran pulled off the rare feat of beating Harry Greb fairly early on in his career, although Greb would return the favour on four separate occasions. 

Loughran would defeat Hall of Famers Georges Carpentier, Mickey Walker, Harry Greb, Jeff Smith, Mike McTigue, and middleweight champion Johnny Wilson while losing to the phenomenal Gene Tunney. He won the light-heavyweight crown and held onto it throughout the late 1920s, but once his run as the 175-lb king was over, his heavyweight feats cemented him as one of the greatest fighters of all time.

Loughran would defeat three different heavyweight champions of the world across the 1930s in Jack Sharkey, Max Baer and James J Braddock, whilst going 15 rounds with another heavyweight champion in Primo Carnera, despite being outweighed by 80lbs.

8/22/1957: Referee Tommy Loughran counts over the fallen Pete Rademacher after Rademacher was knocked to the canvas four times by heavyweight champ Floyd Patterson, at Sicks’ Stadium, Seattle

9) Billy Conn – ‘Sweet William’ was involved in one of boxing’s best battles

Billy Conn is a shining example of a great light-heavyweight, known more for his heavyweight fights. Conn was on the verge of toppling the greatest heavyweight champion to ever live, possessing a healthy lead against a primed Joe Louis, before his overeagerness to secure the finish led him on to a devastating KO loss.

Besides his courageous attempt to conquer the Brown Bomber, Conn was a light-heavyweight world champion who defeated many Hall of Famers and champions at the weight. He won the title in the late 1930s and defeated notable names in Gus Lesnevich, Young Corbett III, Teddy Yarosz, Fritzie Zivic and many others. Had Conn opted for a points victory rather than a stoppage, he may have pulled off the greatest victory in boxing history.

8) Sam Langford – the ‘Boston Bonecrucher’ reigned as boxing’s uncrowned champion

Sam Langford is a fighter whose achievements are so unimaginably impossible that his legend borders on a mythical figure. Langford truly defied weight classes, beating all of the greatest fighters of his era from 135lbs to heavyweight. No one has come close to equalling Sam’s success through the divisions. 

It’s difficult to pin a weight class on Langford, who beat Gans at lightweight, battled Walcott at welterweight, slaughtered Ketchel at middleweight and went the distance with Jack Johnson at heavyweight whilst partaking in over 40 fights against Hall of Fame heavyweight contenders in Jeannette, Wills and McVea. Yet, he normally weighed around the 175lbs limit when he fought and scored one of his staggering 126KO against the greatest light-heavyweight of his time – Philadelphia Jack O’Brien.

7) Harry Greb – the ‘Pittsburgh Windmill’ was a colourful character and clever performer

Harry Greb is the only man who can match Langford’s resume, and perhaps surpass it. In my opinion, he’s nailed on as history’s greatest ever 160lber, which is where he won the world title – yet he has a very good case at 175lbs too. 

He barely lost in his 300 career fights, completely decimating the middleweights of the 1910s and 20s. He defeated 16 different Hall of Famers, which is far more than any other fighter in history and beat most of these names multiple times, with some even suffering as many as seven defeats to Greb. 

Greb notably was the only man to ever defeat Gene Tunney, hospitalising the ‘Fighting Marine’ in the first of a highly contested five-fight saga. He defeated Tommy Loughran four times to just one defeat and beat light-heavyweight great Battling Levinsky so many times it’s easy to lose count! 

Add in further victories at light-heavyweight against Maxie Rosenbloom and practically every other notable name, then you have something truly special. Amazingly, Greb cleared out the heavyweight contenders to become Jack Dempsey’s number one contender. 

When it became clear Jack wouldn’t fight him, Greb slaughtered the heavyweight champion in an open sparring session. There was also a win in the most brutal fight of the decade against welterweight and middleweight champion Mickey Walker. In achieving most of this while blind in one eye and compiling 45 straight wins in a single year, Greb cemented himself as the sport’s most intriguing enigma and potentially greatest-ever fighter.

6) Bob Foster – this sheriff laid down the law on a multitude of contenders

‘The Sheriff’ unleashed an iron left hook with such brutal efficiency that it struck fear throughout an entire era of light-heavyweight boxing. In wiping out Dick Tiger alone, the shot earned itself legendary status – but the nasty way opponents hit the deck after the whipping impact landed against their chins was devastating. Foster ruled the division, compiling an impressive 14 successful title defences, never losing the light-heavyweight belt in the ring.

He made constant ill-fated moves up against the much physically superior heavyweights in the division’s most stacked era, losing to Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Zora Folley, Ernie Terrell and Doug Jones. But at his weight, he was one of the best, with the Hall of Fame victories, defences and a six-year reign to prove it.

5) Roy Jones Jr – unparalleled skills while in his prime years

Roy Jones Jr was as unbeatable a fighter as we’ve seen for decades. His athleticism provided one of the most aesthetically pleasing styles the sweet science has ever seen and after dazzling the super-middleweights, Jones Jr cleared up at light-heavyweight. 

Across his prime years, a sole disqualification loss to Montell Griffin, which was instantly avenged with a first-round knockout, was the only blemish on Jones Jr’s perfect record. He systematically dominated the weight class, accumulating all of the world titles to become the undisputed light-heavyweight world champion before moving up to heavyweight to topple John Ruiz.

Losing the weight to return to the 175-pound division took something from Jones, who would never be the same fighter after his heavyweight success. But barring a potential fight with Lineal 175lb champion Darius Michalczewski, which never materialised, Jones was as incredible a fighter as you could ever wish to see in the division and remained unmatched for a time.

28 Jul 2001: Roy Jones Jr. takes a punch from Julio Gonzalez at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Jones retains his belt after twelve rounds. DIGITAL IMAGE. Mandatory Credit: Jed Jacobsohn/Allsport

4) Gene Tunney – a rags-to-riches tale from fighting in the streets to the top of the world

‘The Fighting Marine’ was not only a phenomenal heavyweight champion but also a pioneer of the sweet science. Tunney’s scientific approach to the game was lightyears ahead of his time and is a testament to his unprecedented dominance.

Unfortunately, fight fans were spoilt with the likes of Dempsey, Greb and Walker – legendary sluggers who provided wars for the ages, so Tunney’s methodical approach was unappreciated. Yet, he only ever lost once, to a man deemed by many as history’s greatest ever, in Harry Greb, and subsequently avenged that defeat three times. Greb gave Tunney such a horrendous beating in their first fight that he was hospitalised. 

But Gene studied his opponent and never let it happen again. In addition to his multiple victories over Greb, Tunney beat Tommy Loughran, Georges Carpentier, Jeff Smith, Tommy Gibbons, Battling Levinsky, and Leo Hauck before moving up to heavyweight to defeat Jack Dempsey twice.

3) Michael Spinks – untouchable as a light heavyweight

Michael Spinks has unfortunately been underrated due to his crushing sole career defeat to a prime Mike Tyson. It’s important to remember what made that such a great win for Tyson was Spinks’ phenomenal run from light-heavyweight undisputed champion to Lineal heavyweight champ. After claiming a gold medal in the Olympics, Spinks Embarked on such a brilliant run for much of the 80s, in which, from fairly early on in his career, he overcame adversity to defeat legitimate all-time greats and world Champions in the light-heavyweight division.

With wins over Dwight Muhammad Qawi, Yaqui Lopez, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Eddie Davis and Murray Sutherland – Spinks had all but cleared out a very talented light-heavyweight scene whilst also beating future cruiserweight greats in the process. His light-heavyweight run would see him win two unification belts to become undisputed champion.

Whilst alone this is phenomenal, Spinks then jumped up to face foes 50lbs+ bigger then the top light-heavyweights, himself weighing just 200lbs. Regardless of the huge jump in weight, he would still KO Gerry Cooney and end Larry Holmes’ all-time great 12-year, 48-0 (20+ consecutive title wins) run as heavyweight champion, becoming the Lineal Champion in the process. Spinks would face Holmes months later defeating him for a second time in the rematch.

Michael Spinks shocks Larry Holmes on September 21, 1985 (Getty Images)

2) Archie Moore – boasting a career that spanned four decades, the “Old Mongoose” was a savvy, heavy-handed fighter 

An ageless warrior with unparalleled achievements that will never be broken. Moore scored 132 KO, the most in history for a champion – and accumulated a 10-year reign as light-heavyweight world champion from the ages of 39 49! In total, he had 27 fights against inducted International Boxing Hall of Famers.

He refused to play by the crooked rules in the 1940s, which was run by the mob, so a title shot was out of the picture for what resulted in over 15 years. From the ages of 25-39, Moore embarked on a career worthy of the Hall of Fame.

Across these years, he fought All-Time Greats: Ezzard Charles four times, Charley Burley, Teddy Yarosz, Harold Johnson two times, Jimmy Bivins four times, Eddie Booker three times, Lloyd Marshall two times, Holman Williams two times, and Cocoa Kid—all prime fighters who have been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

He began writing 35 letters a day to boxing journalists, explaining why he deserved a shot at the title. At 39, he got his shot when they offered Hall of Fame champion Joey Maxim $100,000 to fight Moore. Moore would win the title and receive $800. He wouldn’t lose it for 10 years, the longest reign ever at light-heavyweight. He defeated more Hall of Famers in defences against Bobo Olson, Joey Maxim, and Harold Johnson while defeating Cuban great Nino Valdez.

At 41, he dropped Marciano in a bid for the heavyweight title and later challenged Floyd Patterson and a young Muhammad Ali. Despite losing to Patterson, he still had his greatest performance remaining, climbing off the canvas four times to defeat the hard-punching Yvon Durelle. During his brilliant title reign, there were more wins over Willi Besmanoff, Howard King and Guilio Rinaldi.

1) Ezzard Charles – an unmatched king who refused to be forgotten

Charles fought International Boxing Hall of Famers close to 30 times. His resume is one of the most legendary in history. 

Charles was thrown into the deep end early on as a middleweight. Within his first 23 fights, he had already defeated champions Anton Cristoforidis and Teddy Yarosz and drawn with Ken Overlin. In the same year, successive victories over boxing’s most avoided fighter, Charley Burley, proved Charles was elite.

His following work at light-heavyweight was completely dominant, cleaning out the division in its toughest era. At that division, he whitewashed champions Archie Moore, winning all three of their fights and Joey Maxim, scoring five wins out of five, while defeating Gus Lesnevich in their sole meeting. Hall of Fame light-heavyweights Jimmy Bivins and Lloyd Marshall would each score one victory over Charles in his peak, but the ‘Cincinnati Cobra’ responded by beating Bivins four times and Marshall twice.

Remarkably, Charles never got a shot at 175lbs, so he chased heavyweight world honours. At the top of the tree, he ended Joe Louis’ 14-year unbeaten streak and scored his two notable victories over Jersey Joe Walcott as heavyweight world champion. At the peak of his powers, he had dominated all the greats from middleweight to heavyweight and had a record of 71-5-1, and he was still set to face Marciano – a fight he came so close to winning.