MORE GREAT BOXERS

DARIUSZ MICHALCZEWSKI

If you’re a boxing fan then you know Dariusz as “the beast” or as

the boxer that a prime Roy Jones Jr. ducked and avoided openly.

On the other hand, Dariusz fought against anyone and accepted any

challenge, becoming a world champion in two weight divisions. He held

the WBO Light Heavyweight title for nine years (1994–2003) and set the

record for most title defences in the history of this weight division

with twenty-three. He went undefeated for forty-eight bouts before

losing a controversial split decision to Julio César González of

Mexico at age thirty-five.

NICOLINO LOCCHE

Every boxing expert you ask will tell you that Nicolino Locche is one of

the three greatest defensive boxers in the sport’s history along with

Floyd Mayweather and the legendary Willie Pep. Locche turned

professional at age nineteen and achieved a record of 117–4, during

which time he held the WBA Light Welterweight world title for four years

entertaining the crowds with his one-of-a-kind boxing style.

VASYL LOMACHENKO

Here’s the crazy thing about Vasyl Lomachenko: he’s only twenty-six

and many boxing experts consider him the greatest amateur boxer in history.

With a “magic” record of 396 wins and only one loss which he

avenged twice, he went on to win two Olympic gold medals and two gold at

the World Amateur Championships, while as a professional he made

history this past June by joining Saensak Muangsurin as the fastest boxer

to win a world title in only his third professional bout by beating

America’s hottest boxing prospect, Gary Russell Jr. In this case the phrase

“the sky’s the limit” is perfectly apt and for all we know in ten years

time he might be ranking at number one in such list.

ALEXIS ARGÜELLO

Alexis Argüello became a world champion in three different

weight divisions and was voted by the Associated Press in 1999 as the

number one junior lightweight of the twentieth century. Additionally,

the Nicaraguan legend is considered one of the greatest punchers and

KO artists ever with an impressive record of seventy KOs in his

eighty-eight total victories.

JIMMY WILDE

Jimmy Wilde was a Welsh boxer who held the flyweight title for seven

years in an era when boxing was as popular and brutal as ever.

Even though he retired back in 1923, almost a century ago,

Jimmy “The Mighty Atom” Wilde is still ranked and considered by

boxing experts and fans alike the greatest flyweight boxer in history,

and with a record of 139 wins and only 5 losses we can’t really

argue with that assessment.

MARCEL CERDAN

Cerdan is one of the finest world middleweight champions in history

with one of the most impressive boxing records: 113 wins and

4 losses, two of them from being disqualified in fights he was winning.

He’s widely considered France’s greatest boxer, but unfortunately his

boxing career and relationship with the famous French singer Édith Piaf

were cut short when he lost his life at age thirty-three in a tragic

airplane crash in 1949.

VITALI KLITSCHKO

Vitali Klitschko is the older brother of the current heavyweight champion,

Wladimir Klitschko, and he is the former WBC, WBO, and The Ring

 magazine heavyweight champion. With an incredibly high 87.23 percent

knockout percentage rate, he holds the second best knockout ratio of

any champion in heavyweight boxing history, behind only Rocky Marciano’s

87.76 percent. In 2008 he and his younger brother made history becoming

the first world champion brothers at the same time and in 2011 they made

history again becoming the first brothers to hold every World Championship

belt in the same weight division simultaneously.

LENNOX LEWIS

Lewis is a retired British boxer with Jamaican roots and the one who

started the European surge in boxing’s most historic and

prestigious weight division, the heavyweight, nearly twenty years ago.

He convincingly beat the likes of Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson and

retired as a world champion before he passed the torch to his fellow

European champions who followed such as the Klitschko brothers,

Ruslan Chagaev, Alexander Povetkin, and Nikolai Valuev among others.