Rob’s All-Time Pound for Pound Fighters 

By Rob Pilger

For www.EliteFTS.com

This is a fun read for all the fight fans out there. Below is my all-time, top ten pound for pound fighters list. I thoroughly support my reasoning for each fighter’s position in my list. But my list is open for debate if you question a certain fighter’s placement.

The fighters on this list are here for their accomplishments. Some are listed for their wins against other top fighters, and some are there because of their ability to win titles in different weight divisions. Finally, some fighters are listed because they’re avoided by other top fighters due to their sheer brilliance and fighting ability and are thus denied the opportunity to display their true greatness.

Sit back and enjoy…

1. Ray Robinson: 174 wins, 109 KO’s, 6 draws, 19 losses, 2 no contests

Ray Robinson, also known as Sugar Ray, won the middleweight title five times and is a true artist in the ring. Ray could do it all. He could KO you coming forward or backward and would use great angles. He displayed nimble footwork and amazing hand speed and power. His ability to slip and move out of danger was amazing to watch.

He was what you truly call a complete fighter. His grit and toughness were displayed in six bouts with Jake LaMotta and several wars with Carmen Basilio and Gene Fullmer.

Ray fought the best out there, except for Charlie Burley. He dominated for two decades and won his last middleweight title at 38 years old! Ray’s pride was what kept him fighting so good at an advanced age. He came close to winning the light heavyweight title against Joey Maxim but succumbed to heat exhaustion. Though Sugar Ray was never physically KO-ed, he was a great fighter. He displayed his skills against the best fighters that he could fight, and that was also proof of Ray’s undeniable pride. His had a willingness to show everyone that he truly was sweet as sugar in the ring.
 

2. Harry Greb: 112 wins, 47 KOs, 3 draws, 8 losses, 170 no Decisions, 1 no contest

They didn’t come any tougher than Harry Greb. Greb was an amazing whirlwind punching fighter. He had incredible stamina and an iron chin. He had great movement and was very elusive. His punches came from all angles. Greb fought and beat 18 world champions! This was the time when there were eight weight divisions with one world champion per division.

Greb gave Gene Tunney his only loss. He also fought and won a memorable and intense fight with the brawling, “Toy Bulldog,” Mickey Walker. Later that night, the two fighters again had another legendary brawl at a local speak easy.

The words of Jack Dempsey are even more proof of how great of a fighter Greb was. Jack Dempsey was quoted as saying that, “Greb was the fastest fighter he saw, faster than lightweight champion Benny Leonard even.”

Greb proved how great he was by fighting over half his bouts while blind in one eye. He suffered a detached retina after being thumbed in the eye by Kid Norfolk. Greb was indeed one of the best who ever fought.

3. Muhammad Ali: 56 wins, 37 KO’s, 4 losses

Ali fought in the golden era of the heavyweight division, fighting everyone from Archie Moore to Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, George Foreman, Ron Lyle, Ernie Shavers, and Leon Spinks. Ali fought them all. Ali’s true greatness may never be truly defined since he was robbed of 2.5 years of his career because he didn’t fight in Vietnam.

Ali was the first three time heavyweight champion. His speed, movement, toughness, ring smarts, mouth, and self confidence were what made him special. He was also admired for the many top fighters that he fought and dominated.

His reflexes were beyond quick. He would often make fighters angry by fighting in the pocket and then dance away out of danger before they could get off. His ring generalship is legendary. Ali was known to admire and idolize Sugar Ray Robinson and called him “the King,” “the Master,” and “his idol.” With the way he fought, Ali often looked like a heavyweight version of Sugar Ray Robinson. Just like his idol, nobody did it like Ali.

4. Henry Armstrong: 144 wins, 97 KO’s, 8 draws, 22 losses, 1 no decision

Henry Armstrong was a violent, voluminous puncher, who could also slip punches very well. His defense was world class, and the phrase “a good offense is the best defense” could be coined after Armstrong’s style. He threw windmill-like punches from all over, and his speed kept up as the rounds wore on. His opponents had no chance to think or react to such an aggressively sustained offense.

Ironically, Armstrong started with three losses early on in his career. He was 1–3. Later, when he was seasoned, he would hold three titles simultaneously in three different weight divisions. He beat Petey Sarron for the featherweight title, Barney Ross for the welterweight title, and Lou Ambers for the lightweight title. This was a feat that has never been done since, and it was done at a time when there were only eight boxing divisions. He would have won a fourth but was awarded a controversial draw at middleweight against Ceferino Garcia.

Armstrong defended his welterweight title 19 times in two years and still holds that record. However, many agree that his best weight was at featherweight. It was said upon his death that his heart was found to be a third larger than the average persons. This obviously contributed to his blistering fighting style.

5. Ezzard Charles: 96 wins, 58 KO’s, 1 draw, 25 losses

Ezzard Charles could display the sweet science at its finest. He would feint, slip, roll, and counter. He would do it all. To some, he may have been dull, but those who understood boxing saw him as a true artist. Many believe that Ezzard was the best light heavyweight ever, although he never won a title in that division.

Ezzard fought five light heavyweight champions and beat four. His earlier wins were against middleweights and light heavyweights. He beat Charlie Burley twice and Joey Maxim and Jimmy Bivins at light heavyweight. Ezzard beat the great Archie Moore three times, knocking him out once. After knocking out Sam Baroudi, Baroudi died of his injuries. Ezzard was distraught thinking of retirement. He adapted a more cautious style and lost the killer instinct to hurt his opponents.

Ezzard won the heavyweight title weighing less than 180 lbs and beat Jersey Joe Walcott. He beat a shell of himself, Joe Louis, and then he lost the title to Walcott. He fought for the heavyweight title three more times but lost again to Walcott and then to Rocky Marciano twice. The first fight won by Marciano was a very close decision. In the second bout, Ezzard was within a few rounds of a technical knockout of Marciano after splitting his nose, but Marciano KO-ed him in the eighth round. Ezzard came all the way up from middleweight and still brought that amazing skill with him to heavyweight.

The death of Baroudi seemed to haunt him at heavyweight, and he didn’t display that killer instinct and aggressiveness. Still his career wins speak for themselves. Ezzard will always be remembered as one of the purest fighters and best technicians ever.

6. Willie Pep: 229 wins, 65 KO’s, 1 draw, 11 losses

Nicknamed “The Will o’ the Wisp,” Willie Pep won an amazing 229 fights with his amazing elusiveness and speed. Pep won the featherweight title in 1942, beating Chalky Wright and becoming the youngest fighter to win the title in four decades.

Pep engaged in four vicious fights with the brutal punching Sammy Sadler. Pep won one, and Saddler won three. It was said to be one of the most savage fight series ever.

Pep was once said to have won a round without throwing a punch. He displayed a masterful defense that today’s fighters don’t come close to displaying.

7. Benny Leonard: 89 wins, 71 KO’s, 1 draw, 5 losses, 115 no decisions

The “Ghetto Wizard,” Benny Leonard, was said by the great trainer Ray Arcel, who trained Leonard, to be the smartest fighter he had ever seen. His amazing ability to outthink and outwhit his opponents was unparalleled. He was a masterful boxer with great punching power, rarely losing rounds in many of his fights. He was very smooth and relaxed in the ring.

Leonard has been called the Muhammed Ali of the lightweights because he fought the era’s best. This was at a time when it was said that the best lightweights all appeared at one time in the division. He would talk to his opponents too and was rarely hurt. Benny retired undefeated as Lightweight Champion, but came back after the stock market crash of the great depression.

He was a shell of himself though being knocked out by Jimmy McLarnin in the 6Th round in his last fight. Still Benny's brilliance was undeniable. He loved to train and polish his brilliant skills. He is argued by many as the best Lightweight ever.

8. Archie Moore: 199 wins, 145 KO’s, 8 draws, 26 losses, 1 no contest

The “Old Mongoose,” Archie Moore fought for 27 years. He was the only fighter to have fought both Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali, and he lost to both. Moore has the highest KO ratio ever at 145 lbs. He won the light heavyweight title at the ripe age of 39—an age when most fighters are shot or retired—by beating Joey Maxim.

His best division was light heavyweight. He beat Jimmy Bivins, Harold Johnson, and Joey Maxim. He also beat Yvon Durelle in a memorable fight were Moore was dropped three times in the first round alone and later came back to KO Durelle in the eleventh round.

Moore fought nine world champions and seven in the Hall of Fame. He lost to the great Charlie Burley in a bout and was beaten three times by Ezzard Charles, being KO-ed once. Still his ability to fight competitively at such an advanced age is a rare feat.

Moore symbolized grit and determination and mastered a boxing style that enabled him to compete, some say, into his early fifties!

9. Sam Langford: 137 wins, 99 KO’s, 31 draws, 23 losses, 59 no decisions, 2 no contests

Sam Langford, “the Boston Terror,” fought lightweight all the way to heavyweight and was avoided like the plague by the eras top fighters. However, his best weight was middleweight. Langford stood five feet, six and a half inches and often gave up 20–50 lbs to his opponents.

He was a very dynamic fighter. Having very fast hands and feet and a vicious body attack, he could also jab very well too. His defense was very impressive. He mastered the feint and could bob, slip, roll, and counter punch with the best.

Langford was said to be well ahead of his time and able to do it all, out thinking his opponents and fighting outside and inside. Jack Johnson beat Langford when Langford was a light middleweight and Johnson was a heavyweight. Johnson would later refuse Langford a rematch as Langford rose in weight.

Even the murderous power puncher, Stanley Ketchel, refused to meet Langford in an official fight. They did meet in a six-round, no decision affair with Langford reportedly getting the best of Ketchel. Jack Dempsey was even said to have admitted that Langford would have beat him.

Langford lost the majority of his fights because he was blind in one eye. It was speculated that he suffered from a detached retina.

10. Charlie Burley: 84 wins, 50 KO’s, 2 draws, 1 no contest

The great late trainer, Eddie Futch, called Charlie Burley “the greatest all around fighter I ever saw.” Burley had an unorthodox style, a great jab, and a very elusive defense. At the same time, he was a brilliant counter puncher. Ironically, Burley never fought for a world title. He fought in the era with Sugar Ray Robinson, Tony Zale, Rocky Graziano, and Jake LaMotta.

Burley like Sam Langford was heavily avoided. Even Sugar Ray Robinson denied Burley a fight saying, “I’m too pretty to fight Charlie Burley.” Burley did beat Archie Moore, and Moore would later say that Burley was the best fighter he had ever faced. Burley fought Ezzard Charles, losing twice. The often sited reason that Burley never got his title shot was because he was too good for his own good. Given the chance, I’m sure there would be many more.

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