Ten Great White Heavyweight Boxers

By: Biplob Kishore Deb

When we watch professional heavyweight boxing matches, most of the time, we see black boxers. Mohammad Ali, Tyson, Joe Frazier, George Foreman- most of the famous heavy boxers of the last 40 years are black. You cannot find too many famous white heavyweight boxers. Here, I have made a list of 10 white boxers and almost all of them won heavyweight championship in their career. I do not want to claim that they are the greatest white boxers of all time but they had considerable success in professional boxing.

John Lawrence Sullivan

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Sullivan is a legendary figure in the world boxing. He is the first modern World Heavyweight Champion. This passionate boxer once challenged any boxer in America for $500 (not a minimal amount in his time). This former heavyweight champion was famous for his coach-to-coach tour with five boxers in 1883-84 over the 136 cities and towns. It is said that he could knock out 30 boxers in that tour. Though in his time there was not any officially recognized boxing titles, Sullivan was proved to the first World heavyweight Champion by the modern authority later on as he had defeated some of the influential boxers in that time including Paddy Ryan, Charley Mitchell, Jake Kilrain and many more. His match with Jack Kilrain was a memorable one. He knocked out Jack Kilrain in the 75^th round. His name is in the International boxing Hall of Fame.

James John Corbett

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Known as ‘Gentleman Jim’, he could earn the tag of “Father of Modern Boxing”. The reasons lies behind giving him such tag were his innovative and scientific strategy and art in boxing. His greatest success came in the way of defeating the great John L Sullivan to become the World Heavyweight Champion in 1892. Out of the ring he was an actor. His autobiography was turned into a film titled ‘Gentleman Jim’ where Errol Flynn played the role of James Corbett.

Rocky Marciano

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This great American heavyweight boxer was born in 1969. His greatness lies in his career record. He never got defeated defeat in his professional career. He won all of his 49 matches among which 43 were by Knock Out. He is the only boxer in the boxing history who could retire undefeated in the heavyweight division. The title of the Oscar winning movie “Rocky” was taken by his name. He started his professional career in 1947 and he was the heavyweight champion from 1952 to 1956. He has been listed at number 14 in the list of 100 Greatest Punchers of All Time by Ring magazine. Marciano worked as guest referee in USA and Canada for some time after taking retirement from professional boxing.

Primo Carnera

This Italian former World Heavyweight Champion is considered as one of the great heavyweight boxers in the history of boxing. He holds an excellent career record with 87 wins in which 70 were through knocking out. ‘The Ambling Alp’ nicknamed this boxer also went to Hollywood seeking to build up a career as actor and in some extent he got some success in acting. His role in the movie titled “A Kid For Two Farthings” was praised by many.

Robert James "Bob" Fitzsimmons

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This New Zealander holds a prestigious record in the world boxing to become the first three-division world boxing champion. He won his heavyweight championship defeating the great James Corbett. In his 82 appearances in the ring he got success in 51 of them in which 44 came by knocking out his opponents. This influential figure of world boxing was named as the 8^th position in the list of all time boxing’s best punchers by Ring Magazine. He is also a member of International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Jack Dempsey

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Jack is another greatest heavyweight champion of all time. He was born in 1895 in America. He is also one of the famous boxers of pre war period. He held world championship from 1919 to 1926. This prominent boxer could win 62 matches amongst his 83 appearances in the professional boxing and he won 50 matches by Knock Out in which 26 were in the first round. So, it is clear enough that how much aggressive he was in the ring. His fight against George Carpentier is very famous as the first million dollar gate in the history. A Street of the Madison Square Garden is called by his name Jack Dempsey corner. His name is also listed in the International Boxing Hall OF Fame.

Tommy Morrison

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Tommy Morrison had an eventful career. He won the WBO Heavyweight Championship in 1993 and could keep the title for nearly four and a half months (7 Jun 1993–29 Oct 1993). In his professional career, he fought 50 times and won 46 times (in 40 of them, he knocked out his opponents. However, he is more memorable to the people for his acting in Rocky V. He played the part of Tommy Gunn in the movie, an ungrateful champion. This performance made him very famous but unfortunately, Tommy Morrison did not have a disciplined life and got involved with drug and stayed in prison for more than one year.

Wladimir Klitschko

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Wladimir Klitschko is still in action. He is now the current IBF and IBO World Heavyweight. Originally from Ukraine, he was in Germany for many years and he is a celebrity in Germany. He is now living in Beverly Hills. His height is nearly 2 meter (6' 6"). Thus, he is a giant and can overpower his opponents by using his height advantage. Quick jab and punching power- these are his main strength. He can also move quite fast in the ring. He was former WBO World Heavyweight (October 14, 2000 - March 8, 2003).

Gene Tunney

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He is the legend killer!! Gene Tunney beat Jack Dempsey, one of the all time greatest heavyweights, twice. Served as a US marine in WWI, Tunney was a very skillful boxer. Aside from Jack Dempsey, he fought with famous boxers like: Tommy Loughran, Tommy Gibbons, Georges Carpentier. In his entire boxing career, he had 88 fights out of which he lost only one and made a draw in another one. This great boxer was famous for his defense skill. Tunney hold the heavyweight boxing title from 1926-1928. Tunney fought with Dempsey in 1926 and 1927. His second fight with Jack Dempsey was very famous. It was known as The Long Count Fight. Aside from fighting Tunney also starred in a movie titled The Fighting Marine.

Nikolai Valuev

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I must admit that I have selected Nikolai Valuev because of his height. He is a real giant (7 feet tall). According to Wikipedia, “Valuev is the tallest and heaviest recognized champion of all time, standing at 2.13 m (7') tall and weighing as much as 150 kg (330 lb).” He is the current WBA Heavyweight Champion. In his career, he has fought 45 and won 44 of them. This Russian boxer is now 33 years old his nick name is ‘The Beast from the East’.

There are some other great white heavyweight boxing champions who could also dominate in the ring over the opponents. They are as follows:

James J. Jeffries, Marvin Hart, Jess Willard, Tommy Burns, Jack Sharkey, Max Schmeling, Max Baer, James J. Braddock, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ingemar Johansson, Jimmy Ellis, Greg Page, Francesco Damiani, Francois Botha, Vitali Klitschko, Corrie Sanders, Sergei Liakhovich, Oleg Maskaev.