The Greatest Achievements in Boxing History – Part One | Boxing News

By Dan Morley

BOXING is a sport rich in history and honors that has captivated audiences for over a century. Each era has produced great fighters who have pushed the boundaries to new heights and achieved what many thought was impossible. In recent years, fighters such as Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue and Oleksandr Usyk have embarked on historic multi-division conquests, beating multiple weight classes to become undisputed two-division champions.

However, despite this incredible feat, history has recorded unimaginable feats in the world of boxing that will surely never be broken. After doing extensive research, here are some of the most incredible boxing feats.

Wilfred Benitez – World Champion at 17

Defensive maestro Wilfred Benitez had one of the greatest careers ever before he even hit his mid-20s. Known as the unofficial ‘King of the Fifth’, for his wins over Roberto Duran and bouts with Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns, Benitez was already a seasoned three-division world champion by the age of 22.

However, it was his first win over legendary champion Antonio Cervantes that stood out among the rest. By defeating Cervantes, Benitez established himself as the youngest boxing World Champion at the age of 17.

This wasn’t just a quick knockout, but a classy 15-round performance against a seasoned champion with 60 professional fights and 10 title defenses. Cervantes has defeated greats like Esteban De Jesus, Nicolino Locche and Alfonso Frazer – who went on to win more titles.

Manny Pacquiao – Eight Division World Champion

In his legendary run through the weight classes, Pacquiao dominated from flyweight to super welterweight—an unfathomable 10-division span. Skipping two weight classes at the title level, Manny won championships in eight different weight classes.

Remarkably, in defeating many of the great Hall of Famers of his era, his devastating strikes maintained their KO efficiency and brutal damage throughout the weight jump.

Whether it was his fights with Morales, Barrera, and Marquez at featherweight/super featherweight, his stoppages of Hatton, Cotto, Diaz, and De La Hoya from lightweight to welterweight, or Antonio Margarito’s facial reconstruction surgery at super welterweight, Pacquiao’s best years were as horrific as they were unbelievable.

Sam Langford’s History from Lightweight to Heavyweight

While Pacquiao holds the most division titles in history, the great Sam Langford has never even been a world champion. Despite this, Langford has fought over 50 more Hall of Famers than Pacquiao and defeated many of the greatest fighters in history from lightweight to heavyweight.

At the age of 17, Langford defeated one of the greatest lightweights of all time, Joe Gans, in 15 rounds, without risking the title. At the age of 18, he convincingly defeated the greatest boxer of all time, Barbadian welterweight champion Joe Walcott, but the title fight controversially ended in a draw.

Sam simultaneously defeated Walcott’s future conqueror, Young Peter Jackson, the following year. The following year he moved up from welterweight to heavyweight and lost a 15-round decision to future champion Jack Johnson, who refused to grant Sam a rematch.

Throughout his career, Langford defeated Hall of Famers at middleweight and light heavyweight, Stanley Ketchel, Tiger Flowers, and Philadelphia’s Jack O’Brien, the latter two via knockout. His most impressive accomplishments came in 40+ fights against Hall of Fame heavyweights such as Harry Wills, Joe Jeannette, Sam McVey, and Battling Jim Johnson – all of which added to Langford’s win column and 126 career KOs!

Len Wickwar – Most Fights and Wins in History

Leicester’s Len Wickwar was a man of the match, competing in an astonishing 473 professional fights, mostly in the 1930s. He won 340, lost 87 and drew 42, and scored 91 knockouts.

The intense activity was scheduled for 19 years of his career, but six of those years ended in inactivity because of World War II, meaning that in 13 years, Wickwar managed to win 469 fights. If the war had not stopped his work rate, and if he had been able to maintain his pace, Wickwar would have won 700-800 professional fights.

Many of his fights went the scheduled 10-round distance, totaling over 4,000 rounds. Wickwar fought more than 50 times a year three times and more than 40 times a year five times. He went the 12-round distance with Billy Bird, the man with the most knockouts in boxing history (138), and Hall of Famers Jack Kid Berg and Freddie Miller.

Harry Greb – 45-0 in One Year

Harry Greb is widely considered to have compiled the greatest resume in boxing history, defeating more Hall of Famers than anyone else, from welterweight to heavyweight. But while these accomplishments are worthy of mention on this list, they aren’t even the most notable of his unmatched career.

For me, the highlight was his display of dominance, courage and relentless activity. In 1919, Harry Greb went 45-0, a record that would continue to 52-0. During this 45 fight, 12 month period, Greb scored wins over Hall of Famers, including: Levinsky 4x, Leo Hauck 3x, HOF heavyweights Billy Miske, Mike Gibbons and Mike McTigue, while knocking out heavyweight contenders Bill Brennan 4x and George KO Brown and eventual Middleweight Champion Jeff Smith.

Greb himself rarely weighed above the middleweight limit. He was inactive for two months of the year due to the flu and a broken hand. After finally losing to Tommy Gibbons in May 1920 to end his 50+ fight winning streak, the ‘Pittsburgh Windmill’ immediately embarked on another undefeated streak in 56 fights, in which he defeated Hall of Famers Tommy Loughran 4x, Tommy Gibbons, Kid Norfolk, Jeff Smith Twice and, most famously, Gene Tunney, becoming the only man ever to do so.

Archie Moore, George Foreman and Bernard Hopkins – Strange Longevity

While each of these men embarked on their own legendary careers, I couldn’t decide who best embodied the rare art of longevity, so I decided to combine the three. One thing each of these men had in common was a great career in their youth.

Archie Moore, who was active in the mafia-controlled era, refused to play basketball and had to wait until he was 39 to get a chance to fight for a title. By then, he had already boxed in the Hall of Fame more than 20 times.

Hopkins had the tricks and guile that made Moore so famous, and he himself reigned as Middleweight Champion for a decade until the age of 40. Foreman was rougher than the others but possessed tremendous power and strength in his youth, beating Joe Frazier twice, Ken Norton and stopping Ron Lyle.

However, ‘Big George’, like ‘Alien’ and ‘Old Mongoose’, returned in his 40s with a reinvented style, thanks to the old master himself, Archie Moore, working with the older Foreman. All three men used the tactics, tricks and discipline they had accumulated since their golden years to continually defy the odds and defeat champions much younger than them, putting together the greatest careers of any fighter over the age of 40 ever.

Moore won the light heavyweight title at the age of 39 and reigned for 10 years, defeating greats such as Joey Maxim 3x, Nino Valdes 2x, Harold Johnson and, remarkably, at the age of 44, rose from the canvas four times to defeat Yvon Durelle in a 1950s fight of that decade.

His ill-fated challenges against heavyweight greats Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson, and Muhammad Ali all occurred during these years.

Bernard Hopkins won four different world titles in his 40s, defeating champions Kelly Pavlik, Tavoris Cloud, Jean Pascal, Winky Wright, Antonio Tarver and Roy Jones Jr. After defeating Beibut Shumenov, Hopkins became the oldest fighter to win a world title in history at the age of 46.

Archie’s cross-guard defense (among other tricks) was also instrumental in Foreman’s rise. From age 42 to 45, George fought new-age heavyweight greats like Evander Holyfield and Tommy Morrison, then defeated Michael Moorer to become the oldest heavyweight champion at age 45.