All Rated fighters with over 3 RATED fights are listed in order of
their highest-ever rating.
Their HIGHEST, LATEST and STARTING RATES and dates are listed, along with
their number of RATED FIGHTS.
Heavyweight champions have an asterisk (*) before their names.
A DISCLAIMER.
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'All-Time' is a misnomer. The system cannot accurately measure fighters
from different eras against each other. All the ratings indicate is how
a fighter dominated, or was dominated by, his contemporaries.
The number of active fighters differed era to era. There were few in the
1800's, very many in the 1920's and 30's, and less since that time.
Qualified trainers also must have varied over time, but I have no handle
on that one.
One of the most obvious differences between eras is size.
Today's 215 lb Evander Holyfield is condidered a small heavyweight.
Well, 'small' is certainly a VERY relative term!
There were a lot of smaller challengers, way back when. WAY smaller!
On Nov. 28, 1906, Tommy Burns, 172, was challenged for his heavyweight
title by the storied Philadelphia Jack O'Brien. O'Brien came in at 163.5!
And don't forget (who could forget?) the great Bob Fitzsimmons. He
weighed 167 lbs when he took the title from Jim Corbett (183 lbs) in 1897.
And now, 100 years later, he's still among the highest rated fighters.
The last heavyweight CHALLENGER under 200 lbs was Leon Spinks in 1978.
He weighed 197.25 (coincidentally the exact same weight as that of the great
Joe Louis when he won the title in 1937!).
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