The Greatest Ever 1-Weight World Champions

A lot of emphasis is put on fighters proving themselves in more than one weight class. I personally dont think a fighter has to go up to prove his greatness, for example Ward could stay as SMW champ for the next few years and i would say he was a great. However on the flip side we have Manny and Mayweather who are 7-8 weight world champs!
I was wondering who are some of the greatest fighters to be only one-weight world champs (regardless of if they have fought at higher or lower weights than which they held the title. Im guessing most would be heavy's like Ali/ Frazier/ Foreman/Tyson who couldnt really fight at any other weight...

I'm asking you guys' opinion as I dont know!!!

Outside of the heavyweights it's Monzon out on his own, a case can be made for Greb but he did win titles at 175lbs just not a world title. There's Archie Moore too but again fought above and below light heavyweight.

Monzon, Hagler, Sanchez, Saldivar and Napoles would be my top 5.

Chris John

The greatest championship reign (at one weight) belonged to Joe Louis -- or as he's known around these parts "JOE LOUIS AT NUMBER 6 ALL TIME MAYWEATHER NOT TOP TEN???!!!".

Here's a recent thread:

https://www.606v2.com/t48548p250-greatest-championship-reigns-in-history-by-weight

Muhammad Ali is my greatest ever......and number 1.....

Ah, wrong end of the stick. Yes, Ali's your man.

I do find it strange when people say Floyd has fought nobody of note.

Looking through his wins against Castillo twice, Corrales, Hatton, Hernandez, Alvarez, Cotto, Mosley, De La Hoya, Guerrero were all good wins against undefeated fighters at bigger weights and younger (Alvarez).....undefeated champions (hatton/coralles), beating champions in their own weight class (Cotto).

Its a staggering career really and in, for one, don't understand the criticism.

Pacquiao has also got a list of fantastic fighters in his early years like Barrera, Morales and JMM. Also fought and narrowly missed out against Bradley, beat Cotto for a belt etc etc.

Both are brilliant in their own right and shouldn't get slated either way (apart from Margarito/Rios/De La Hoya for pacquiao and Khan for Floyd if it happens).

Right, have cleaned up this thread (for a second time as Hampo has had to do it already) and removed the irrelevant comments which got it binned in the first place. Try to keep it civil this time please, lads. Ta.

Yes keep it civil lads.....

I would have said Ricardo Lopez but even he jumped the huge 3lbs from straw weight to become IBF Light-fly champ in his last few fights.

Prince Naseem won all his world title fights until Barrera at featherweight, although his earlier euro & international belts were at Bantam & Super Bantam.

Khaosai Galaxy, phenomenal record at Super Flyweight,I think he defended his title about 16 or 17 times, great punching power.

I do think natural Heavyweights should be excluded from this as they have no where to go. Regardless of that Monzon still for me has the single greatest championship reign in history, forget about the numbers of Hopkins or Louis, their level of competition isn't equal to that of Monzon.

Super bantamweight wasn't he.......and his brother Kaokar was Bantam........

Wouldn't give the title of best to a champion of the 122 division.......It's not one of the fab 8.

Kostya Tszyu and Aaron Pryor both great one weight champions.

Easy answer Joe Louis he amassed an unrivalled reign against the rings number 1 and 2 contenders. In all he had a record of 20-3 with 16kos against the magazines top 2 heavyweights ranked in a sustained period, a better record than Ali amassed.

Cheers Rodders

Hammersmith harrier wrote:I do think natural Heavyweights should be excluded from this as they have no where to go. Regardless of that Monzon still for me has the single greatest championship reign in history, forget about the numbers of Hopkins or Louis, their level of competition isn't equal to that of Monzon.

Hopkins' reign is overblown -- he was a mere alphabet titlist for the majority of it. Louis and Monzon were true champions.

I do find with Louis it's purely numbers, he doesn't have the names to be compete with some others mentioned. That's not his fault but we can't make out a win over Galento means more than a win over Briscoe.

Hammersmith harrier wrote:I do find with Louis it's purely numbers, he doesn't have the names to be compete with some others mentioned. That's not his fault but we can't make out a win over Galento means more than a win over Briscoe.

If you remain champion for that long and fight as often as Louis did (compared to modern fighters) then you're going to pick up wins over fighters who are as modestly accomplished as Galento. The point is, he fought everyone available for more than a decade (when everyone was shooting for him).

Joe's opposition is unfairly maligned on these boards but that's an argument from two months ago and it won't do anyone any good to trot down the same path with that one again.

Choosing one of Joe's poorest opponents and comparing it to one of Monzon's best is hardly playing it down the middle either.

I'd say Briscoe is one Monzons weaker opponents, no matter which way I look at Louis' record just does not compare. Benvenuti, Griffith, Valdes and Napoles are all better wins than anything Louis has. Add in his unbeaten championship record and you have a single weight champion almost beyond compare.

Rodney wrote:Easy answer Joe Louis he amassed an unrivalled reign against the rings number 1 and 2 contenders. In all he had a record of 20-3 with 16kos against the magazines top 2 heavyweights ranked in a sustained period, a better record than Ali amassed.

Cheers Rodders

Love the spin........He beat nothing but crap and lost to the best fighters he fought.......

Anybody that has louis number 1 might as well have Eusebio Pedroza number 2.......

I'm one of the few who would place Hamed higher than Pedroza, a great featherweight yes but has a weak record.

So would I..........

You can't argue with Louis hole-lickers............

Haz what great fighters did Louis beat ???

"Braddock, Sharkey and Baer"...........   

I could knockout Jonny Paychek......

What was the story behind Monzon getting stripped by the WBC for not fighting Rodrigo Valdéz?

That leaves a gap in his reign were he wasn't undisputed.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:So would I..........

You can't argue with Louis hole-lickers............

Haz what great fighters did Louis beat ???

"Braddock, Sharkey and Baer"...........   

I could knockout Jonny Paychek......

Come on man, we've done this to death.

Strongback wrote:What was the story behind Monzon getting stripped by the WBC for not fighting Rodrigo Valdéz?

That leaves a gap in his reign were he wasn't undisputed.

I think there's a difference in a fighter being undisputed and being stripped of a belt and a titlist winning a belt before eventually winning the undisputed crown. Monzon was still the man (which he underlined down the line).

hazharrison wrote:

Strongback wrote:What was the story behind Monzon getting stripped by the WBC for not fighting Rodrigo Valdéz?

That leaves a gap in his reign were he wasn't undisputed.

I think there's a difference in a fighter being undisputed and being stripped of a belt and a titlist winning a belt before eventually winning the undisputed crown. Monzon was still the man (which he underlined down the line).

Is there a story behind why the Valdez fight didn't happen first time around?

Can't remember off the top of my head.

Monzon's reign is all the more remarkable when you look at the non-title fights he won against lower-level opposition in between defending his championship. That's the same type of opposition Hopkins was defending his alphabet title against.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Super bantamweight wasn't he.......and his brother Kaokar was Bantam........

Wouldn't give the title of best to a champion of the 122 division.......It's not one of the fab 8.

Khaosai was super fly or junior Bantam 47 wins 41 KOs 1 loss 17 defences of his title pretty awesome at 1 weight for me.

He's a great for sure.........

Superfly is a bit of a problem though........

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:He's a great for sure.........

Superfly is a bit of a problem though........

Got to be honest Truss,I respect the smaller fighters achievements, but not a great lover of the very small man weights, alway's look like they should be at junior school  next morning, just a personal opinion.

I respect your opinion..........and you're right.......The increments are too small.......Basically 108-112 for a fly/superfly..

Galaxy is a trick one to rate, I know next to nothing about his opposition.

I don't really see the issue with Hopkins opposition, seems to be a labelled an alphabet holder even though he beat everyone there was to beat.

Boxing Monthly ranked Hopkins and Mercado only fifth and sixth at the weight respectively prior to their return match (when Hopkins won his alphabt strap), with Hopkins only rising to second (behind Jorge Castro) after the win. Had Steve Collins and Gerald McClellan not moved to super middleweight only months prior, Hopkins may not even have cracked the BM top three. Hopkins was rated 3rd with KO Magazine, who preferred both Castro and Quincy Taylor. Ring Magazine meanwhile appointed Taylor as their middleweight of the year. Unlike Monzon, Hopkins wasn't the middleweight boss.

Steve Frank, Joe Lipsey and Bo James were poor title challengers -- the type of guys Monzon was taking on in non-title fights.

You say that of Hopkins but wax lyrical about Louis defending against equally crud opposition. By the end of 96 he was the rings number one middleweight, he cleared out the division but all you can do is lambast him.

Hammersmith harrier wrote:You say that of Hopkins but wax lyrical about Louis defending against equally crud opposition. By the end of 96 he was the rings number one middleweight, he cleared out the division but all you can do is lambast him.

Maybe I need to change my posting style (maybe it's clipped because I'm cramming it in between work)? Lambasted?

Hopkins unified against Trinidad -- only then did he become middleweight boss. Prior to that he was a mere titlist (top contender in old money). I'm actually defending Monzon here!

Louis was the heavyweight boss -- can't see what your gripe is there?

The gripe is that Hopkins was a victim of the times and there wasn't anyone against whom he would have become the middleweight king when he first won his title. It's more about who you beat than how many you beat, not being the undisputed champion doesn't change the fact he beat some very good fighters.

Hammersmith harrier wrote:The gripe is that Hopkins was a victim of the times and there wasn't anyone against whom he would have become the middleweight king when he first won his title. It's more about who you beat than how many you beat, not being the undisputed champion doesn't change the fact he beat some very good fighters.

What utter rubbish.

Hopkins could have faced the other titlists - or the guys that were rated above him. Louis and Monzon bossed their divisions. Hopkins didn't achieve that until he beat Trinidad. Had there still been one champ per division - Jones might very well have held that distinction when he turned back Hopkins - so it wasn't like he didn't have a chance to become the man.

Jones was never the man at middleweight, he too was just a mere titlist, Haz you plainly don't rate any modern fighters so I tend not to take your views on them too seriously. Louis bossed an awful division, big deal, I really couldn't care less for his stats as they mean nothing to me, Monzon for example has fewer defences but of far higher quality.

As for Hopkins he was and is the only man to have unified all four major belts, hard to beat the men rated above you when you are the number one.

Hammersmith harrier wrote:Jones was never the man at middleweight, he too was just a mere titlist, Haz you plainly don't rate any modern fighters so I tend not to take your views on them too seriously. Louis bossed an awful division, big deal, I really couldn't care less for his stats as they mean nothing to me, Monzon for example has fewer defences but of far higher quality.

As for Hopkins he was and is the only man to have unified all four major belts, hard to beat the men rated above you when you are the number one.

I rate Duran and Leonard in my top ten all time (along with Ali), so there's three modern fighters that I rate. I also rate Whitaker, Hagler, Monzon, Chavez etc. What about that means that my views shouldn't be taken seriously? What an odd thing to say.

There are posters on here who -- quite against the grain -- suggest contemporary fighters should be ranked among the all time greats, despite the fact their resumes simply don't compare to the true legends of the sport.  

Louis bossed the heavyweight division back when that meant he was the toughest man in the world. He did it longer than anyone else ever did and beat everyone available to him. He's universally feted as one of the greatest fighters of all time (and quite rightly so). So what if you don't care a fig? I'm sure Louis's legacy will live on without your approval.

Hopkins unified the major three titles by defeating Trinidad. All that meant (in reality) was he became middleweight champion rather than a top contender. The defence record spiel is entirely bogus: he made six championship defences (let's cut the crap here). Sergio Martinez also has six defences (to put that into perspective a bit). When Hopkins won his alphabet strap (at the third time of asking might I add) he wasn't viewed as the top man in the division. Although Jones wasn't the lineal champ, he was at least the top rated middleweight during that period.

Hopkins was rated number one after his first defence so you are nitpicking with your alphabet nonsense. All these modern fighters fought 20 years ago or, nobody current or recently retired do you rate.

Times have changed you have not, just like Rodney you are stuck in the past.

Hammersmith harrier wrote:Hopkins was rated number one after his first defence so you are nitpicking with your alphabet nonsense. All these modern fighters fought 20 years ago or, nobody current or recently retired do you rate.

Times have changed you have not, just like Rodney you are stuck in the past.

What a ridiculous statement. Should I rate One Direction because they're current and popular?

Hopkins didn't claim the number one contender spot by beating anyone above him -- Castro and Taylor were upset and so he found himself there by default (not his fault of course, fair play to him). He may have been rated number one but so were Jones and Castro and they weren't champions -- titlists only. Calzaghe wasn't a champion until he defeated Lacy. Lewis until he defeated Holyfield.

Lewis was champion when he beat Briggs the lineal champion, you seem to make it up as you go.

We're not stuck in the past at all , I'm firm believer like Haz a champion should be merited on being the man. The Junior and super divisions make the world scene so diluted it's impossible to rank fighters accordingly.

Cheers Rodders

Hammersmith harrier wrote:Lewis was champion when he beat Briggs the lineal champion, you seem to make it up as you go.

No-one paid any heed to Lewis's lineal claim (as valid as it was on paper). Holyfield continued to be ranked above him and Lewis (as number two) wasn't hailed heavyweight boss until he beat Holyfield.

So in short neither of you have caught up with the current boxing scene and are stuck in the 30's and 40's.

Hammersmith harrier wrote:So in short neither of you have caught up with the current boxing scene and are stuck in the 30's and 40's.

I guarantee I know more about the modern scene than you do.

I very much doubt that somehow but I've no interest in proclaiming my knowledge to be greater than anyone else's.

Hammersmith harrier wrote:I very much doubt that somehow but I've no interest in proclaiming my knowledge to be greater than anyone else's.

I should think so, too. Among a sea of nuggets, you're right up there. Confederacy of dunces.

Ouch, it's so hurtful to be insulted by somebody I don't take seriously, presumably Robinson is in a different league to Hopkins at middleweight.