By Dan Morley
BOXING is a sport rich with history and accolades that have mesmerised audiences for over a century. Every era produces greats who push boundaries to new levels and accomplish what many have deemed impossible. In recent years, fighters like Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue, and Oleksandr Usyk have embarked on historic multi-division conquests, clearing out multiple classes to become two-division undisputed champions.
However, as amazing as these are, history has provided such unthinkable feats within the boxing world that will surely never be broken. After extensive research, here are some of boxing’s most incredible achievements.
Wilfred Benitez – World Champion at 17 Years Old
Defensive maestro Wilfred Benitez had one of the greatest careers ever seen before he had even hit his mid-20s. Recognised as the unofficial ‘Fifth King’, for his victory 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.
Yet it was his first title victory against legendary champion Antonio Cervantes that stands out amongst the rest. In dethroning Cervantes, Benitez cemented himself as boxing’s youngest-ever World Champion at 17 years old.
Wilfred Benitez
This wasn’t just a flash knockout either, but a classy 15-round performance against an experienced champion with 60 professional fights and 10 successful defences of the crown. Cervantes had defeated greats such as Esteban De Jesus, Nicolino Locche and Alfonso Frazer – later winning more titles.
Manny Pacquiao – Eight Division World Champion
In his legendary run through the weight divisions, Pacquiao dominated from flyweight to super-welterweight—an unfathomable 10-division Span. Skipping two classes at title level, Manny won championships in eight different weight classes.
Incredibly, in defeating many of the great Hall of Famers of the era, his blistering flurries maintained knockout efficiency and brutal damage throughout the weight jumps.
Whether it be his wars with Morales, Barrera and Marquez at featherweight/super-featherweight, the stoppages of Hatton, Cotto, Diaz and De La Hoya from lightweight to welterweight, or the surgical reconstruction of Antonio Margarito’s face at super-welterweight, Pacquiao’s prime years were as terrifying as they were unbelievable.
Sam Langford’s resume from Lightweight to Heavyweight
Whilst Pacquiao holds titles in the most divisions in history, the great Sam Langford was never even a world champion. Despite this, Langford competed in over 50 more fights against Hall of Famers than Pacquiao and defeated many of history’s greatest boxers from lightweight to heavyweight.
At 17, Langford defeated one of history’s greatest-ever lightweights in Joe Gans over 15 rounds, with no title on the line. At 18, he convincingly outpointed all-time great – welterweight champion Barbados Joe Walcott, yet the title bout was controversially scored a draw.
Sam Langford (left)
Sam simultaneously defeated Walcott’s future conqueror Young Peter Jackson the next year. The following year he jumped from welterweight to heavyweight to lose a spirited 15-round decision to future champion Jack Johnson, who refused to grant Sam a rematch.
Across the rest of his career, Langford defeated Hall of Famers at both middleweight and light-heavyweight, in Stanley Ketchel, Tiger Flowers and Philadelphia Jack O’Brien, the latter two via knockout. His most impressive feat came across a 40+ fight saga against Hall of Fame heavyweights in Harry Wills, Joe Jeannette, Sam McVey and Battling Jim Johnson – all of whom were added to Langford’s victory column and 126 career knockouts!
Len Wickwar – Most Fights and Wins in History
Leicester’s Len Wickwar was a firm believer in staying busy, competing in a mind-blowing 473 professional fights, primarily across the 1930s. He won 340, lost 87 and drew 42, scoring 91 KOs.
The hellacious activity was scheduled across a 19-year career, yet six of those years resulted in inactivity due to the Second World War, meaning across 13 years, Wickwar squeezed in 469 fights. Had the war not halted his work rate, and granted he was able to maintain the pace, Wickwar was en route to 700-800 professional fights.
Len Wickwar
Many of his fights went the scheduled 10–round distance, totalling over 4000 rounds. Wickwar competed over 50 times a year three times and over 40 times a year five times. He went the 12-round distance with Billy Bird, the man with boxing’s most ever KOs (138), and boxing Hall of Famers Jack Kid Berg and Freddie Miller.
Harry Greb – 45-0 in One Year
Harry Greb is widely regarded to have compiled the greatest resume in the history of boxing, defeating more Hall of Famers than anyone else, ranging from welterweight to heavyweight. Yet, whilst this feat deserves a mention in this list, it’s not even his standout across an unmatchable career.
For me, his peak was the most remarkable showing of domination, fearlessness, and restless activity. In 1919, Harry Greb went 45-0, a streak that would extend to 52-0. Across this 45-fight, 12-month period, Greb scored victories over Hall of Famers, including: Battling Levinsky 4x, Leo Hauck 3x, heavyweight HOF’er Billy Miske, Mike Gibbons and Mike McTigue, whilst defeating heavyweight contenders Bill Brennan 4x and George KO Brown and finally middleweight Champion Jeff Smith.
Harry Greb
Greb himself rarely weighed much above the middleweight limit. He was forced to remain inactive for two of the months across the year due to the flu and broken hands. After eventually losing to Tommy Gibbons in May 1920 to end the 50+ win streak, the ‘Pittsburgh Windmill’ instantly embarked on another unbeaten run of 56 fights, where he would defeat Hall of Famers in Tommy Loughran 4x, Tommy Gibbons, Kid Norfolk, Jeff Smith Twice and, most famously, Gene Tunney, being the only man to ever do so.
Archie Moore, George Foreman and Bernard Hopkins – Freakish Longevity
Whilst each man embarked on their own legendary careers, I couldn’t decide on which one embodied the rare art of longevity best, so decided to fuse all three together. One thing each man had in common with one another was fully fledged, all-time great careers in their youth.
Archie Moore, active in an era controlled by the mob,, refused to play ball, having to wait until he was 39 years old to get a shot at the title. By then, he had boxed Hall of Famers over 20 times.
Hopkins possessed the tricks and craftiness Moore became so famous for, himself reigning as middleweight Champion for a decade up to the age of 40. Foreman was cruder than the others but possessed bludgeoning power and overwhelming strength in his younger days, brutally massacring Joe Frazier twice, Ken Norton and stopping Ron Lyle.
George Foreman
Yet ‘Big George’, similarly to the ‘Alien’ and the ‘Old Mongoose’, came back in his 40s with a reinvented style, courtesy of the old master himself, Archie Moore, who worked with an older Foreman. All three of these men used tactics, tricks and discipline they had accumulated from their prime years to continuously defy the inevitability of Father Time and defeat champions far younger than them, compiling the greatest careers of a fighter above their 40s ever seen.
Moore won the light-heavyweight Title at 39 and reigned for 10 years, defeating greats in Joey Maxim 3x, Nino Valdes 2x, Harold Johnson and, incredibly, at 44 years old, climbed off the canvas four times to knock out Yvon Durelle in the 1950s fight of the decade.
His ill-fated challenges against heavyweight greats Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson and Muhammad Ali all fell within 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. Upon beating Beibut Shumenov, Hopkins became the oldest fighter to win a world title ever at 46.
Archie’s cross-guard defence (amongst other tricks) was also a tool in Foreman’s resurgence. From the age of 42 to 45, George tussled with the new era of heavyweight greats in Evander Holyfield and Tommy Morrison, later defeating Michael Moorer to become heavyweight boxing’s oldest-ever champion at 45.