By John F. McKenna (McJack): Mike Tyson was the youngest man to win the heavyweight title. He was just 20 years old when he defeated Trevor Berbick on November 22, 1966. Prior to Tyson, Floyd Patterson was the youngest man to win the title. He was 21 years old when he won the title by knocking out Archie Moore in the fifth round in 1956.
The great Jack Johnson had two nicknames. One was the “Galveston Giant” and the other a nickname he carried throughout most of his life was “Lil Artha”.
Joe Louis had the longest title reign of any champion in any weight division. He was heavyweight champion for eleven years and eight months. He also holds the record for most title defenses, twenty five and most KO’s (21) in defense of the title.
Most first round KO’s of any heavyweight champion during career: I have Jack Dempsey at twenty five. Some of his early fights were unrecorded.
Rocky Marciano is the only Heavyweight Champion to remain undefeated throughout his career. Rocky was 49 – 0, with 43 KO’S.
Sugar Ray Robinson won his first 40 fights before losing a decision to Jake Lamotta in 1943. He avenged the loss to the “Bronx Bull” three weeks later, and did not lose again until he lost a decision to Britain’s Randy Turpin in 1951. During that stretch, Sugar Ray went ninety one fights without a loss. Robinson won all eighty five of his amateur fights, sixty nine by KO, forty in the first round. Perhaps that is why historians rate him as the greatest fighter ever.
Floyd Patterson became the first man in boxing history to regain the Heavyweight Championship of the World when he KO’d Ingermar Johansson in one minute fifty one seconds of the fifth round. The fight was held on June 20, 1960 at the Polo Grounds in New York City. Johansson had won the title a year prior on June 26, 1959 in Yankee Stadium with a third round KO of Patterson.
Vitali Klistchko has the highest KO percentage of any Heavyweight Champion in history, with a 90% KO ratio.
Joe Louis scored five one round KO’s while holding the Heavyweight Championship, a record which still stands. Louis held the title from 1937 to 1949.
Sonny Liston’s fist size was 15 inches, the largest fist size of any Heavyweight Champion. It was said that his fists were so huge that his gloves had to be slit so that he could get his fists into them.
The first televised Heavyweight Championship fight was on June 19, 1946. The fight was the rematch between Heavyweight Champion Joe Louis and challenger Billy Conn. 146,000 people watched the fight on television, most of them in neighborhood bars because most people did not have television in their homes yet. Within a year, ten times that many people would be watching the Heavyweight Championship on television.
Archie Moore scored an amazing131 KO’s during his professional boxing career. No other fighter came close to that figure.
Scariest stare down: In my book Sonny Liston wins that hands down. Floyd Patterson could not bring himself to look into Liston’s eyes as the referee gave his pre fight instructions for their 1962 title bout.
Floyd Patterson and the fake beard: When Patterson lost the title to Sonny Liston in 1962, he left Comiskey Park in Chicago wearing a pair of dark sunglasses and a fake beard for his drive back to New York City.
Great boxing quote: “Sure there have been injuries and death in boxing – but none of them serious.” – Alan Minter – Former Middleweight Boxing Champion.
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