By Ken Hissner: A book I have called ‘The Ultimate Encyclopedia,’ it listed the following of the longest unbeaten winning streaks.
UK’s Hal Bagwell 183 from 1938 to 1948; Chicago, Illinois’ Packey McFarland 97 from 1905-1915; UK’s Fred Dyer 94 1908 to 1912; Spain’s Pedro Carrasco 93 1964 to 1971; Harlem, New York’s “Sugar” Ray Robinson 91 1943 to 1951 and Mexico’s Julio Cesar Chavez 90 1980 to 1994.
I went to Boxrec to confirm these, and to my surprise, they didn’t agree with the list, starting with Bagwell, whose final record was 100-5-8, for instance. It looked like he had 63 in a row from 1938 to 1949.
Packey McFarland’s record shows his record as 70-0-5 and 106-1-6. The 70-0-5 list even shows a loss.
Pedro Carrasco was 105-3-2 losing in his third fight, and then 102-1-2 when he lost again to world lightweight champ L.A., California’s Mando Ramos.
Robinson was 41-1 and lost to Bronx, New York’s World Middleweight champ Jake “Bronx Bull” LaMotta (whom he beat four out of five times) when he was 129-1-2 when he lost to UK’s World Middle champ Randy “Leamington Licker” Turpin, 40-2-1, in the UK and in their next fight defeated Turpin in the United States.
Chavez was 89-0-1 when he lost to Morristown, Tennessee’s Frankie “The Surgeon” Randall, 48-2-1 by a split decision in January of 1994.
In one of this writer’s recent articles, I mentioned unbeaten world champs who retired unbeaten, such as Heavyweight champ Brockton, Massachusetts Rocky “The Brockton Blockbuster” Marciano with 49 straight wins going 49-0, 1996 Olympic Bronze Medalist, Five division world champ Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr. 50 straight wins going 50-0, New Bridge, Wales Joe “Pride of Wales” Calzaghe 66-0, 1960 Olympic Gold Medalist and Italy’s World Middle champ Nino Benvenutti 65-0, Mini and Light Fly World champ Ricardo “Finito” Lopez 51-0-1, Easton, Pennsylvania’s Heavyweight champ Larry “The Easton Assassin” Holmes won his first 48 as did Poland’s two-division world champ Dariusz “Tiger” Michalczwski and Denmark’s IBO World Heavyweight champ ‘Super’ Brian Nielsen winning his first 49 before defeat.
World Heavyweight champ from Greenwich, Connecticut, Gene “The Fighting Marine” Tunney, was 47-0-2 when he lost to World Middle champ Harry “The Pittsburgh Windmill” Greb. St. Paul, Minnesota’s Tommy Gibbons was 52-0-3 when he lost to Greb. Rocky Hill, Connecticut’s World Feather champ Willie “Will o’the Wisp” Pep was 62-0 when he lost to Cleveland, Ohio’s Sammy Angott.
Mexico’s Saul “Canelo” Alvarez was 42-0-1 when he lost to Las Vegas, Nevada’s Floyd Mayweather. Oakland, California’s 2004 Olympic God Medalist, and Super Middle World champ Andre “S.O.G.” Ward was 32-0. Germany’s Super Middle World champ Sven “Phantom” Ottke was 34-0. Mexico’s World Super Middle champ Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez was 44-0, losing to Kyrgyzstan’s WBA Super World champ Dmitrii Bivol.
Venezuela’s two-division World champ Edwin “El Inca Dinamita” Valero, 27-0 with all knockouts retired. Pensacola, Florida’s Four-division World champion Roy Jones, Jr. was 34-0 when he was defeated.
Three-time Olympic Gold Medalist and European Middle champ Laszlo Papp was 27-0-2 when he was forced into retirement. 1976 Olympic Gold Medalist “Sugar” Ray Leonard was 27-0 when he lost to four-division World champ Panama’s Roberto “Hands of Stone” Duran, 71-1.
Puerto Rico’s Three-division World champ Wilfred Benitez was 38-0-1 when he lost to Ray Leonard. Detroit, Michigan’s Five-division World champ Thomas “The Hit Man” Hearns was 32-0 when he lost to Ray Leonard. Cedar City, Utah’s Heavyweight LaMar Clark was 42-0 when he lost to Bartolo Soni, 12-2-1.
Muhammad “The Greatest” Ali was 31-0 when he lost to “Smokin” Joe Frazier, both Olympic Gold Medalists. Olympic Gold Medalist and World Heavyweight champ “Big” George Foreman was 40-0 when he lost to Muhammad Ali. Mexico’s Light Middle World champ Luis “Yori Boy” Campas was 56-0 when he lost to Puerto Rico’s Three-Division World champion Felix “Tito” Trinidad, who was 40-0 when he lost to Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins.
Germany’s Three-Division World champ Regina Halmich, 54-1-1, was 46-0-1 in her final 47 fights. 1992 Olympic Gold Medalist and Seven-Division World champ Oscar “Golden Boy” De La Hoya was 31-0 when he lost to Felix Trinidad. Pamona, California’s Three Division World champ “Sugar” Shane Mosley, was 38-0 when he lost to Two Division World champ Atlanta, Georgia’s Vernon “The Viper” Forrest, who was 35-0 when he lost to Ricardo Mayorga.
These are some of the biggest winning streaks, and look forward to the others adding to it for those to comment.