Records are a challenge, it’s set to break but there are some boxing records that may never be broken. Boxing is one of the oldest sports in history and has been around for centuries. Over the years, it gained more popularity, and so many talented athletes performed ever-lasting unforgettable records.
Records like winning 103 consecutive fights or earning a world championship title in the fifties, or appearing in 473 bouts cant be broken easily. Here we gathered 10 boxing records that may never be broken.
So let’s see.
- George Forman – Two decades between regaining the world title
- Len Wickwar – Most Professional bouts and Wins
- Billy Bird – Most win via Knockout
- Jimmy Wilde – Longest unbeaten record
- Jimmy Wilde – Longest unbeaten record
- Muhammad Ali – The Only Man to Become Three-time Undisputed Heavyweight Champion
- Manny Pacquiao – The Only Octuple Champion
- Wilfred Benítez – Youngest World Boxing Champion
- Bernard Hopkins – Oldest World Champion
- Wilfredo Gomez – Longest KO Streaks
1. George Forman – Two Decades Between Regaining the World Title
In boxing history, one of the major big names is George Forman. He became the greatest boxer of all time with his outstanding fighting tactics. Besides his 76 wins 68 by knockout Forman is always remembered for his two-time winning the heavyweight champion and an Olympic Gold medal.
Forman first won WBA, WBA, and the lineal heavyweight title after obliterating Joe Frazier in 1973. Then two decades later in 1994, Forman regain IBF, WBA, and lineal heavyweight titles by defeating Michael Moorer.
When beating Moorer, Forman was 46 years old 169 days old. Winning heavyweight world champions at this age is highly odd. He became the oldest heavyweight champion in the history of boxing and set a boxing record that may never be broken.
2. Len Wickwar – Most Professional Bouts and Wins
If we are discussing boxing records that can never be broken then British boxer Len Wickwar’s record is a must to mention. Wickwar fought 473 with 4,020 rounds and won 342 of them, and he won by 93 games. Appearing in 473 fights is completely unbelievable in modern days boxing. Wickwar created this in his 19 years career from 1928 to 1947.
There was doubt about Wickwar’s appearances in all that games. There are reasons behind that cause, at that time, it was hard to keep all the records, so getting number accuracy was quite difficult.
Later, Boxrec did research on Wickwar and tried to collect all his activities. They mainly used paper news as the source and provide the given number of Wickwar bouts.
Wickwar started his professional boxing journey at the age of 17. In his first bout, he knocked out Jim Young Shepherdson in the fourth round. Wickwar mostly fought in the flyweight division. He was discovered by the manager George Biddles from a gym located in Friar Tuck’s public house on Woodgate.
Wickwar record is considered a never broken record because, in today’s boxing, it takes a lot of time in the pre-boxing set-up with all the promotion and other work.
3. Billy Bird – Most Win via Knockout
Winning a fight via knockout is considered to be the most prestigious and honorable way of winning a bout. To win via knockout, the fighter had to be very fast, and he must have held a killing punch that can put the enemy to sleep.
Many boxers went to retirement without recording a single knockout win in their career. However, a good boxer puts his opponents down by knockout many times. But winning via knockout 138 times! Well, that’s something out of the imagination picture for ninety-nine percent of boxers. And UK’s Billy Bird made it happen and sealed his name on the boxing record that may never be broken.
Bird started his professional career in 1920. He fought for 18 years and went to retirement in 1948. In his career, Bird appeared in 356 pro bouts, and he made a winning record of 260, 138 of which happened by KO, lost 73, and draw 20 boxing matches.
The majority percent of Bird bouts took place in the UK. He only went out to fight twice in his career. Once, Bird visited Belgium to face Joe Ralph, and he went to Italy for a clash with Mario Bosisio.
4. Jimmy Wilde – Longest Unbeaten Record
If we are discussing boxing records that may never be broken, then we must have to bring up Jimmy Wilde from history pages. Wilde is a British boxer and consider the best brit boxer ever.
Wilde started his professional boxing career in 1910 and for more than the next five years since 2015, he hasn’t lost any match. During the period, Wilde fought in 103 bouts and won all of them. It’s the longest unbeaten streak in history.
Wilde’s career went on till 1923, and meanwhile, he defeated many great fighters of that era. In 1916, Wilde held the IBU world flyweight title. He won twice the EBU European flyweight title.
Wilde has a very important part in the flyweight division as he is the first official flyweight champion. Because of his bludgeoning punching power, Wilde was often called “The Mighty Atom,” “Ghost with the Hammer in His Hand” and “The Tylorstown Terror”.
Even though Wilde owns the most unbeaten record, it has some controversy. Critics say that he never fought anyone outside of the UK so his being unbeaten only happened in one certain place, if Wilde traveled through the world and face other opponents then he might not able to create this outstanding legacy.
5. Robin Deakin – Longest Consecutive Loss
In our previous discussion, we learned about the longest unbeaten boxing record that may never be broken. Does the question appear in our mind, okay I know who has the longest unbeaten record, so who holds the most consecutive loss record?
Well, here it comes to removing your curiosity about who has the longest consecutive loss. There is a world record for that, and Robin Deakin, aka the “Britain’s Worst Boxer” owns this compliment. He consecutively lost 51 matches and then in 2006, Deakin won his first match. He overall won only two fights and lost 53 bouts.
Deakin’s loss brings the story of the most straight loss by KO of Eric Crumble. Losing a fight by KO is considered the worst and most embracing. And you know what makes it even more horrifying when you don’t win a single match in your entire career?
Well, that’s exactly what happens with the American boxer Crumble. Crumble started his professional boxing career in 1990. He appeared in 32 fights and lost consecutively 31 matches by knockout. Crumble tried six different weight classes but none of the divisions worked for him, he always lost the game before the third round.
6. Muhammad Ali – The Only Man to Become Three-Time Undisputed Heavyweight Champion
Muhammad Ali is undoubtedly the greatest boxer ever to appear in the history of boxing. He got even got his nickname “The Greatest”. Ali defeated all of his opponents, and he was the most dangerous and fearful boxer of his time.
What Ali has created in boxing is unbreakable; no need to bring up his specific achievement cause no one has ever dominated the rings as Ali did. In many of his achievements, Ali has reached the untouchable position by becoming the three-time undisputed heavyweight champion.
All heavyweight champions dreamed of being undisputed heavyweight champions once in their lifetime. Many boxers ever made it possible at some point in their career. But winning the undisputed heavyweight championship title three times! It’s a very big issue, man, cause the heavyweight is the trickiest and toughest division.
Ali won his first undisputed heavyweight champion title in 1964. He beat Sony Liston for the first trophy. Ali’s second undisputed heavyweight champion title came ten years later when he defeated George Foreman in 1974. And four years after beating Foreman, Ali met Leon Spinks in 1978, defeated him, and earned the last title.
Evander Holyfield and Lenox Lewis came close to that record, but they never succeeded. So it remains in the boxing records that can never be broken list.
7. Manny Pacquiao – The Only Octuple Champion
I came, I win, I rule, and then I am gone- Manny Pacquiao is the true example of this saying. He slowly made himself one of the great boxers ever to fight in the ring. The life of Pacquiao started with street fights. And from the road fight, Pacquiao became the king of the boxing world.
Pacquiao’s career path is enough to create a world record cause nobody in history ever overcame the trouble he crossed to reach where he is now. Pacquiao will be remembered for so many things, but one of his great accomplishments is winning the world champion title in all eight different classes. No one in history won a world champion title in all eight different classes before Pacquiao. After Pacquiao made this world record, the term Octuple first appeared in boxing.
Pacquiao has so many other works records too. He was the first boxer in history to win the lineal championship in five different weight classes. He won win major world titles in four of the eight “glamour divisions” for the first time in boxing history. Pacquiao held the world championships across four decades- 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s, and he is the only player to have this record.
8. Wilfred Benítez – Youngest World Boxing Champion
Puerto Ricans are always very good at producing the best boxer. So many great boxers arrived from Puerto Rico and made everlasting unbreakable history. Among them, the New York-born Puerto Rican boxer Wilfred Benítez is considered one of the best.
Benítez became an unforgettable figure in the history of boxing because of his unbelievable achievement. He is always remembered with great respect cause of his world record of becoming the youngest world boxing champion.
At the age of seventeen, Benítez was still in high school in 1976. On March 6, Benítez stepped into the ring to face Antonio Cervantes. Cervantes was then lineal and WBA light welterweight champion and holds 74-9-3 with a 35 KO record. Before facing Benítez, Cervantes had already defended his title ten times.
Benítez vs. Cervantes’s fight ended with a fifteen-round split decision, and the result went in favor of Benítez. Benítez created became the youngest world champion in the history of boxing on that day in front of his classmates who were cheering from the arena.
Many people thought the world record of Benítez will be broken by someone else sooner or later. But it’s been more than 47 years, and no sign of getting even close to challenging Benítez record.
9. Bernard Hopkins – Oldest World Champion
Bernard Hopkins is considered one of the best boxers of this era. He is highly appreciated for his defensive and strategic fight. Hopkins’s speed and counterpunch skills made him untouchable by others.
All these great skills of Hopkins’s put him at the top rank throughout his whole career. He fights in the ring from 1988 to 2016 and dominated boxing for more than three decades. Hopkins held multiple world championships in two different weight classes. He also held the undisputed middleweight title from 2001 to 2005, and from 2011 to 2012, he held the lineal light heavyweight.
To win the lineal light heavyweight titles and regain the Ring title, Hopkins defeated Jean Pascal in 2011 at the age of 46. It made him the world’s oldest boxer to win a world championship title. Hopkins breaks the record of George Foreman, who became a world champion in 1994 at the age of 45.
After making an unbreakable boxing record, Hopkins didn’t stop. He goes on to break in own record, and in 2013 Hopkins defeated Tavoris Cloud to earn the IBF light heavyweight title; he was then 48 years old. At the age of 49, Hopkins beat Beibut Shumenov for WBA (Super) title.
Winning a world title at this age doesn’t happen in boxing. Most people lose their craving for winning after 37, and some manage to earn in their early 40s. But winning a world title at the age of 49! Well, that is something.
10. Wilfredo Gomez – Longest KO Streaks
Well, this one may create some controversy and debate among boxing experts and fans. However, we think Wilfredo Gomez’s record is unbreakable cause no one ever reached slightly close to his outstanding achievement.
The Puerto Rican boxer is a three three-time world champion. Félix Trinidad, Miguel Cotto, Wilfred Benítez, Esteban De Jesús, Edwin Rosario, Carlos Ortíz, and many other sports journalists always mentioned him as one of the best boxers of all time.
Gomez’s first pro bout took place in 1974, and he won the world amateurs title in the same year. Gomez’s first bout ended with a draw in six rounds. It was his only draw in his pro career, and for starting his career with a draw, nobody ever expected much from him.
However, Gomez shocked everyone with his 32 straight knockout victories. No boxer in history ever gets to do something like this, and no one came either to break his record.
Gomez would go on with KO streaks, but when he changed his weight and went to a higher weight, he faced Salvador Sanchez. Gomez faced one of his career’s biggest losses against Sanchez. Besides having a world record of nonstop 32 KO, Gomez also has another record of a seventeen-time title defense.
Conclusion
Above mentioned records are boxing records that may never be broken. We could add more like- Archie Moore’s most knockout in his career, Tommy Burns, the shortest heavyweight champion, Floyd Mayweather defeated most title holders, etc. Hope you know now what you were looking for. Thank you for being with us all the time.
- Read More: Top 10 UFC Knockout in History
