VA
  • TGT on YouTube
  • About TGT
  • The TGT Team
  • How TGT rates
  • Responsible Gambling Advice
  • Contact Our Team
  • Writers Wanted
  • Content Disclaimer
  • Affiliate Disclosure
Contains commercial content
Billboard Left
Billboard Left
The Grueling Truth - Where Legends Speak / The Nine Most underrated Heavyweight Boxers of All-Time

The Nine Most underrated Heavyweight Boxers of All-Time

The most underrated heavyweights of all time!
Publish Date: 09/15/2022
Fact checked by: Simon Briffa

I love making these lists. I grew up in the 70s and 80s – the heavyweights were always my favorites. Today we are going to rank the most underrated heavyweight boxers since 1950. This list is in no particular order. Check out our top boxing odds.

Β 

Floyd Patterson

Floyd has been consistently disrespected. I’ve never seen his name in any of the top 20 heavyweight lists. He’s still the youngest lineal heavyweight champion of all time and before the Tyson mob cries, please look up the meaning of lineal, that is, if you can read. Floyd was an undersized heavyweight but beat a lot of quality fighters. Patterson was 55-8, with 4 of those losses coming to Sonny Liston and Muhammad Ali. The two Liston blowout losses I believe diminish his legacy the most, but overall, his resume is outstanding. His wins are impressive. He beat Ingmar Johansson two out of three and defeated Archie Moore, Eddie Machen, George Chuvalo, Henry Cooper, and Oscar Bonavena. Both fights against Jerry Quarry were razor close. He could have won them both. His lack of size was the killer in the end against big heavyweights, but he had blazing speed and his legacy should be much more respected than it is.

Zora Folley

Folley was ranked in Ring Magazine’s top 10 for 11 straight years. Yes, 11 years. Great boxing skills, and good power. Folley has largely been forgotten and that’s a damn shame because he was an excellent fighter. Folley gave a good account of himself in a title challenge against a prime Muhammad Ali. That’s what most remember, but Folley had a solid resume. In 1956 he defeated Nino Valdes, KO’d Henry Cooper in Wembley and defeated the likes of Eddie Machen, Doug Jones, Mike DeJohn, and Bob Cleroux. Also, he beat Oscar Bonavena, George Chuvalo, and got robbed in a horrible draw against Karl Mildenberger. Include a win over Bob Foster, but Foster had issues with a lot of heavyweights.Β 

Jimmy Young

Decisions, decisions, decisions, those are what ruined the career of Jimmy Young. The questionable judging began in a rematch with Earnie Shavers. A very green Young had lost by knockout in just his 11th bout against Shavers. In the rematch that followed, most ringside observers felt Young should have got the nod. Young followed that performance with a win over the very tough Ron Lyle – ranked third at the time and in line for a shot at Ali. Lyle somehow got the Ali fight a few months later.

Young would get his shot about a year later against Ali. He fought well and many observers thought he deserved the decision, but it was not to be. The judges had Young losing by wide margins. Young would recover with a victory over Lyle in a rematch and then defeat George Foreman in what is easily his greatest win.Β 

Young was ranked number two and would battle number one ranked Ken Norton in a WBC title eliminator. The bout was close but I thought Young did enough to win. The judges didn’t see it that way. Judge Raymond Baldeyrou called six rounds even, and judge Jim Rondeau called five even. Judge Art Lurie scored just one round even and not coincidentally he is the judge that scored the fight for Young. After the fight, refereeΒ Carlos PadillaΒ said, “If I had had a vote, I would have voted for Young.”

Young was never the same after that fight against Norton. He lost his next two fights to the limited Ossie Ocasio and seemed to be fighting with little motivation. He was also out of shape in many of his subsequent bouts.

Skill-wise and in-shape Jimmy Young could be a nightmare for any heavyweight boxer at any time, but as it so often happens, the politics of boxing wore him out.

Oscar Bonavena

Ringo was one of the toughest men to ever enter a boxing ring. In just his ninth professional fight he fought Folley and sustained his first loss. A win over the equally tough George Chuvalo put Oscar on the map in the heavyweight division. Oscar’s next fight was against Joe Frazier. Bonavena decked Frazier twice in the second round but couldn’t keep him there. The 203Β½ pound Frazier came back gamely with a relentless, punishing attack that gave him the close decision in the eyes of the judges, although most of the 9,069 fans at Madison Square Garden, who were Bonavena fans, booed the decision.

It was close enough to go either way with referee Mark Conn giving it to Frazier 6-4 in rounds, while judge Joe Eppy had Frazier 5-4-1. But judge Nick Gamboli had it 5-5 in rounds and Bonavena 7-5 on points. United Press International scored it 6-4 for Frazier.

Bonavena got a berth into the box off that would determine Muhammad Ali’s successor as the heavyweight champion of the world. His first bout in the quarterfinals of the tourney was a dominant display over Karl Mildenberger who tasted the canvas 4 times. He came up short in a semi-final bout against Jimmy Ellis – who started strong by putting Ringo on the canvas twice. Ringo rallied as the fight went deep. He came up just short in a very close decision.

The last real shot for Oscar was a fight against Muhammad Ali in Ali’s second comeback fight. Ali called Oscar his toughest fight up to that point. Ali was the only man to ever stop Oscar in a 68-fight career.

Harry Wills

Harry Wills was a contender. What he should have been was a world champion. I guess heΒ wasΒ a champion, a three-time holder of the world’s-colored heavyweight title, but Wills was never able to get a fight with Jack Dempsey.

Dempsey was adamant about giving Harry a title shot, and the two signed for a fight in 1925, but promoter Tex Rickard, who had promoted Jack Johnson’s biggest fight, balked at the prospect of letting another black man fight for the crown.

The next year, poorly trained and handled Wills suffered a disqualification against future champ Jack Sharkey. By then, Wills was 37, and his skills had faded. It’s a damn shame that in 1920 he didn’t get his shot against Jack Dempsey.

Wills defeated Sam Langford, Joe Jeanette, Gunboat Smith, Sam McVea, He beat them all multiple times. Wills will never get the respect he deserves because of racism that existed at the time, but he has a case to make anybody’s top 10 heavyweight list.

James J. Jeffries

Unfortunately, Jeffries is only remembered by most for his loss to Jack Johnson. Jeffries had been retired for five years and had to drop a hundred pounds to get in shape for the fight. I say unfortunately because Jeffries was an all-time great whose legacy gets lost in the shuffle because he came out of retirement.

Jeffries had only 24 professional fights but the wins in his short career are quite impressive. Early in his career, he defeated Peter Jackson. He beat Tom Sharkey, and former heavyweight champions Bob Fitzsimmons and James J. Corbett, twice. To be fair he did fight two draws and two no contests.

Tommy Farr

In his early career, he didn’t have much success. He garnered some wins but also losses. This explains why his overall record does not tell the truth on how good Tommy Farr was.

His first big win came in a hotly disputed decision against the great Tommy Loughran. The fight that catapulted Farr into contender status was a clear-cut decision over former champion Max Baer.

Next up was a title shot against the seemingly invincible Joe Louis. Farr was no “Bum of the Month” and proved it to the whole world by giving Louis one of his toughest title defenses. Referee Arthur Donovan amazingly had Louis ahead 13-2, the other two officials scored the fight much closer at 9-5-1, and 10-5. After the fight, Louis said Farr was one of the toughest men he had ever faced.

Farr’s next fight was against the “Cinderella Man” James J. Braddock. Farr’s decision loss was debatable as most ringside observers thought he deserved the win. Farr lost a rematch to Max Baer and was never really in world title contention again, but I guarantee you anybody that ever saw him fight will never forget the man from Wales.

Joe Frazier

This man is underrated by most and I will puke the next time somebody says Mike Tyson would beat Joe Frazier. Frazier had way too much heart for Tyson. He would have “smoked” Tyson. Please go back and watch Ali/Frazier 1. On that night Frazier would have beat any man that ever lived. Toughness separated Frazier from most and he was tested by the tough Oscar Bonavena in just the 12th fight of his career. He got off the floor twice to defeat Bonavena.

Frazier then ran off a string of impressive wins over the likes of Doug Jones, George Chuvalo, Eddie Machen, Buster Mathis, Manuel Ramos, Jerry Quarry, Jimmy Ellis, and ultimately Ali. Frazier lost fights to Ali and George Foreman. That’s it. It’s criminal the way fans judge Frazier today. Of course, the real fans know the true greatness of Joe Frazier.

Max Schmeling

His first fight against Louis was brilliant, a tactical masterpiece. Schmeling turned it into a battle of his right vs. the Louis jab. His right delivered the coup de grace. There were a mere handful of exchanges, and those were short-lived. Schmeling was considered past his prime when fought Louis. He tamed the young stud and shocked the entire world.

He should have gotten a shot at James J. Braddock’s title after that win but politics got in the way. Louis got the shot and won the title. Instead, Schmeling fought Louis again and was destroyed in less than a round.

Schmeling won the Heavyweight title by disqualification in 1932 against Jack Sharkey and would lose the title to Sharkey in the rematch. Schmeling is not just a Buster Douglas who had one great night. He was a good tough and skilled boxer. Schmeling should be remembered for more than just being from Hitler’s Germany and being destroyed by the great Joe Louis.

Β 

Β 

Β 

Billboard Left
Billboard Left
Read Also
Esteban de Jesus, Roberto Duran y AIDS (1972-89)
Many of us dream of celebrity sports fame, but only cruel individuals ...
What if Mike Tyson Fought in the 1960s and 70s: Part 3 of 3
In part one of our series Mike Tyson was an unstoppable force ...
SI Sportsbook Promo
What if Mike Tyson Fought in the 1960s and 70s: Part 2 of 3
In Part 1, we saw Iron Mike Tyson’s meteoric rise to the ...
What If Mike Tyson Fought in the 1960s and 70s: Part 1 of 3
For this mythical series, we will use our time machine to move ...
Elmer Ray: The Humble Man of Hastings
"Men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand, for ...
Peter Maher: An Irish Tribute
INTRO: I was seriously ill in 2018 with 7 nights in the ...
Ranking the top 200 players in the NFL ahead of the 2021 season
This list isn’t based solely on performances from the 2020 NFL season. ...
Lady Tyger’s Tale: How Marian Trimiar Mauled the Boxing Establishment of the 1970s and 80s
To Feed the Ambition in Your Heart is Like Carrying a Tiger ...
The Army Boxer Who Knocked-Down Muhammad Ali (1960)
I had wanted to write a boxing story about Junebug Hudson for ...
Social Casino of the month
Stake.us - Sign up now! Sign up now!
Top Brands
Top Bonuses
Stake.us
Stake.us
Stake.us Review
4.9/5
Wow Vegas
Wow Vegas
Wow Vegas Review
4.9/5
Golden Hearts Games
Golden Hearts Games
Golden Hearts Games Review
4.8/5
LuckyLand Slots
LuckyLand Slots
LuckyLand Slots Review
4.7/5
SweepSlots
SweepSlots
SweepSlots Review
4.6/5
Stake.us
Stake.us Bonus
5% Rakeback
T&Cs apply
4.9/5
Wow Vegas
Wow Vegas Bonus
30 SCs on 1st Purchase + 4.5 SCs FREE
T&Cs apply
4.9/5
Golden Hearts Games
Golden Hearts Games Bonus
Join GOLDEN2000 for 2,000 FREE coins
T&Cs apply
4.8/5
LuckyLand Slots
LuckyLand Slots Bonus
7,000 Gold Coins + 10 Sweeps Coins
T&Cs apply
4.7/5
SweepSlots
SweepSlots Bonus
1,000 Gold Coins Daily
T&Cs apply
4.6/5
Latest News
Formula 1 Round 3: The 2023 Australian Grand Prix Preview
It's round 3 of the long 23 race ...
March Madness Promo Code: 2nd Chance Bet up to $500
March Madness has made for compelling viewing, and ...
March Madness Promo Code: Bet $1 and Get $365 in bonus bets
March Madness has already seen plenty of twists ...
Betting Tips
Chicago Fire – DC United
04/02/2023 - 12:30 am
Soldier Field
Tip:
Double Chance: Draw/Away
2.0
Bet365
Bet Now
FC Dallas – Portland Timbers
04/02/2023 - 12:30 am
Toyota Stadium
Tip:
Double Chance: Draw/Away
2.3
Bet365
Bet Now
St. Louis City – Minnesota United FC
04/02/2023 - 12:30 am
CITYPARK
Tip:
Both Teams Score: No
2.1
Bet365
Bet Now
Our Latest YouTube Videos
Video: MLB Best bet of the Day: Pirates vs Reds 3/30/23
MLB Best bet of the Day: Pirates vs Reds 3/30/23
Video: March Madness Betting Special: Final Four Miami vs UCONN
March Madness Betting Special: Final Four Miami vs UCONN
Video: March Madness Betting Special: Final Four Florida Atlantic vs San Diego State
March Madness Betting Special: Final Four Florida Atlantic vs San Diego State
Sportsbook of the month
SI Sportsbook - Get your Free Bet now! Get your Free Bet now!
Find out what the legends have to say about sports this week....
Top Online Casinos
Top Casinos Bonuses
Stake.us
Stake.us
Stake.us Review
4.9/5
Wow Vegas
Wow Vegas
Wow Vegas Review
4.9/5
Golden Hearts Games
Golden Hearts Games
Golden Hearts Games Review
4.8/5
LuckyLand Slots
LuckyLand Slots
LuckyLand Slots Review
4.7/5
SweepSlots
SweepSlots
SweepSlots Review
4.6/5
Stake.us
Stake.us Bonus
5% Rakeback
T&Cs apply
4.9/5
Wow Vegas
Wow Vegas Bonus
30 SCs on 1st Purchase + 4.5 SCs FREE
T&Cs apply
4.9/5
Golden Hearts Games
Golden Hearts Games Bonus
Join GOLDEN2000 for 2,000 FREE coins
T&Cs apply
4.8/5
LuckyLand Slots
LuckyLand Slots Bonus
7,000 Gold Coins + 10 Sweeps Coins
T&Cs apply
4.7/5
SweepSlots
SweepSlots Bonus
1,000 Gold Coins Daily
T&Cs apply
4.6/5
Top Betting Sites
Top Betting Bonuses
SI Sportsbook
SI Sportsbook
SI Sportsbook Review
4.9/5
Bet365
Bet365
Bet365 Review
4.8/5
PointsBet
PointsBet
PointsBet Review
4.7/5
BetRivers.com
BetRivers.com
BetRivers.com Review
4.6/5
DraftKings
DraftKings
DraftKings Review
4.6/5
SI Sportsbook
SI Sportsbook Bonus
BET $20 GET $200 IN FREE BETS
T&Cs apply
4.9/5
First deposit only | 21+ & located in VA | Promo code as seen| A qualifying bet is $20 or more | Min odds of +120 or more | Free Bet Tokens credited after bet is settled and expire after 7 days | Free Bet stakes not included in winnings | Please Gamble Responsibly - Gambling Problem? VA: CALL 1-888-532-3500 | Full T&C apply
Bet365
Bet365 Bonus
Bet $1 & Get $365 in Bonus Bets
T&Cs apply
4.8/5
Bet $1 and Get $365 in Bonus Bets at bet365. Deposit required. Bonus Bets winnings are added to Bonus Bets balance. Bonus Bet wager excluded from returns. T&Cs, time limits and exclusions apply. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-Gambler 21+
PointsBet
PointsBet Bonus
5 x $50Bet Credits
T&Cs apply
4.7/5
BetRivers.com
BetRivers.com Bonus
100% up to $500
T&Cs apply
4.6/5
DraftKings
DraftKings Bonus
20% up to $1000
T&Cs apply
4.6/5
Our Team
Mike GoodpasterAuthor IconJosh SchwartzSamuel TeetsSimon Briffa
+8
Mike Goodpaster
Mike Goodpaster
Chief Editor
Author Icon
Christopher Carlson
Content Writer
Josh Schwartz
Josh Schwartz
Editor
Samuel Teets
Samuel Teets
US Sports Veteran
Simon Briffa
Simon Briffa
Sports Editor
Mark Lewis
Mark Lewis
Editor
Chris Benedict
Chris Benedict
Editor
Author Icon
Malik Zorrok
Author
Author Icon
Daniel Kornhauser
Author
John Raspanti
John Raspanti
Author
Author Icon
Buddy Gibbs
Author
Brian Coburn
Brian Coburn
Author
Peter Bonahoom
Peter Bonahoom
Author
Find out what the legends have to say about sports this week....

If you enjoy hearing from the legends of pro sports, then be sure to tune into β€œThe Grueling Truth” sports shows, β€œWhere the legends speak”

Contact us: [email protected]

Players must be 21 years of age or older or reach the minimum age for gambling in their respective state and located in jurisdictions where online gambling is legal. Please play responsibly. Bet with your head, not over it. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, and wants help, call or visit: (a) the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey at 1-800-Gambler or www.800gambler.org; or (b) Gamblers Anonymous at 855-2-CALL-GA or www.gamblersanonymous.org.

This site is using Cloudflare and adheres to the Google Safe Browsing Program. We adapted Google's Privacy Guidelines to keep your data safe at all times.

21+NCPG
Move to Top
Close
Stake.us Exclusive Bonus
5% Rakeback
Promo Code
Copy
Visit Site
T&Cs apply, 21+
Payment Methods
Bitcoin
Litecoin
Ethereum
Dogecoin
Highlights
  • Social casino loved by Drake!
  • Play Plinko, Hilo, Crash and more!
  • Get Stake Cash bonuses every day!
Stake Originals
Dice
Crash
Plinko
Mines
×
Your Bonus Code:
The bonus offer of was already opened in an additional window. If not, you can open it also by clicking the following link:
Visit Site