The middleweights have traditionally been regarded as one of the sport’s true “glamour” divisions, boasting some of the best talent to ever lace ’em up and some of the fight game’s biggest draws. Our ranking here of the very best is restricted to those who fought at or near 160 pounds during most of their prime, thus allowing us to compose the list without worrying about where to fit in greats Ezzard Charles, Sam Langford, Mickey Walker, Billy Conn, and of course the great Sugar Ray Robinson. (Charles, Langford and Conn figure prominently on our list of all-time great light heavyweights, while Robinson and Walker are ranked at welterweight.)
12. Tony Zale: Wins over Al Hostak, Georgie Abrams, Rocky Graziano and Fred Apostoli set “The Man of Steel” apart. One of the best body punchers in boxing history.
Zale knocking out Rocky Graziano.
11. Bernard Hopkins: While he presided over perhaps the weakest middleweight division in history, no one can dispute the skill and longevity of “The Executioner.”
Bernard Hopkins
10. Jake LaMotta: “The Bronx Bull” beat a long list of terrific fighters, including one of the greatest of all middleweights, Ray Robinson. Fritzie Zivic, Tommy Bell, Holman Williams, Marcel Cerdan, George Costner and Tony Janiro are among those LaMotta bested.
LaMotta (right) battles Robinson.
9. Mike Gibbons: He never won the world title, but Gibbons was widely regarded as one of the very best at 160, not to mention one of the sharpest and cleverest boxers around, regardless of weight. His record shows wins over a long list of elite talent including Mike O’Dowd, Ted “Kid” Lewis, Al McCoy, Jeff Smith and Harry Greb.
Mike Gibbons (right) putting on an exhibition with brother Tommy.
8. Tiger Flowers: Competing with Mickey Walker and Harry Greb automatically sets Flowers apart. He gave Greb two tough battles and his loss to Walker was widely viewed as a robbery. Racked up an incredible 118 wins in less than a decade.
An autographed photo of the great Tiger Flowers.
7. Freddie Steele: Solid wins over Fred Apostoli, Ceferino Garcia, Gus Lesnevich, Vince Dundee and Babe Risko. Record of 124-6-8. ‘Nuff said.
Freddie Steele
6. Carlos Monzon: The Argentine’s long reign and 14 straight title defenses mark him as one of the very best.
5. Stanley Ketchel: “The Michigan Assassin,” known for his astonishing power and general viciousness, had his career tragically cut short, but not before establishing himself as the terror of the middleweights with wins over Billy Papke, Joe Thomas and Philadelphia Jack O’Brien.
The great Stanley Ketchel.
4. Charley Burley: One of the greatest to never win a title, Burley was avoided by many of the top boxers of his time, yet he still scored big wins over Holman Williams, Fritzie Zivic, Archie Moore, Billy Soose and Georgie Abrams.
The great Charley Burley. Drawing by Damien Burton.
3. Marvelous Marvin Hagler: Hagler was the best middleweight in the world for over a full decade, during which he lost only one fight.
Marvelous Marvin was a truly dominant champion.
2. Bob Fitzsimmons: The great “Speckled Bob” is famous for his exploits at heavier weights and for being boxing’s first triple crown champ. But his amazing punching power, huge win over Jack “The Nonpareil” Dempsey, and the fact Fitz remained near 160 lb for most of his career, guarantee him high standing on this list.
Bob Fitzsimmons. Ink drawing by Damien Burton.
1. Harry Greb: “The Smoke City Wildcat” is forever the greatest of them all at 160 as he rarely weighed more and was clearly the best in the division for years before he finally won the title in 1923. Greb went on to score legendary wins over Mickey Walker and Gene Tunney, losing only eight times in over 300 bouts.
The legendary Harry Greb. Painting by Damien Burton.
Honorable Mentions: Jeff Smith, Dick Tiger, Marcel Cerdan, Mike McCallum, Billy Papke, Gene Fullmer, Tommy Ryan, Kid McCoy, Jack “The Nonpareil” Dempsey, Holman Williams, Mike O’Dowd, Rodrigo Valdez, Joey Giardello, Teddy Yarosz, Marcel Thil, Les Darcy, Emile Griffith, Frank Klaus, Benny Briscoe.
18 Comments
Where the hell is Mickey Walker????
Robinson?
As the introduction states, we ranked fighters in only one division and so you’ll find the great Walker Smith Jr. included here: https://www.thefightcity.com/top-12-best-welterweight-fighters-boxing/
Where is Gean Fullmer?
“The Toy Bulldog” appeared to be a safe bet to make the list when we began putting it together, but as time went on his ranking slowly fell, and then fell again, until he had slipped right out of the list. The principal reason for this is that Walker’s achievements at 160 are in fact rather slim. His title winning effort against Tiger Flowers was universally viewed as a terrible decision and he went on to defend the championship only three times. His accomplishments as a welterweight are much more impressive. Walker remains one of the best fighters of his era and a pound-for-pound great, but his exploits at 160 are not the basis of that status and on their own do not compare well to that of other middleweight greats.
Why should the tall, strong, wiry guy get all the advantages over the short, muscular guy ? They are taller, have a longer reach, usually faster. Graziano + LaMotta are criticized for fighting welters but if they were fighting Robinson, Costner, Bell, Arnold, etc. fully clothed in a back alley most people would be rooting for the “little guy” (Graz, LaMotta etc.) to beat the bigger guy. I believe there should be some type of a weight handicap match to even things out for the little short guy. By the way LaMotta had many fights (and wins) against middleweights who would agree to fight him, many would not fight him so he boxed welters, who thought they could maybe outspeed him to victory. And Rocky did fight middleweight Zale to a standstill in their first two matches. I have stood next to Rocky and I know he was no more than around 5′ 6″
Charley Burley???? who the hell is Charley Burley. One of Burley’s reletives wrote a book on Burley, with most of that book fictitious, fabricated and lies. Burley was nothing special and should not be listed in the Top 50 Greatest Middleweights. never mind the top 10
Burley is from my Hometown of PITTSBURGH, PA and was a Member of “Black Murderers Row!” – Look it up on YouTube buddy. Burley was a BAD DUDE!
Burley was THE guy. None of the top fighters wanted to take him on, chief amongst them being Sugar Ray Robinson. Burley and the other Black Murderers Row guys were primo fighters who would have destroyed the field given a chance.
Can’t agree with that list. A few names here don’t fit.
This List cant be Real having Hopkins at 11
Any list that fails to have the Great Marcel Cerdan as a top 10 middleweight isn’t worth its salt. How can you place Bernard Hopkins higher than Cerdan. Let’s start there. Marvin Hagler too. Who did Hopkins beat at middleweight? Who did Hagler beat (and don’t say Duran and Hearns—a Lightweight and Welterweight) who did he beat? John Mugabi? Notice I’m not even mentioning anybody Hopkins beat? Meanwhile Cerdan conquered Europe and when he was finally allowed to come to the USA , whipped the asses of Georgie Abrams and Holman Williams and then destroyed Tony Zale in his title bid that he finally got after 110 fights and serving in world war 2, against only 2 defeats. He lost to Jake LaMotta after fighting that animal with one arm for 9 brutal rounds after dislocating his shoulder in the first round. Ok? Forget about Europe if you need, just Abrams, Williams and Zale are better than ANYBODY Hagler ever fought and especially Hopkins who fought nobody worth even mentioning.
It’s kind of like the Babe Ruth dilemma. Can we really acknowledge any athlete the likes of Cerdan & Greb when they came up in an era that didn’t allow minorities in the sport ?
Golovkin?
Jones Jr beat Hopkins easily at middleweight. EASILY.
None of these guys could’ve defeated Monzon, furthermore, they don’t have the stats to show that they could.
My wife’s grand-dad was Bob Fitzsimmons. Great to see him on the list. Linda will be well happy.
Whoever put this list together doesn’t know squat about boxing. Sugar Ray Robinson, considered by most experts to be the best ever pound-for-pound isn’t even on the list, while a fighter be beat not once, or twice, but five times is on the list!