13 World Heavyweight Champions have retired undefeated. 7 remained retired and undefeated. 6 others* returned to the ring and lost either their titles or undefeated records. 1). Jack Broughton* (15-1): English Heavyweight Champion. Broughton held the title from 1734*-1750*. Some sources have him winning the title as early as 1734, and others as late as 1736. He held the title in recess from 1747-1750, when he returned to lose his undefeated record and title to Jack Slack. 2). Tom Lyons (1-0): English Heavyweight Champion. Lyons defeated Bill Darts for the title on June 27, 1769. After refusing a rematch and Peter Corcoran bout, Lyons retired. Darts reclaimed the title on March 25, 1770. 3). Jack Duggan Fearns (2-0): English Heavyweight Champion. Fearns defeated Harry Sellers for the title on September 25, 1779. Content with the win, Fearns retired shortly thereafter. 4). Jack Harris (2-0): English Heavyweight Claimant. Harris claimed the title during a 10-year period that saw George Meggs, Bill Stevens, George Muson, Tom Juchan, Bill Darts, Tom Lyons, Harry Sellers, Thomas Jackling and Ben Ryan likewise claim the abdicated title of Duggan Fearns. 5). Thomas Jackling or Tom Johnson (10-1): English Heavyweight Champion, would unify the title and settle the claim as Champion of England. He reigned from June 1787 until 1790, when he retired. Some sources have him retaining the title by claim. Others holding it in abstentia. A proposed bout with Ben Brain was agreed upon in September 1789. Brain became ill, and later claimed the title during Johnsons retirement. Johnson returned to fight the new champion Brain on January 17, 1791. Johnson lost his undefeated record and retired again. 6). Ben Brain (7-0-1): English Heavyweight Champion. Brain claimed the title in 1789, but didnt win it until January 17, 1791. Three potential defenses were cancelled due to Brains health. He died as champion on April 8, 1794, without having made a title defense. 7). Henry Pearce (7-0): English Heavyweight Champion. Pearce won the title on January 23, 1804. Pearce scheduled a defense against John Gully on September 7, 1830. Due to poor health, Pearce withdrew and vacated the title. 8). Jacob Hyer (1-0): American Heavyweight Claimant. Hyer claimed the inaugural Heavyweight Championship of America on October 15, 1816 by defeating Tom Beasley. Often referred to as the Father of the Modern Prize Ring, Hyer would retire and never fight again. [Note Tom Molineaux is generally regarded as the first American Heavyweight Champion, but only by appellation. He lost two bouts in 1810 and 1811 against Champion of England Tom Crib. He had a wrestling match on July 27, 1812. On April 23, 1813, he won his first fight against Jack Carter. He then had a No Contest with William Fuller on May 27, 1814, then won a return bout by foul on May 31, 1814. He lost his only other prize-ring fight against George Cooper on March 10, 1815. For the above stated reasons, I do not recognize Molineaux as a champion. None of the above fights are recorded as title bouts (save the two losses to Crib).] 9). Tom Hyer* (2-1): American Heavyweight Champion. Jacobs son Tom would later reclaim the title his father once held. Hyer won the vacant Heavyweight Championship of America by defeating George McChester on September 9, 1841. He made one defense and retired in 1851. He returned to fight a non-title bout against Tom Hunter on July 13, 1857. Thus, he too lost his undefeated record but not title. John Morrissey claimed it in 1853. 10). James J. Corbett* (14-4-3-3): National Police Gazette World Heavyweight Champion. This one comes with a major asterisk, and italicized. Underline it as well in bold. Corbett won the World Heavyweight title from John L. Sullivan on September 7, 1892. He retained his title against Charlie Mitchell on January 25, 1894. From there, he acted and engaged in scores of boxing exhibitions from February-April 1886. According to the Freemans Journal and the Daily Commercial Advertiser, Corbett retired on September 11, 1895 and gave his title away to Peter Maher who defeated Steve ODonnell. [Note: the above is documented in the November 21, 1895 edition.] Maher would lose the claimant title to Bob Fitzsimmons. Corbett then rescinded both the appellation of champion and title issuance, unretiring to challenge Bob Fitzsimmons. He fought a 4-round draw against Tom Sharkey on June 24, 1896. He then defended his lineal World Heavyweight title against claimant Bob Fitzsimmons on March 17, 1897. Fitszimmons would win the bout and solidify his claim as lineal World Heavyweight Champion. [Note: I do not recognize this as an actual retirement. Truly more akin to ring inactivity and a self-imposed sabbatical from the sport. Furthermore, Corbett boxed all throughout 1892-1898. Corbett had 14 exhibitions in 1892: 14 in 1893; 14 in 1894 as well as 1 professional 11). James J. Jeffries (19-1-2-1): National Police Gazette World Heavyweight Champion. Jeffries won the title from Bob Fitzsimmons on June 9, 1899. He defended it until he retired in May 13, 1905. Marvin Hart claimed the vacant title by defeating Jack Root on July 3, 1905. He lost it to Tommy Burns on February 23, 1906. Burns held the claimant title until he lost to Jack Johnson on December 26, 1908. Jeffries would come out of retirement to meet Johnson on July 4, 1910. Johnson won the fight, restoring the lineal world heavyweight championship. Jeffries became the 5th former Heavyweight Champion to return from retirement and lose their undefeated record. 12). Rocky Marciano (49-0): World NYSAC, NBA Heavyweight Champion. Rocky Marciano won the title from Jersey Joe Walcott on September 23, 1952. After making 6 title defenses, Marciano retired on April 27, 1956. He defeated 4 Hall of Fame fighters in Walcott, Ezzard Charles, Joe Louis and Archie Moore. Marcianos KO percentage of .878 remains the highest in heavyweight history (percentage points just ahead of Vitali Klitschko, followed by George Foreman and Wladimir Klitschko.) 13). Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali* (56-5): World NYSAC, WBA, WBC Heavyweight Champion. Clay won the titles from Sonny Liston on February 25, 1964. Clay would thereafter convert to the Nation of Islam. Though he formally became a Sunni Muslim in 1975, Elijah Muhammad changed Clays name to Cassius X upon conversion on or around February 27, 1964; then Muhammad X at confirmation on March 1, 1967. He chose the name Muhammad Ali after Muhammad Ali Pasha, an Albanian Commander, then Wali and Khedive of Egypt, under the Ottoman Dynasty Emperor. Ali was stripped of the WBA title on June 19, 1964 for defending the title against Liston. Alis legal problems began with him failing the U.S. Armed Forces qualifying test due to poor reading and writing skills. In 1966, the test was modified and standardized for easier admittance. As a result, Ali passed and was reclassified as a 1A applicant, eligible for entry and drafting into the U.S. Army. On April 28, 1967, Ali refused admittance and sworn oath into the Army, claiming he was a conscientious objector and would only fight if commanded by Allah and Elijah Muhammad. Due to his objection to the Vietnam War, he would later be charged and subsequently stripped of the WBC title on April 28, 1967. The New York State Athletic Commission likewise withdrew title recognition from Ali. He would later be convicted on June 20, 1967, as a Draft Dodger. Cassius Clay likewise legally changed his name to Muhammad Ali on June 30, 1967. Out on bail pending appeal, his conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeals and made its way to the United States Supreme Court. Ali was banned from boxing for a period of 3 years. After filing appeal, he announced his retirement from boxing on February 3, 1970. He returned to fight Jerry Quarry on October 26, 1970. He again fought Oscar Bonavena on December 7, 1970. Ali would then meet Joe Frazier on March 8, 1971, losing his lineal World title claim plus failing to win Fraziers NYSAC, WBA and WBC titles. Ali would thus become the 6th champion to lose his title and undefeated record by coming out of retirement. Ironically enough, the United States Supreme Court set aside Alis felony conviction on June 28, 1971. [Note: I personally do not view this ban as an actual retirement, seeing it was a mandatory suspension by all athletic commissions in the United States. Nonetheless, Ali formally announced his first retirement on February 3, 1970. He would later retire 3 more times.] {[Editors Note: 10 fighters pictured in collage. Duggan Fearns, Jack Harris and Jacob Hyer not pictured. Please provide photographs if owned. Special thanks to Henry Hascup for contributing dates that expedited research time. If any errors are contained- or names missing- please notify the author so a correction can be made.] LEGAL NOTICE: all material contained in this piece is the exclusive work product of Greg Goodrich. All public domain information is exempt. Records were verified through Fight Fax. Microfiche papers were reviewed. Adam Pollacks book Inside the Ring with James Corbett has been cited, IBID. Henry Hascup contributed dates, stats and verified names through independent research. All collected data, corroborated stats and compiled lists are copyrighted and not to be expressly used or otherwise disseminated in any form or fashion, whether in print or electronically, without the expressed, written consent of the author. All rights reserved. Copyright 1998-2014.}
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 06:49:26 +0000
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