Today we look through some of the best to ever do it. Power, agility and heart all things needed to be the best fighter of all time. Here’s our top 10 best fighters of all time.
GGG – Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin
This man embodies everything I respect for in boxing. He has fantastic ring control, fast hands, chin of granite and undeniable power. For 8 years in a row this man stopped all opponents inside the distance (22 fights including Murray, Lemieux and Brook) The tail end of his career has seen father time catch up and he definitely isn’t the fighter he used to be but still arguably won the first fight with Canelo (I had GGG up 2)
Bruce Lee
A man ahead of his time. It’s a shame we can’t rank Lee higher but due to the lack of fights in competition its hard to say how he would have faired against the best of his generation. One thing we can say is that his impact on martial arts will never be forgotten. One of the first to incorporate the elements of different fighting styles to be the ultimate warrior. His ideology cements his place on this best fighters of all time list.
Be like water my friend!
Canelo Álvarez
Currently the pound for pound number 1 in the world, has notable wins of GGG (Although disputed) , Smith & Saunders. Canelo even ventured up two weight classes and KO’d the light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev. The only loss on his resume’ is Floyd. Canelo fought him at 23 years of age and improved greatly from the loss. A Canelo today v a prime floyd would have been an interesting fight and would maybe have a different result. I’m interested in seeing the next few years for Canelo, he may go down as the best boxer of all time…
Fedor Emelianenko
Fedor was a walking highlight reel. He looks like the kind of guy you would bump into in the pub but appearances can be deceiving. After a controversial loss in December 2000 he was unbeaten in his next 28 fights with plenty of knockouts along the way. A king of his era.
Khabib Nurmagomedov
Khabib is almost unique in his MMA career to go undefeated throughout the whole duration. In his UFC career it is disputed if he ever lost a round never mind a fight. He will go down in history as one of the most successful to enter the octagon.
Mike Tyson
You can’t have a top ten list without including Mike, the man transcended boxing just from the sheer destruction he laid out. In and out the ring. Everyone knew his name and unfortunately this was part of his downfall. Being the youngest heavyweight champion of all time took a massive toll on Mike and his ego this lead to a very short prime era. A true student of boxing at his best and a troubled addict at his worst. Love him or hate him you know him and you know he was one of the best to ever do it.
Anderson Silva
The spider. Unfortunately Silva also had a short peak similar to Tyson but in peak he was unstoppable and highly entertaining. From 2005 – 2012 he had a streak of domination (we aren’t going to include the DQ in 2005) His unorthodox style was key to his dominance but also his downfall starting with the Weidman fight in 2013
GSP – George St-Pierre
A true gent and left the sport on top unlike many fighters on this list. The only Blemishes on his record are the two Matt’s he faced (and invoked revenge) A very technical fighter not known for his power but Jiu-Jitsu skills and ring control were world class. Talks are still on going for him to return to fight Khabib although it would be entertaining I wouldn’t want to see that happen now George is over 40 and may tarnish his legacy.
Floyd Mayweather
50 fights, 50 wins. Contrary to belief Floyd was a big puncher. Due to hand injuries he had to adopt a more defensive style which was more of a gift than a curse in the later end of his career. He had a great chin with only 1 knockdown in all of his fights (which is arguable) He ranks so high on this list due to the volume of fights and the fact he remained undefeated.
Do I think if he had fought some of his opponents in there peak would it still be the case? No. However rather than seeing this as a negative you could argue it is all part of Floyds plan. Not the most entertaining of fighters on the back end of his career but the name of the game is to hit and not get hit – which he did better than anyone.
Love him or hate him you cant deny he is one of the best fighters of all time.
The best fighter of all time – Muhammad Ali
A true showman; in and out of the ring. A man that helped changed black rights in America. He is the biggest inspirational figure within all of fighting sports to this day. Ali moved like a middleweight and had a chin of granite, he understood psychological warfare. He was so articulate and had people hanging on every word he spoke. This is what made declining health more painful for fans across the world. His last few fights were painful to watch and along with the wars with Frazier likely contributed to it. To see this man age gracefully with all his wits in tact would have been the way we wanted to see it.
This is fighting, he was a fighting man and I think it was inevitable that he would take it too far like so many of them do. He is undoubtedly one of the best fighters of all time.
His legacy will live on forever, you can view his twitter which is managed by his family here