Oddities in the heavyweight championship
In the 1850s and ‘60s the title of “middleweight” began to be used for all men below 156 lbs (70.75kg). Those above this limit were all considered heavyweights.
It was not until the 1880s, after the widespread adoption of the Queensberry rules, that a real effort was made to standardise weight divisions both in England and America.
During 1910 leading authorities got together and agreement was reached on the different divisions from Paperweight 105lbs (47.63kg) to Heavyweight exceeding 175 lbs (79.38kg).
Some of the heaviest men to take part in professional boxing or prize fights were Ewart Potgieter, a South African fighter of the 1950s who weighed 335lbs (152kg) and Charles Freeman an American who fought William Perry in 1842, who weighed in at 320lbs (145.15kg).
Talking of knockdowns, Floyd Patterson was knocked down 16 times during his career as a world champion. Seven times in the first fight with Ingemar Johansson; twice in their third bout, one in the first fight with Sonny Liston, three times in the second bout with Liston; once each in the fights with Pete Rademacher, Tom McNeely and Roy Harris.
When Rademacher, who won the heavyweight Olympic gold medal at the 1956 games, fought Patterson for the heavyweight championship he was making his professional debut.
Nikolay Valuev from Russia who fought from 1993 to 2009 was 2.13m and weighed 146kg, won the WBA version of the heavyweight title when he beat John Ruiz on 1 October 2005.
During 1927 Jack Dempsey knocked Gene Tunney down in the famous long count battle and then failed to go to the neutral corner in terms of the amended rules, the length of the knockdown was timed at 14 seconds by some experts and 16 by others.
There was no official distance for heavyweight title fights during Jack Dempsey’s time. His fight with Jess Willard for the title was scheduled for 12 rounds as was the Georges Carpentier fight.
The Firpo match was scheduled for 15 rounds and both fights with Tunney were over 10 rounds.
Jack Dempsey came within an ace of losing his crown against the Wild Bull of the Pampas Luis Angel Firpo who was a big, rough savage performer. Firpo was floored seven times and Dempsey went down twice in two rounds, before losing to Dempsey.
But in three minutes and fifty seven seconds, Dempsey was knocked clear through the ropes and out of the ring and among much controversy; and it has been reported that had he not been helped by the hands of newspapermen he would not have made it back into the ring in time. However, this has been disputed.
Leon Spinks only held the heavyweight title from 15 February 1978 to 15 September 1978, seven months, the shortest reign in the division, whereas Joe Louis won the title on 22 June 1937 and retired as undefeated world champion after 25 successful defences on 1 March 1949.
He had been at the helm for 11 years eight months, the longest reign in the heavyweight division.
No light heavyweight champion has been successful at winning the undisputed heavyweight title.
The following fighters all failed in their bid; Philadelphia Jack O’Brien, Georges Carpentier, Tommy Loughran, John Henry Lewis, Billy Conn, Joey Maxim, Archie Moore and Bob Foster.
Michael Spinks won the International Boxing Federation version when he defeated Larry Holmes on points over 15 rounds on 21 September 1985.
The quickest knockout in an undisputed heavyweight title fight was when Tommy Burns knocked out Jem Roche in 1 minute 28 seconds in Dublin, Ireland on 17 March 1908.
The official time recorded was one minute when Muhammad Ali stopped Sonny Liston on 25 May 1965 but however, watches synchronised to TV film frames caught Liston down for 1 minute 42 seconds and the fight halted by Jersey Joe Walcott at 2:17.
On 12 October 1982 Michael Dokes stopped Mike Weaver at 1 minute and 3 seconds of the first round to claim the WBA version of the heavyweight title. The stoppage was highly controversial.
The first world heavyweight championship contest to be televised was at Madison Square Garden on 5 December 1947 when Joe Louis retained his title on a split decision against Jersey Joe Walcott.
The largest receipts ever for a heavyweight championship fight at the time was, $4 806 675 at the Superdome New Orleans when Muhammad Ali defeated Leon Spinks in their second fight on 15 September 1978. This was only for the WBA title.
The largest attendance at a world heavyweight title fight was 120 757 when Dempsey lost his title to Gene Tunney in Philadelphia on 23 September 1926.
Jersey Joe Walcott became the oldest man at the time to win the undisputed heavyweight championship when at 37 years and 168 days he won the crown from Ezzard Charles in 1951 on his fifth attempt.
At the age of 45 George Foreman won the WBA and IBF heavyweight titles on 5 November 1994 when he knocked out Michael Moorer in the tenth round.
Referee Arthur Donovan handled 14 undisputed world title fights, with 12 of those when Joe Louis defended his title.
The Undisputed 