Best fighter never to win a world title?

Herol Bomber Graham Lost against Mike McCallum for the WBA title on a split decision after knocking McCallum down, lost to Julian Jackson for the WBA title(that KO) after dominating him prior to the one shot KO and he was stopped by Charles Brewer late on after twice dropping the champion for the IBF title.

greatest fighters never to HOLD a world title... Bert Gilroy (Antonio Rea) BORN May 10 1918; Airdrie, Scotland (Fought out of Coatbridge, Scotland) DIED June 2 1998 HEIGHT 5-8 1/2 (Some sources report 5-9) WEIGHT 155-188 1/4 lbs MANAGER Tommy Gilmour Sr. Bert Gilroy was a skillful, talented 1st class boxer with knockout potency in both fists; He was a game and willing fighter who was Middleweight and Light-Heavyweight Champion of Scotland from 1938-50; Bert lost 12 of his first 34 bouts but then went unbeaten in 41 bouts, from mid-1937 until early 1943 In fact, from mid-1937 until the end of his career in 1950, Gilroy tasted defeat only 13 times out of his next 85 contests, fighting some of the greatest fighters Britain and Europe had to offer; Seven of these contests met with question or controversy in either the decision or circumstances surrounding the fights About the time Bert reached his peak in 1939, World War II broke out and boxing interest became secondary; Many historians feel it cost Gilroy an opportunity to win a world title ! Gilroy was a victim of "Boxing Politics" and found himself at odds with British greats, Ernie Roderick, the fearsome Jock McAvoy and world Champion Freddie Mills for title bouts and "title eliminator" bouts that never happened; Bert was effectively shut-out; Such is, at times, the unfortunate and unfair nature of the sweet science we call Boxing During his career, Bert tangled with such men as Ben Valentine, Arthur "Ginger" Sadd, Glen Moody (Welsh champion and brother of Frank), Jack "Froggy" Hyams, Freddie Mills, Bruce Woodcock, Marcel Cerdan, Don Cockell and Stephane Olek; Gilroy is a member of the World Boxing Hall of Fame - class of 2006.

oktay urkal............

Micky Ward yup im going with ward theres been bums who had hold a title but micky never did

Sam Langford has to be the one. He fought and defeated the best the world had to over in any weightclass (he even gave a prime Jack Johnson something to think about with a huge weight disadvantage). He fought until he was 43 years old and blind and still won some of his last bouts. It just makes you feel bad when you think about this All Time Great who has never won a World Title and left the sport broke and blind.

Best fighter never to win a world title? It`s me. :)

How about Herol Graham? He walked onto a Julian Jackson right hand bomb when one punch away from stopping the champ. And then he lost on a SPLIT decision to a prime Mike McCallum. And then, aged 38, he dropped Charles Brewer twice before getting stopped in the 10th. Black

Micky Ward

I think Charley Burley as well

what about obba "motor city" carr ? Yeah good one.

He didn't beat Ketchel. That's debatable since most of the out of town newspapers were split in their opinion on who got the better of things that fight (and most of those out of town newspapers wrote their reports going on hearsay). With me, I tend to trust a newspaper account that came from the city in which the fight took place, and most of the Philly papers at the time thought Langford was better. For example here's the opening line in the April 28, 1910 edition of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin and their opinion as to who won the fight; "Sam Langford, of Boston, defeated Stanley Ketchel of Grand Rapids in a six round bout at the National Club last night" And it is also well known that Langford wasn't giving his all in that fight against Ketchel (especially during the last couple of rounds, which some opinions say are the only ones Ketchel won after losing the first four), as he was hoping to get a future middleweight title shot sometime after that fight, and didn't show Stanley what he was fully capable of. Obviously it's tough to prove what actually happened without seeing the fight for ourselves, but most first hand, eye witness accounts thought Langford got the better of things in that fight. And yes, it's also my opinion that Sam Langford was the greatest fighter to never win a world title. Charley Burley was right up their as well, and he may have been the strong second choice for this distinction. Some other greats who never won a world title; Jimmy Bivins, Billy Graham, Les Darcy, Jim Driscoll, Mike Gibbons, Tommy Gibbons, Peter Jackson, Joe Jeanette, Holman Williams, Lloyd Marshall, Packy McFarland, Harry Wills, Sam McVey, Billy Petrolle, and Lew Tendler.

Not necessarily. Is there really that much of an abundance of Burley fights? The few that do exist are hard to find and rarely show the full fight. Does a handful of highlights really help evaluation that much? Yes, it is helpful, but not that much. Even if we did have a lot of footage of these early century fighters, it really wouldn't be too accurate. Many of them have missing frames, so the speed is distorted. I think Burely is just as much an "unknown commodity" as Burley is. However, i do think that one can adequately assess a fighter, or more specifically, his body of work with in-depth research. Learning more about their opponents and reading fight descriptions can give a lot of insight on a fighter. Footage is important in deciphering a fighter's style, but you can see his greatness or accomplishments on paper. And by looking at Langford's resume, you can see that not many boxers in the history of the sport have accomplished as much as he has. Fighting lightweights to heavyweights, he beat every viable opponent: Joe Gans, Jack Blackburn, Joe Jeannette, Jim Flynn, Stanley Ketchel, Sam McVea, Philadelphia Jack O'Brien, Harry Wills, Kid Norfolk, Tiger Flowers, and list goes on. His body of work is simply astounding and possibly exceeds that of Greb and Robinson. And the fact that many of these fighters had a significant size advantage makes these accomplishments even more amazing. No you are correct that is pretty damn good. I forgot about how many times he fought McVea and Wills. He didn't beat Ketchel. But the KO over Flowers makes up for that.....you could have something here...... I think you may have convinced me.

what about obba "motor city" carr ?

IF you wanna talk modern fighters that is one thing. But all time.....either Langford or Burley. IMO Burley.

Golota has been robbed four times.

Tommy Morrison. :mad: He was not good. But wasn;t he a WBO champ?

Well for heavyweights I would have to say David Tua.

if it has to be the BEST fighter never to win a world title, it has to be Langford. i've heard many boxing experts say he may have been the p4p greatest of all time

Tucker was IBF champ, beat Buster Douglas in 10 for it in 87 then lost it in his first defence to Tyson

Toney Tucker should also be on this list! From the time he when he fought Tyson and even before that he was a bad ass, in Tucker's prime I believe only Tyson beat him! Tucker was years gone when he fought Lewis, but in his day he was as good as it got without a title belt!