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The 10 greatest boxers of all time Kevin Mitchell Sunday 3 December 2000 The Observer 1. Muhammad Ali Heavyweight (Professional career: 1960-1981) 'I don't think it's bragging to say I'm something special.' He wasn't bragging; and he is special, still - long after the end of his fighting career. What defines Ali as a man as much as a fighter is his courage. He took on the world and shook it when nobody gave him a hope in hell: against Liston, defying the draft, coming back at 32 to beat George Foreman, going toe to toe with Joe Frazier in that third, horrific collision in Manila, and then taming his Parkinson's Syndrome. His serenity now comes from that almost unbendable fortitude. He lost five times, once at his peak, to Frazier, and later in decline. He probably got the benefit of the doubt against Ken Norton. But at his dancing, lightning peak, cutting down Cleveland Williams, bamboozling Zora Folley, there was nobody like him. 2. Sugar Ray Robinson Welterweight/Middleweight (1940-1965) Emanuel Steward picks him ahead of Ali, and there are arguments for that case. Chief among them is Robinson's length of service: 202 professional bouts between 1940 and 1965. He was welterweight champion between 1946 and 1951, and held the middleweight title five times in the Fifties. Those who saw his early days, of which there is very little film evidence, say Robinson as a welterweight was untouchable. He hit equally hard with both hands and moved like Nijinsky. He also lived stylishly, enchanting all of Europe with an entourage that included a hairdresser and a midget, before Randolph Turpin caught him on an off-day. Ninety days later, Sugar Ray got his revenge. Nobody beat him twice. Ask Jake LaMotta. 3. Joe Louis Heavyweight (1934-1951) It was Joe who inspired Sugar Ray Robinson to box, the younger man tagging along with him to a Detroit gym before his family moved to New York. The Motor City was some fight town, and nobody graced it better than Louis. His mother wanted him to be a violinist but the boxing bug kicked in and opponents fell like axed oaks (like Lee Savold, above, in 1951). His 12-year reign as heavyweight champion was one of total dominance. Eddie Futch, who sparred with him, reckoned his jab and right cross were just about the deadliest combination in boxing. Joe's chin let him down a few times, but he rarely failed to get up and win. 4. Jimmy Wilde Flyweight (1910-1923) The leek-thin Welshman was a freak of nature. He barely weighed seven stone and good fighters two stone heavier were reluctant to share a ring with him. Nobody's sure how many times he got through the ropes, as Wilde was brought up around the booths of South Wales, where he would often fight several times a day - and never lose. They called him the Ghost With A Hammer In His Hand, a clumsy nom de guerre that almost certainly would not fit on his little gown but one with which hundreds of victims would hardly argue. Boxing Illustrated once rated him the 10th hardest hitter in the entire history of boxing. He was flyweight champion for seven years when it really mattered, the best little man among several thousands. 5. Benny Leonard Lightweight (1911-1932) For eight years up until the mid-Twenties, he was the quintessential boxing master. His was the classic American-Jewish boxing background, raised on the tough lower-east side of New York City. By the age of 15 Leonard was boxing as a pro and he was phenomenally popular. The elegant but ruthless lightweight raised boxing to an art form and once said, 'The toughest fighter to fight is a stupid fighter. When you feint him, he doesn't even know you're doing it.' 6. Archie Moore Light-heavyweight (1936-1963) The Ol' Mongoose had more moves than a bagful of snakes and showed them off against a huge variety of opponents over 27 years. Moore was one of those fighters so good nobody wanted to touch him. When he did get his title shot, he was light-heavyweight champion from 1952 to 1962. Nobody knocked out more opponents: 141 in 229 fights. But he was not a vicious man, just very good at what he did. One of the true masters of boxing. 7. Jack Johnson Heavyweight (1897-1938) The big man from Galveston, Texas, endured all manner of insults and hounding by the white establishment to become the first black heavyweight champion. He was a remarkable man in many ways, a confidante of Rasputin, a lover of fine wine and poetry and the first boxer to leave behind the old centre-of-the-ring milling ways in favour of scientific boxing. (Forget James J Corbett, whose reputation was inflated by the hypsters of the day). Johnson would have been terrific in any era, from bareknuckle to today. 8. Sugar Ray Leonard Welter/Light middle/Middle/Super middle/Light heavyweight (1977-1991; one comeback fight in 1997) The second Sugar Ray never doubted how good he was, with justification. A startlingly skilled amateur, he carried his pure boxing style into the professional ranks against the finest collection of fighters between 10 and 11 stone in the history of the game: Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns. Hagler fans (Manny Steward especially) will dispute it, but Leonard was the best of them. 'I want my fights to be seen as plays,' the former choirboy said once. He won world titles at five weights. What more can you say? 9. Jack Dempsey Heavyweight (1914-1927) Few fighters had a better nickname than the Manassa Mauler. He fought like he lived: with total disregard for niceties. Dempsey might have been eaten live by the big, sophisticated heavyweights of the modern era, but in his day he was a powerhouse nobody could hold at bay. Tyson cites Dempsey as his favourite fighter, 'an absolutely ferocious gentleman'. He would have beaten Rocky Marciano of the latter-day heavies around his size and might even have inconvienced Joe Frazier, who was about his size. A trailblazer. 10. Henry Armstrong Feather/Light/Welterweight (1931-1945) Hammering Hank, Homicide Hank - whatever you called him, Armstrong buzzed with energy that astounded onlookers and opponents. He remains the only fighter to hold world titles at three weights at the same time, a feat that boxing politics today would make impossible. From featherweight to welterweight, he must have thrown tens of thousands of punches in his 181 bouts, 101 of which finished early. Justifying his selection… This month's 10 were selected by The Observer's chief sports writer Kevin Mitchell. Here he explains his choices: Judging fighters across more than a century of gloved competition, encompassing a variety of styles and circumstances, is enough to bewilder the most cocksure pedant. Dominance of quality rivals is probably the key factor in any assessment. Then there is length of service, power, resilience and the quality that seems so obvious and so hard to define as well: class. Longevity, though, will be weighted in favour of the old performers, who, of necessity, boxed on for many years and bouts more than better-paid modern boxers. How, for instance, do you judge the relative merits of Jimmy Wilde, whose total appearances probably numbered well over 500, many of them against good fighters up to two stone heavier than himself, and Naseem Hamed, unbeaten but not even close to 40 fights and who has never fought anyone over nine stone? There is a further complication: the misty-eyed factor. Old-time boxing writers are notorious for declaring their favourite boxers as 'peerless', 'the best I ever did see', and so on. This applies more to the bareknuckle boys, but it is a hard job divining schmaltz from cool judgment when looking at the achievements of the old fighters. Styles present an interesting dilemma. While Jack Johnson was probably the father of modern defensive boxing, the first to stand off and catch punches while countering at will, Joe Louis is the only one of the pre-war champions who wouldn't look that out of place in the modern era. His thunderous pecking resembles a slightly stiff Tommy Hearns - but would he have got near the bigger Johnson? I've gone for Ali in the top spot because not only did he rule against the finest collection of heavyweights there ever was, but his presence beyond the ropes was the most profound of any athlete in the history of sport. Let the argument begin. Now have your say Enraged by our choice? We thought so, and we want to hear why. Write and tell us who your 10 would be, justifying your selection in no more than 50 words. A selection of your 10s will be published next month. Send your cards to: 10 Best Boxers, OSM, Observer Sports desk, 119 Farringdon Rd, London EC1R 3ER or email us at osm@observer.co.uk.