Ring Magazine ranking of best boxers since World War II

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The Ring decided to ask some of the most knowledgeable boxing historians and writers to give us their opinions in the form of a poll. Specifically, we asked 20 of them to rank their Top 20 modern fighters pound for pound. We used the International Boxing Hall of Fame’s criterion for “modern”: Last bout no earlier than 1943.

Of course, that eliminates a lot of great fighters who fought before 1943 but we felt that comparing fighters from the same or adjacent eras is difficult enough. To compare boxers who might’ve fought a century or more apart is fun but, we believed, less meaningful.

To be clear, we instructed each of the participants to at least consider active fighters or recently retired ones, as we wanted every boxer who has fought since World War II to be in the pool of candidates.

We awarded points based on the voting – 20 points for a first-place vote, 19 for a second-place vote and so on. 

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1. Sugar Ray Robinson - 396 - (17)
2. Henry Armstrong - 339 - (1)
3. Muhammad Ali - 324 - (1)
4. Roberto Duran - 296
5. Joe Louis - 293
6. Ray Leonard - 258
7. Willie Pep - 246 - (1)
8. Archie Moore - 189
9. Julio Cesar Chavez - 171
10. Ezzard Charles - 164
11. Pernell Whitaker - 132
12. Floyd Mayweather Jr - 118
13. Marvin Hagler - 117
14. Carlos Monzon - 98
15. Eder Jofre - 86
16. Sandy Saddler - 82
17. Roy Jones Jr - 80
18. Rocky Marciano - 77
19. Bernard Hopkins - 66
20. Ike Williams - 55
21. Charley Burley - 54
22. Evander Holyfield - 42
23. George Foreman - 41
24. Billy Conn - 39
25t. Manny Pacquiao - 36
25t. Larry Holmes - 36
27. Kid Gavilian - 28
27. Salvador Sanchez - 28
29. Emile Griffith - 27
29. Jose Napoles - 27
29. Holman Williams - 27
32. Mike Tyson - 26
33. Joe Frazier - 22
34. Alexis Arguello - 20
34. Marcel Cerdan - 20
34. Carlos Ortiz - 20
37. Ricardo Lopez - 19
38. Jake Lamotta - 17
38. Ruben Olivares - 17
40. Pascual Perez - 12
41. Oscar De La Hoya - 9
41. Michael Spinks - 9
41. Marco Antonio Barrera - 9
44. Thomas Hearns - 7
45. Miguel Canto - 5
45. Bob Foster - 5
47. Jimmy Bivins - 4
47. Lennox Lewis - 4
49. Sammy Angott - 3