Top 10 Undefeated Fighters

Any professional boxer will tell you that the pinnacle of their career is winning a world title, but what about those who go their whole career undefeated. It’s a rare achievement, so with that in mind here is my top 10.Any professional boxer will tell you that the pinnacle of their career is winning a world title, but what about those who go their whole career undefeated. It’s a rare achievement, so with that in mind here is my top 10.

10. Jimmy Barry

He made his professional debut on the 1st January 1891 knocking out Fred Larson in the opening round. His first big fight came on the 5th December 1893 when he knocked out Jack Levy in the 17th round of their fight that was scheduled for 20. The following year he won the bantamweight world title. In September 1894 he showed why he was the champion when he knocked out Casper Leon in the 28th round of their fight. He would keep hold of the title until he retired in 1899.

He retired with a record of 59-0-10 with 40 knockouts.

9. Terry Marsh 

He made his professional debut on 12th October 1981 with a points victory over Andrew DeCosta. He then went on to win the Southern Area title in 1983 with another points win over Vernon Vanriel. He won his first major title the following year when he beat Clinton McKenzie to win the British title. In 1985 he added the European title to his collection when he stopped Alessandro Scapecchi in the 6th round. He won the IBF world title in 1987 with a 10th round stoppage of Joe Manley, and he would go on to make 1 successful defence
In 1989 he was forced to retire from boxing after been diagnosed with epilepsy, he later claimed that his manager Frank Warren wanted him to continue boxing despite his condition. This is something that Warren denies and he sued Marsh but lost the case.

In 1989 things went from bad to worse when he was arrested and charged with the attempted murder of Warren after he was shot in the chest. Marsh spent 10 months on remand awaiting trial before been found not guilty on the 7th November 1990.

His final record was 26-0-1 with 10 knockouts

8. Pichit Sithbanbanprachan 

He made his professional debut on the 25th March 1988 with a knockout victory over Taksin Muangsurin. He won his first world title on the 29th November 1992 with a 3rd round knockout of Rodolfo Balanco. The following year he made 3 successful defences amazingly all of them where by knockout. He made two more defences in 1994 both of them close and somewhat controversial points wins. He then announced his retirement in November 1994.

After a two year break he returned to the ring in 1996 beating Sammy Sordilla with and 8th round knockout. He then returned again in 2000, scoring a points win over Marlon Arlos and a knockout win over Oscar Vargas in the 5th round before hanging up his gloves for good.

Despite retiring undefeated he has come in for his fair share of criticism over the years for never fighting outside of Thailand
He ended his career with a record of 24-0 with 18 knockouts

7. Ji-Won Kim

He made his professional debut on the 24th January 1982 with a points win over Hyun-Shik Ahn.  He won a number of minor titles including the South Korean and the OPBF (Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation) titles. He won his first and only world title on the 3rd January 1985 he went on to make 4 successful defences. He then retired from boxing to pursue an acting and singing career.

He finished his career with a record 16-0-2 with 7 knockouts.

6. Dmitry Pirog 

He made his professional debut on the 29th July 2005 beating fellow debutant Sasun Oganyan with a 6th round knockout. He won a number of minor titles before getting his shot at the world title on the 31st July 2010 with a 5th round knockout victory over Daniel Jacob. He went on to make 3 successful defences before retiring from the sport.

After retiring from boxing he went into a career in politics and in 2017 was elected to the Russian Parliament

He ended his boxing career with a record of 20-0 with 15 knockouts.

5. Jack McAuliffe 

Jack McAuliffe had a very impressive amateur career winning amateur titles throughout 1884 and 1885. He made his professional debut on the 25 July 1885 with a 2nd round knockout win over Joe Milletchia. He went on to win the world title in 1886 and held in until 1893. However he is probably best known for his exhibition fights with Jack Dempsey in 1919, and Benny Leonard and George Carpentier in 1920

He retired with a record of 28-0-10 with 20 knockouts.

4. Sven Ottke

Sven Ottke is widely regarded as probably one of the best fighters Germany has ever produced. After a stunning amateur career he made his professional debut on the 22nd March 1997 with a points win over Eric Davis. He won the German title in just his 8th fight with a unanimous decision victory over Ali Saidi. He got his shot at the world title in just his 13th fight with a close split decision victory over Charles Brewer. He went on to unify the devision on the 15th March 2003 with a split decision win over Byron Mitchell to retain his IBF and win the WBA titles.

Before retiring he successfully defended his IBF Super Middleweight title 21 times which is a record for that devision that he shares with Joe Calzaghe

He hung up his gloves in 2004 with an amazing record of 34-0 with 6 knockouts.

3. Joe Calzaghe 

After having an impressive amateur career consisting of 3 back to back ABA titles, and a record of 110-10. He turned professional on the 1st October 1993 with a 1st round knockout victory over Paul Hanlon. He won his first title 2 years later when he beat Stephen Wilson with an 8th round stoppage to win the British title. He got his shot a the world title in an all British clash when he took on Chris Eubank for the WBO title a fight he won by unanimous decision despite going into the fight a big underdog with the bookies. He would successfully defence the title 17 times before he unified  the devision on the 4th March 2006 when he beat Jeff Lacy by unanimous decision to retain his WBO  and win the IBF and Ring Magazine titles. He again unified the devision on the 3rd November 2007 when he beat Mikkel Kessler by unanimous decision to again retain his WBO title and win the WBA and WBC titles, this was his last fight at super middleweight.

In 2008 he made the surprise move up to light heavyweight, many people believe this to be a tactic so that he didn’t have to face Carl Froch and there is still no love lost between the pair.

He had 2 fights at light heavyweight the first was against Barnard Hopkins a fight he won by split decision on his US debut. The final fight of his career came on 8th November 2008 against Roy Jones Jr a fight he won by unanimous decision.

He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2014.

He finished his career with a record of 46-0 with 32 knockouts.

2. Ricardo Lopez 

Ricardo Lopez made his debut on the 18th January 1985 when he beat Rogelio Hernandez with a 3rd round knockout. He then went on to win his first 8 fights by knockout. He got his shot at the world title 5 years later on the 25 October 1990 when he beat Hideyuki Ohashi for the WBC title. A title that he would go on to defend 21 times.  On 23rd August 1997 seven years after first becoming a world champion he unified the devision when he beat Alex Sanchez with a 5th round knockout to retain his WBC title and win the WBO title. In his very next fight he beat Rosendo Alvarez with a split decision victory to add the WBA title to his collection.

On the 2nd October 1999 he became a 2 weight world champion  when he moved up to flyweight to take on Will Grigsby for the IBF title, a fight he would win by unanimous decision he would make 2 successful defences. The last fight of his career came on the 29th September 2001 when he knocked out Zolani Petelo to retain his title. Lopez is one of the few fighters in the world to not only retire undefeated but also retire as a world champion.

He finished his career with a record of 51-0-1 with 38 knockouts

1. Rocky Marciano 

There is only one man who was going to top my list the real Rocky, Rocky Marciano. He made his professional debut on the 17th March 1947 with a 3rd round knockout victory over Lee Epperson. He then went on to win his next 15 fights by knockout. He got his shot at the world title on the 23rd September 1952 when he knocked out Joe Walocott in the 13th round. He would hold this title for the rest of his career. His final fight happen on the 21 September 1955 when he beat Archie Moore in the 9th round of their fight.

Not only did he retire with a perfect record he also retired as the world champion with a record of 49-0 with 43 knockouts.
After retiring he was named the 4th greatest heavyweight of all time, the 7th greatest puncher of all time and the 9th greatest heavyweight of the 20th century.

Now I know what your thinking why didn’t Floyd Mayweather make my list well I didn’t for get about him, but he’s not retired anymore because he’s coming back to fight Conor McGregor and that’s why he didn’t make my list.

I love to hear from you guys so comment below and let me know who would make your list.