Top 10 British Heavyweight Boxers: Lewis, Fury, and More

British Boxing Giants: A Historical Account

For decades, British heavyweights were known in the United States as “horizontal heavyweights”, due to their success in world title fights. However, that trend changed in the 1990s with the emergence of Lennox Lewis. This weekend, Daniel Dubois will seek to become the third Briton to be undisputed heavyweight world champion.

Throughout the history of boxing, ten boxers born in the United Kingdom have held heavyweight world titles, while others fought valiantly for global glory. Below, we review the top 10 British heavyweights of all time, according to our experts.

• In the camp with Usyk: Behind the scenes with a heavyweight champion
• Dubois plans to unleash “chaos” against Usyk

Any list of this type will generate debate, even about whether the included boxers should be classified as British. Here is the top 10 British heavyweights of all time.

10. Daniel Dubois

Dubois became champion after winning the IBF interim title with a technical knockout victory in the eighth round over Filip Hrgovic, before being promoted (without throwing a punch) to full world champion when Usyk relinquished the belt last year. In an impressive first defense last September, Dubois knocked down former champion Anthony Joshua four times on his way to a knockout victory in the fifth round, sealed with a right hand to the jaw. Dubois, 27, has recovered from two defeats: against his English rival Joe Joyce (2020) and against Usyk (2023). The Brit insists that he scored a legitimate knockdown when he challenged Usyk for the WBA, IBF, and WBO world titles, but it was ruled a low blow. Usyk then knocked Dubois down in the eighth round and knocked him out in the next. It was a great victory over Joshua, but time will tell if he was at his best, so Dubois needs another big win to move up this list.

9. Tommy Farr

Welshman Farr, a former miner, put up a brave effort against the great Joe Louis in front of 36,903 spectators at Yankee Stadium in 1937. Farr, dismissed as a nobody before the fight, took the champion the distance, being the first to do so over 15 rounds, without being knocked down, before losing by unanimous decision. The New York crowd even booed the result. Over two million people tuned in to listen to the fight on the radio in the UK. The following year, Farr lost by decision to Max Baer and James J. Braddock.

8. Sir Henry Cooper

In 1963, 35,000 fans watched Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, stop Cooper due to a cut after the American had been knocked down at Wembley Stadium. Cooper’s left hook, known as “Enry’s Ammer”, sent Ali to the canvas in the fourth round, but the Englishman was prone to cuts and was stopped in the following round. Three years later, Ali stopped Cooper again due to cuts. It was the first heavyweight world title fight in England in 58 years and made front-page news, while millions listened live on the radio shortly before the start of the 1966 World Cup in England. Ali’s precise punches left Cooper’s face covered in blood and the fight was stopped in the sixth round.

7. Joe Bugner

Bugner, who moved to Great Britain from Hungary during his childhood and then resettled in Australia, went the distance with Muhammad Ali twice in 1973 and 1975. He also lost by decision to Joe Frazier in 1973, which was perhaps his best performance. Bugner, who went 15 rounds with Ali for the undisputed title in Kuala Lumpur in 1975, defeated figures such as Jimmy Ellis, Jurgen Blin and Henry Cooper (controversially), but his rivals in the UK were more popular.

6. Frank Bruno

Bruno finally managed to win a world title on the fourth attempt, but he is best remembered for two knockout defeats against Mike Tyson. The Londoner was not the favorite in either of the two, but he gave Tyson a big scare in their first encounter for the three world titles in 1989. After recovering from an initial knockdown after only 12 seconds, Bruno staggered the undisputed heavyweight world champion with a right hand and a left hook. Tyson was at his peak and found his rhythm in the fifth round to overwhelm Bruno with a barrage of punches. Bruno was paralyzed by fear in a 1996 rematch and was knocked out in three rounds. But Bruno prevailed in a grueling encounter with Oliver McCall, to win the WBC title by points decision at Wembley in 1995. Bruno lost against top-level rivals such as Tyson, James “Bonecrusher” Smith, Tim Witherspoon and Lennox Lewis.

5. David Haye

After unifying the cruiserweight world titles in a first defense in 2008, the Londoner overcame great height and weight disadvantages to win the WBA heavyweight world title against Nicolai Valuev by majority decision in 2009. It was only Haye’s third fight as a heavyweight when he overcame a seven-stone weight disadvantage to beat the Russian Valuev. Haye (217 pounds) was too mobile and boxed intelligently against Valuev (316 pounds and 7 feet tall), who towered over Haye, who was 6 feet 3 inches tall. Haye made two defenses before losing the title to Wladimir Klitschko on points in a title unification fight in 2011. Valuev is one of the poorest heavyweight world champions in history and Haye did not shine when it mattered against Klitschko.

4. Anthony Joshua

The two-time world champion’s finest moment came when he rose from the canvas to knock out long-reigning former world champion Wladimir Klitschko in the eleventh round in front of 90,000 spectators at Wembley Stadium in 2017. Seven years later, in front of 96,000 at the same venue, he was knocked out by Dubois and hasn’t fought since. AJ reigned as champion from 2016 to 2019 and then from 2019 to 2021, and also achieved an impressive KO of former UFC champion Francis Ngannou in August 2024. His knockout power has made him one of the biggest crowd-pullers in British boxing history. He won the WBA, IBF, and WBO world titles, but has twice lost on points to Usyk, as well as a humiliating KO defeat to Andy Ruiz in 2019. His record in world title fights is nine wins and four losses. Joshua, 35, is expected to return later this year and his promoter Eddie Hearn says next year will be the last.

3. Tyson Fury

Fury outboxed Wladimir Klitschko with his movement and boxing skills to win the WBA, WBO, and IBF world titles in Germany in 2015, but he never defended the belts due to issues with depression, drugs, and alcohol. Fury returned to boxing three years later and survived knockdowns in rounds 9 and 12 to earn a draw against WBC champion Deontay Wilder. In their 2020 rematch, Fury became the third British boxer (after Lennoz Lewis and Bob Fitzsimmons) to win a world title on American soil when he stopped Wilder in the seventh round and became a two-time world champion. When Fury faced the American again in 2021, he achieved a KO in the eleventh round to confirm his status as the world’s leading heavyweight. After knockout victories over his English rivals Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora, Fury twice failed to beat the best of his time when Usyk won two points decisions last year. Fury’s legacy will be defined by those defeats, while, potentially, the most important fight of his career against his English rival Joshua runs the risk of not happening. Fury, who will turn 37 in August, has hinted at his return in April 2026. Fury has a record of 5-2-1 in world title fights.

2. Bob Fitzsimmons

Fitzsimmons, who moved from Cornwall, England, to New Zealand at age 11, defeated James J. Corbett for the world title in Carson City, Nevada, which was a shock and big world news in 1897. Fitzsimmons had ascended from middleweight world champion and Corbett was a conquering heavyweight champion. Corbett, who outweighed Fitzsimmons by 16 pounds, was stopped by a blow to the solar plexus by the Englishman in the fourteenth round. Fitzsimmons then lost the title in a first defense against James J. Jeffries in Brooklyn in 1899, and the American knocked out Fitzsimmons in a 1902 rematch in San Francisco, when Fitzsimmons was knocked unconscious in the eighth round. A year later, Fitzsimmons became a three-weight world champion when he won the light heavyweight world title.

1. Lennox Lewis

Lewis, who left London at 12 to live in Canada, became undisputed champion in 1999, 100 years after the end of Fitzsimmons’ two-year reign as world heavyweight king. The three-time world champion defeated all-time greats Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson, and Vitali Klitschko. In 1999, Lewis was denied undisputed glory by a scandalous draw against Holyfield, but he achieved justice in a rematch later that year with a unanimous decision in Las Vegas. Lewis achieved impressive knockout victories against Hasim Rahman, Frans Botha, and a faded Tyson. He overcame a crisis of cuts to beat Klitschko and avenged defeats to McCall and Rahman. After losing to McCall, Lewis hired McCall’s trainer, Emanuel Steward, who made him use his reach, boxing skills, and jab more. It was a strategy that worked well for him, as he amassed an astonishing record of 17 wins, 2 losses, and 1 draw in heavyweight world title fights. They stayed at the doors:

• Herbie Hide: two-time WBO world champion; knocked out Michael Bentt in 1994, but was knocked out by Riddick Bowe in the sixth round of a first defense; in 1997 he regained the WBO belt after stopping Tony Tucker in two rounds before being stopped himself in two rounds by Vitali Klitschko in a third defense in 1999.
• Danny Williams: knocked out Mike Tyson in four rounds in July 2004, but was then crushed by WBC champion Vitali Klitschko less than six months later.
• Matt Skelton: P UD vs Ruslan Chagaev for the secondary WBA title in 2008.
• Don Cockell: Put up a brave performance against Rocky Marciano in the American’s penultimate defense in 1955; Marciano was lucky to get away with a series of fouls before stopping Cockell in the ninth round.