Lennox Lewis, Frank Bruno, Tyson Fury: Ranking the top 10 British heavyweights of all time

For decades, British heavyweights were known in the United States as “horizontal heavyweights,” such was their success in world title fights.

But that changed in the 1990s with the emergence of Lennox Lewis.

On Saturday Daniel Dubois will bid to become the third Briton to become undisputed world heavyweight champion.

Ten boxers who were born in the United Kingdom have held world heavyweight titles, while others valiantly failed in their bid for global glory.

– In camp with Usyk: Behind the scenes with a heavyweight champion
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Any list will create some debate — even about whether those on it should be classified as British.

ESPN breaks down the top ten British heavyweights of all time.

10. Daniel Dubois

Dubois became champion after winning the IBF interim title with an eighth-round stoppage win over Filip Hrgovic before being promoted (without throwing a punch) to full world champion when Usyk relinquished the belt last year. In a stunning first defence last September, Dubois floored former champion Anthony Joshua four times on his way to a knockout win in Round 5, sealed with a right punch to the jaw.

Dubois, 27, has bounced back from two losses: against English rival Joe Joyce (2020) and vs. Usyk (2023). The Brit insists 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 dropped Dubois in Round 8 and knocked him out in the following round. It was a great win over Joshua, but time will tell if he was past his best, so Dubois needs another big win to rise higher on this list.

9. Tommy Farr

Welshman Farr, a former miner, made a valiant effort against the great Joe Louis in front of 36,903 at Yankee Stadium in 1937.

Farr went into the fight dismissed as a no-hoper, but took the champion the distance — the first to do so over 15 rounds — without being floored before losing a 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 decisions to Max Baer and James J Braddock.

8. Sir Henry Cooper

In 1963, 35,000 fans saw Muhammad Ali — then known as Cassius Clay — stop Cooper on a cut after the American had earlier been floored at Wembley Stadium.

Cooper’s left hook — known as “Enry’s Ammer” — sent Ali to the canvas in Round 4, but the Englishman was prone to cuts and he was stopped the following round. Three years later, Ali again stopped Cooper on cuts. It was the first world heavyweight title fight in England for 58 years and was front and back page news while millions listened to it live on radio shortly before the start of the 1966 World Cup in England.

Ali’s accurate blows left Cooper’s face covered in blood and the fight was stopped in the sixth round.

7. Joe Bugner

Bugner, who moved to Britain from Hungary during childhood and later resettled in Australia, went the distance with Muhammad Ali twice in 1973 and 1975. He also lost a 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, beat the likes of 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 at the fourth attempt, but is best remembered for two world title stoppage losses vs. Mike Tyson.

The Londoner was not fancied in either, but gave Tyson a big scare in their first encounter for all three world titles in 1989. After recovering from an early knockdown after just 12 seconds, Bruno then wobbled the undisputed world heavyweight champion with a right hand and left hook.

Tyson was at his peak and found his rhythm in the fifth round to overwhelm Bruno with a barrage of blows. Bruno was paralysed by fear in a 1996 rematch and was wiped out in three rounds.

But Bruno prevailed in a gruelling encounter with Oliver McCall, to win the WBC title on a points decision at Wembley in 1995. Bruno lost against top opposition such as Tyson, James “Bonecrusher” Smith, Tim Witherspoon, and Lennox Lewis.

5. David Haye

After unifying the world cruiserweight titles in a first defence in 2008, the Londoner overcame huge height and weight disadvantages to win the WBA world heavyweight title from Nicolai Valuev by a majority points decision in 2009.

It was just Haye’s third fight as a heavyweight when he overcame a seven-stone weight disadvantage to beat Russian Valuev. Haye (217 pounds) was too mobile and boxed cleverly against 7ft Valuev (316 pounds), who towered over 6ft 3in Haye.

Haye made two defences before losing the title to Wladimir Klitschko on points in a 2011 unification title fight. Valuev is one of the poorer world heavyweight champions in history and Haye failed to shine when it mattered vs. Klitschko.

4. Anthony Joshua

The two-time world champion’s best moment came when he got off the canvas to knock out former long-reigning world champion Wladimir Klitschko in Round 11 in front of 90,000 at Wembley Stadium in 2017. Seven years later in front of 96,000 at the same venue, he was left knocked out himself by Dubois and has not fought since.

AJ ruled as champion from 2016-2019 and then from 2019-2021, and also delivered a stunning 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 WBA, IBF and WBO world titles, but has twice lost on points to Usyk as well as a humiliating KO loss to Andy Ruiz in 2019. His record in world title fights stands at nine wins, four defeats.

Joshua, 35, is expected back later this year and his promoter Eddie Hearn says next year will be his last.

3. Tyson Fury

Fury outclassed Wladimir Klitschko with his movement and boxing skills to win the WBA, WBO and IBF world titles in Germany in 2015, but never defended the belts due to problems with depression, drugs and alcohol.

Fury returned to boxing three years later and survived knockdowns in Rounds 9 and 12 to earn a draw vs. 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 Round 7 and became a two-time world champion.

When Fury met the American again in 2021, he produced a Round 11 KO to confirm his status as the world’s leading heavyweight.

After stoppage wins over English rivals Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora, Fury twice failed to beat the best of his era when Usyk won two points decisions last year.

Fury’s legacy will be defined by those defeats, while potentially the biggest fight of his career versus English rival Joshua is in danger of not happening.

Fury, 37 in August, has hinted at returning in April 2026. Fury is 5-2-1 in world title fights.

2. Bob Fitzsimmons

Fitzsimmons, who relocated from Cornwall in England to New Zealand aged 11, beat James J Corbett for the world title in Carson City, Nevada, which was a shock and huge global news in 1897.

Fitzsimmons had stepped up from being world middleweight champion and Corbett was an all-conquering heavyweight champion.

Corbett, who out-weighed Fitzsimmons by 16 pounds, was stopped by a shot to the solar plexus by the Englishman in the 14th round. Fitzsimmons then lost the title in a first defence to James J Jeffries in Brooklyn in 1899, and the American knocked out Fitzsimmons in a 1902 rematch in San Francisco, when Fitzsimmons was left unconscious in the eighth round.

A year later, Fitzsimmons became a three-weight world champion when he won the world light heavyweight title.

1. Lennox Lewis

Lewis, who left London aged 12 to live in Canada, became undisputed champion in 1999, 100 years after the end of Fitzsimmons’ two-year rule as world heavyweight king.

The three-time world champion beat all-time greats Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson and Vitali Klitschko. In 1999, Lewis was denied undisputed glory by a scandalous draw against Holyfield, but achieved justice in a rematch later that year with a unanimous decision in Las Vegas.

Lewis produced stunning knockout wins vs. Hasim Rahman, Frans Botha and a faded Tyson. He overcame a cuts crisis to beat Klitschko, and avenged defeats to McCall and Rahman. After losing to McCall, Lewis hired McCall’s trainer Emanuel Steward who made him utilise his reach, boxing skills, and jab more.

It was a strategy that served Lewis well as he assembled a staggering record of 17 wins, 2 losses, and 1 draw in world heavyweight title fights.

Just missed the cut:

Herbie Hide: two-time WBO world champion; he knocked out Michael Bentt in 1994, but Riddick Bowe knocked him out in Round 6 of a first defence; in 1997 he won WBO belt back after stopping Tony Tucker in two rounds before being stopped in two rounds himself by Vitali Klitschko in a third defence in 1999.

Danny Williams: KO’d Mike Tyson in four rounds in July 2004 but then flattened by WBC champion Vitali Klitschko less than six months later.

Matt Skelton: L UD vs Ruslan Chagaev for WBA secondary title in 2008.

Don Cockell: Put up a brave performance vs. Rocky Marciano in the American’s penultimate defence in 1955; Marciano was fortunate to get away with a series of fouls before stopping Cockell in Round 9.