Did you know # 14: The unbeaten boxers

The name of Rocky Balboa, the famous boxer played by Sylvester Stallone, is a tribute to Rocky Marciano , the only heavyweight boxer who has remained undefeated in his entire professional career.

Between 1947 and 1955, Rocky Marciano played 49 games (including 6 title defenses), 43 of which ended with his opponent's KO before the time limit. He won his World Heavyweight Championship title on September 23, 1952 against Jersey Joe Walcott, knocking him out in the 13th round. During the rematch, he will confirm his title by putting his opponent KO in the first round. The 5 fights that followed for the defense of his title ended in 4 of them by knockouts. It is to date the only heavyweight champion who remained undefeated during his professional career.

This is not the only undefeated champion if you consider other categories, because there are many boxers whose career went without a hitch. Some even posted when retiring from the pro circuit, a perfect track record containing only victories. This is the case of Joe Calzaghe , who at age 37 (on July 5, 2009), put an end to his exploits by retiring after 46 bouts in the ring, with the perfect score of 46-0-0 ( 46 wins , 0 losses, 0 draws ), in the category Super Middleweight . Joe Calzaghe defended his title for 10 years.

Another boxing legend, Floyd Mayweather Jr, whose record is 41-0-0 (including 25 knockouts), has won no less than 18 world championships, and won titles in 5 different categories, ranging from super featherweight to super welterweight .

Among the unbeaten and retired boxers, we also find:

• Young Mitchell (1884 - 1893), 35 wins (including 32 before the limit), 6 draws.
• Sven Ottke (1997 - 2004), 34 wins (including 6 before the limit), 0 draws.
• Pichit Sitbangprachan (1988-2000), 24 wins including 18 before the limit, 0 draws.
• Jack McAuliffe(1884 - 1897), 41 wins (including 8 before the limit), 9 draws, 3 no-contest.
• Jimmy Barry (1891 - 1899), 59 wins (including 39 before the limit), 9 draws, 2 no-contest.
• Laszlo Papp (1957 - 1964), 27 wins (including 15 before the limit), 2 draws.
• Cruz Marcano (1966 - 1970), 23 wins (including 12 before the limit), 3 draws.
• Ricardo Lopez (1985 - 2001), 51 wins (including 38 before the limit), 1 draw.
  etc. ...
  Many of them are elected and ranked in the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Rocky Balboa aka Sylvester Stallone is also part of it, in the Personalities section of the boxing world .

Current champions also claim invincibility:
Lucian Bute : 28 wins including 23 by KO, 19-03-2011, date of his fight against Brian Magee.
Timothy Bradley : 27-0-0 wins including 11 by KO, as of 29-01-2011, date of his fight against Devon Alexander.
Andre Ward : 24 wins including 13 by KO on 14-05-2011.
Yuriorkis Gamboa : 20 wins including 16 by KO, on 26-03-2011.