For decades, British heavyweights were known in the United States as "horizontal heavyweights," such was their history 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 10 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 defense 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 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. Though Dubois had great win over Joshua, time will tell if the former champ was past his best. 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 2 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, and 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 U.K. were more popular.
6. Frank Bruno
Bruno finally managed to win a world title on 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 paralyzed by fear in a 1996 rematch and was wiped out in three rounds.
But Bruno prevailed in a grueling 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 defense in 2008, the Londoner overcame huge height and weight disadvantages to win the WBA world heavyweight title from Nikolai 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 the Russian fighter. Haye (217 pounds) was too mobile and boxed cleverly against the 7-foot, 316-pound Valuev, who towered over the 6-3 Haye.
Haye made two defenses before losing the title to Wladimir Klitschko on points in a 2011 unification title fight. Valuev isn't considered one of the better 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. Joshua was knocked out himself by Dubois seven years later, in front of 96,000 at the same venue, and has not fought since.
AJ ruled as champion from 2016 to 2019 and then from later in 2019 to 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.
Joshua won WBA, IBF and WBO world titles but has twice lost on points to Usyk as well as suffering 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, said 2026 will be his last.
3. Tyson Fury
Fury outclassed Wladimir Klitschko with 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 Lennox 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 at age 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 champ.
Corbett, who outweighed 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 defense 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 at age 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. Lewis was denied undisputed glory by a scandalous draw against Holyfield in 1999 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. Lewis 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 use his reach, boxing skills and jabbing 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 defense; in 1997 he won the WBO belt back by stopping Tony Tucker in two rounds before being stopped in two rounds himself by Vitali Klitschko in a third defense in 1999.
Danny Williams: KO'd Mike Tyson in four rounds in July 2004 but then was flattened by WBC champion Vitali Klitschko less than six months later.
Matt Skelton: Lost a unanimous decision vs. Ruslan Chagaev for the WBA secondary title in 2008.
Don Cockell: Put up a brave performance vs. Rocky Marciano in the American's penultimate defense in 1955. Marciano was fortunate to get away with a series of fouls before stopping Cockell in Round 9.