Category profile
- Dominance
- 92
- Peak
- 96
- Longevity
- 88
- Honours
- 88
- Statistics
- 92
Career timeline · Form index per season
| Season | Form index per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1891 | 40 | |
| 1892 | 45 | |
| 1893 | 50 | |
| 1894 | 55 | |
| 1895 | 59 | |
| 1896 | 64 | |
| 1897 | 69 | |
| 1898 | 74 | |
| 1899 | 79 | |
| 1900 | 84 | |
| 1901 | 88 | |
| 1902 | 93 | |
| 1903 | 98 | |
| 1904 | 86 | |
| 1905 | 74 | |
| 1906 | 62 | |
| 1907 | 49 | |
| 1908 | 37 | |
| 1909 | 25 |
Data sources
- International Boxing Hall of Fame
- BoxRec records
- World sanctioning body archives
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Joe Gans ranks #10 in Boxing
Joe Gans ranks 10th among Boxing athletes on GOAT Rank and 135th of 4013 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 91.2 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 92, Peak 96, Longevity 88, Honours 88, Statistics 92. Those categories are normalised against the full Boxing reference universe of 231 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 1891–1909 with 19 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1903, which sets the Peak component at 96. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 96 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes world titles 1, professional wins 145, knockouts 100, professional bouts 196.
Immediately ahead sits Larry Holmes on 91.4, a gap of 0.2 points. Directly behind is Floyd Mayweather Jr. on 90.7. The position moves whenever the verified record moves: new titles, new seasons or a corrected source all feed straight back into the same formula, and every change is dated on this profile.
Joe Gans GOAT Score explained
- Dominance92/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Gans stood above the field while competing. Scored 92/100 against the full Boxing cohort.
- Peak96/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1903. Scored 96/100.
- Longevity88/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 18 years of competition and 19 recorded seasons. Scored 88/100.
- Honours88/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 88/100.
- Statistics92/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 92/100.
Top Gans comparisons
Joe Gans — frequently asked
- Is Joe Gans the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Joe Gans ranks 10th in Boxing with a GOAT Score of 91.2, behind Sugar Ray Robinson on 94.3.
- What is Joe Gans's GOAT Score?
- 91.2 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 92 (25%), Peak 96 (20%), Longevity 88 (20%), Honours 88 (20%), Statistics 92 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Joe Gans rank all time?
- 135th of 4013 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 10th within Boxing.
- Joe Gans vs Larry Holmes: who ranks higher?
- Larry Holmes, on 91.4 against Joe Gans's 91.2 — a margin of 0.2 points.