Category profile
- Dominance
- 84
- Peak
- 92
- Longevity
- 76
- Honours
- 82
- Statistics
- 86
Career timeline · Form index per season
| Season | Form index per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1934 | 6 | |
| 1935 | 8 | |
| 1936 | 9 | |
| 1937 | 7 | |
| 1938 | 6 | |
| 1939 | 8 | |
| 1940 | 7 | |
| 1941 | 5 | |
| 1942 | 4 | |
| 1943 | 2 | |
| 1944 | 2 | |
| 1945 | 3 | |
| 1946 | 3 | |
| 1947 | 2 |
Data sources
- BoxRec
- IBHOF
- The Ring
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Tony Zale ranks #77 in Boxing
Tony Zale ranks 77th among Boxing athletes on GOAT Rank and 705th of 2289 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 83.9 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 84, Peak 92, Longevity 76, Honours 82, Statistics 86. Those categories are normalised against the full Boxing reference universe of 267 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 1934–1948 with 14 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1936, which sets the Peak component at 92. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 92 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes world titles 2, professional wins 67, career knockouts 45, title fights 6.
Immediately ahead sits Oscar De La Hoya on 84.0, a gap of 0.1 points. Directly behind is Erik Morales on 83.8. 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.
Tony Zale GOAT Score explained
- Dominance84/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Zale stood above the field while competing. Scored 84/100 against the full Boxing cohort.
- Peak92/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1936. Scored 92/100.
- Longevity76/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 14 years of competition and 14 recorded seasons. Scored 76/100.
- Honours82/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 82/100.
- Statistics86/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 86/100.
Top Zale comparisons
Tony Zale — frequently asked
- Is Tony Zale the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Tony Zale ranks 77th in Boxing with a GOAT Score of 83.9, behind Sugar Ray Robinson on 94.3.
- What is Tony Zale's GOAT Score?
- 83.9 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 84 (25%), Peak 92 (20%), Longevity 76 (20%), Honours 82 (20%), Statistics 86 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Tony Zale rank all time?
- 705th of 2289 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 77th within Boxing.
- Tony Zale vs Oscar De La Hoya: who ranks higher?
- Oscar De La Hoya, on 84.0 against Tony Zale's 83.9 — a margin of 0.1 points.