Category profile
- Dominance
- 88
- Peak
- 90
- Longevity
- 94
- Honours
- 86
- Statistics
- 92
Career timeline · Form index per season
| Season | Form index per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1940 | 16 | |
| 1941 | 21 | |
| 1942 | 24 | |
| 1943 | 15 | |
| 1944 | 18 | |
| 1945 | 14 | |
| 1946 | 16 | |
| 1947 | 11 | |
| 1948 | 12 | |
| 1949 | 10 | |
| 1950 | 9 | |
| 1951 | 7 | |
| 1952 | 6 | |
| 1953 | 5 | |
| 1954 | 4 | |
| 1955 | 4 | |
| 1956 | 3 | |
| 1957 | 2 | |
| 1958 | 2 | |
| 1959 | 1 |
Data sources
- BoxRec
- The Ring
- IBHOF
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Willie Pep ranks #8 in Boxing
Willie Pep ranks 8th among Boxing athletes on GOAT Rank and 61st of 1063 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 89.8 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 88, Peak 90, Longevity 94, Honours 86, Statistics 92. 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 1940–1966 with 20 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1942, which sets the Peak component at 90. Longevity is the defining strength of the profile at 94 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes professional wins 229, career losses 11, wins by knockout 65, world titles 2.
Immediately ahead sits Manny Pacquiao on 90.3, a gap of 0.5 points. Directly behind is Archie Moore on 88.9. 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.
Willie Pep GOAT Score explained
- Dominance88/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Pep stood above the field while competing. Scored 88/100 against the full Boxing cohort.
- Peak90/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1942. Scored 90/100.
- Longevity94/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 26 years of competition and 20 recorded seasons. Scored 94/100.
- Honours86/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 86/100.
- Statistics92/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 92/100.
Top Pep comparisons
Willie Pep — frequently asked
- Is Willie Pep the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Willie Pep ranks 8th in Boxing with a GOAT Score of 89.8, behind Sugar Ray Robinson on 94.3.
- What is Willie Pep's GOAT Score?
- 89.8 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 88 (25%), Peak 90 (20%), Longevity 94 (20%), Honours 86 (20%), Statistics 92 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Willie Pep rank all time?
- 61st of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 8th within Boxing.
- Willie Pep vs Manny Pacquiao: who ranks higher?
- Manny Pacquiao, on 90.3 against Willie Pep's 89.8 — a margin of 0.5 points.