When you think about boxing records, your brain probably goes straight to the zeros. Floyd Mayweather’s 50-0. Rocky Marciano’s 49-0. We’re obsessed with the "unbeaten" tag because it represents the pinnacle of human durability and skill. But there’s another side to the sport that’s way more gritty, kinda heartbreaking, and honestly, a lot more common than we like to admit.
Who is the boxer who has been knocked out the most in history?
It’s not a title anyone wants, but it’s a record held by men who, in many ways, are the backbone of the boxing industry. These guys are called "journeymen." They aren't there to win world titles or get their faces on a Wheaties box. They’re there to provide a safe, predictable stepping stone for the next big thing. And sometimes, that means taking a nap on the canvas. Often.
The King of the Count: Who actually holds the record?
If you look at the raw data in 2026, the answer depends on how you define "knocked out." In boxing, a "KO" is a clean lights-out moment, while a "TKO" (Technical Knockout) is when the ref steps in because you're getting turned into a human punching bag. When we talk about being "stopped," we usually lump these together.
For a long time, the name Reggie Strickland was the gold standard for losing. Reggie was a legend of the "opponent" circuit. He finished his career with a staggering 276 losses. Let that sink in for a second. That is more losses than most hall-of-famers have total minutes in the ring. However, Reggie was actually pretty good at not getting his lights blown out. Out of those 276 losses, he was only stopped (KO/TKO) about 25 times. He was a master of the "survive and get paid" strategy.
The real answer to which boxer has been knocked out the most usually points toward a man named Eric Crumble.
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The Strange Case of Eric Crumble
Eric Crumble is a name that haunts the footnotes of boxing history. Between 1990 and 2003, Crumble stepped into the ring 32 times. He lost 31 of those fights. One was a "no contest."
Here is the kicker: Every single one of his 31 losses was by knockout. He didn't just lose; he didn't even make it past the second round in most of them. He averaged about 1.3 rounds per fight. While there are journeymen with more total losses, nobody has a "perfect" 100% knockout-loss ratio quite like Crumble. He basically made a career out of being the guy who fell down.
Why Does This Even Happen?
You’ve gotta wonder what’s going through someone's head when they’re heading to the arena for the 20th time, knowing they’re probably going to wake up looking at the ceiling lights. It’s a job. That’s the simplest way to put it.
In the UK, guys like Kristian "Mr. Reliable" Laight or Peter Buckley became folk heroes for losing. Buckley had 300 fights and lost 256 of them. But Buckley was actually incredibly tough. He only got stopped 10 times in 256 losses. He was a "gatekeeper." If a young prospect couldn't figure out how to hit Peter Buckley, that prospect wasn't going anywhere.
The guys who get knocked out the most are usually:
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- Fighting on short notice: Getting a call on Thursday to fight on Saturday. No camp, no cardio, just a paycheck.
- Massive weight swings: Crumble fought in six different weight classes. It’s hard to keep your chin when your body is constantly fluctuating.
- The "Fall Guy" Role: Some commissions have tried to crack down on this, but for decades, certain fighters were essentially paid to show up and provide a highlight reel for a promoter’s new star.
The Heavyweight Reality
In the heavyweight division, the stakes are higher because the punches are like being hit by a Ford F-150. If you look at high-level boxing, someone like Shannon Briggs or Buck Smith comes to mind, but for different reasons.
Buck Smith is a wild story. He fought 229 times and actually won 183 of them (mostly by KO). But he also racked up 20 losses. In the modern era of "protected" records, 20 losses sounds like a lot, but for a guy who fought every other week, it was just another Tuesday.
When people search for which boxer has been knocked out the most, they’re often looking for the "glass chin" of the elite level. Think of guys like Amir Khan or David Price. They were world-class athletes, but their chins just couldn't keep up with their talent. Price, in particular, suffered a string of devastating knockout losses late in his career that made fans genuinely concerned for his health. It’s a different kind of "most knocked out"—the fall from grace is much harder to watch than the journeyman who’s in on the secret.
The Health Toll and the 2026 Perspective
Honestly, talking about who has been stopped the most feels a bit dark when you consider CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy). Back in the day, a guy could lose 50 times by KO and just keep moving to the next town.
Today, medical suspensions are way stricter. If you get knocked out in 2026, most commissions will bar you from the ring for at least 60 to 90 days. This makes it almost impossible for a modern fighter to catch up to the "legendary" bad records of the 90s. We'll likely never see another Eric Crumble. And that’s probably a good thing.
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Survival of the Grittiest
If you want to respect someone in this sport, respect the journeyman. They take the fights no one else wants. They go into "lion's dens" in foreign countries where the judging is stacked against them and the crowd wants to see them fail.
- Peter Buckley: 256 losses, but only 10 by KO. That’s insane defensive skill.
- Reggie Strickland: 276 losses, often fighting his own brother on the same card just to cover travel costs.
- Kristian Laight: 279 losses, but retired with his faculties intact because he knew how to lose "safely."
How to Spot a Journeyman Record
If you're browsing BoxRec and trying to find the next "most knocked out" candidate, look for these red flags:
- A "patchy" record with long streaks of red (losses).
- High frequency of fights (more than once a month).
- Fighting in multiple countries within a single year.
- A high percentage of "TKO" losses early in the fight (the "get me out of here" finish).
At the end of the day, the boxer who has been knocked out the most isn't a loser in the way we usually mean it. They’re a survivor. They’re the guys who kept the lights on in the local gyms and gave the legends their start. Eric Crumble might have the "worst" record on paper, but he stepped through those ropes 32 times more than most people ever will.
If you're interested in the darker side of boxing history, you should check out the official BoxRec "Ratings" to see how modern journeymen are being tracked under new safety protocols. You can also look into the Retired Boxers Foundation to see how many of these high-loss veterans are being supported today.
Your next move: Take a look at the career of Zoltan Szabo or Kevin McCauley. These are the modern-day equivalents of the men mentioned above, and seeing how their records evolve under today's stricter medical rules gives you a real sense of how the sport has changed.