Joe Davis won 15 World Snooker Championship titles between 1927 and 1946.
Davis dominated the championship from its creation in 1927 until his retirement from the event after the 1946 final. His unbeaten run established the World Championship as snooker’s premier title and made him the sport’s first great champion.
His record is sometimes confused with Steve Davis’s six world titles or Ronnie O’Sullivan’s seven. Joe Davis’s 15 victories remain the most by any player in the professional World Championship.
Joe Davis was also a leading English billiards player and helped popularise snooker during the game’s early professional era. His younger brother Fred Davis later became a world champion too, but never matched Joe’s total.