----- This are the heavyweights that I think cleaned their divisions: 1) Joe Louis: Cleaned the division from 1936 to 1942 2) Rocky Marciano: Cleaned the division from 1951 to 1956 3) Sonny Liston: Cleaned the division from 1958 to 1962 4) Muhammad Ali: Cleaned the division from 1962-1966 and 1971-1979 5) Joe Frazier: Cleaned the division from 1966 to 1972 6) Mike Tyson: Cleaned the division from 1986 to 1989 7) Lennox Lewis: Cleaned the division from 1996 to 2002 8 ) Wladimir Klitschko: Cleaned the division from 2006 to 2011 Obviously, the fighters listed here didn't absolutely dominate their whole divisions, but they did a very good job. For example, Lennox Lewis never fought against Chris Byrd, Michael Moorer or George Foreman. Wladimir Klitschko never fought against Nikolay Valuev or Vitali Klitschko. Joe Louis never fought Elmer Ray. Mike Tyson never fought Evander Holyfield during his reign. Joe Frazier never fought Ken Norton, Floyd Patterson, etc. Rocky Marciano never fought Curtis Sheppard, Bob Sattersfield or Nino Valdes. Probably Ali is the only one who really did clean his division. But the rest came very close of doing so. (Guys like Corbett, Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Patterson, etc, never came close of cleaning their divisions. Holyfield came close, but lost the crucial fights against Bowe and Lewis.)
I fixed your list for you. This are the heavyweights that I think cleaned their divisions: 1) Boston Tom McMustache: Cleaned the division from 1875 to 1905, was avoided like the plague by everyone from Sullivan to Jack Johnson. 2) Joe Louis: Cleaned the division from 1936 to 1942 3) Rocky Marciano: Cleaned the division from 1951 to 1956 4) Sonny Liston: Cleaned the division from 1958 to 1962 5) Muhammad Ali: Cleaned the division from 1962-1966 and 1971-1979 6) Joe Frazier: Cleaned the division from 1966 to 1972 7) Mike Tyson: Cleaned the division from 1986 to 1989 8) Lennox Lewis: Cleaned the division from 1996 to 2002 9 ) Wladimir Klitschko: Cleaned the division from 2006 to 2011
Both Vitali and Vlad have been cleaning out the heavyweight division. They have been fighting all their mandatories and as many undefeated fighters that they can find...............
It's arguable Holmes could be added to this list. Yes, he fought in a weak era, didn't fight absoutely everyone, and didn't unify the titles, but 7 years as champ and 20 defences is pretty dominant.
You can find some informative threads about him in the Classic Forum. I think somebody's writing a book about him, not sure when it's coming out though :think
Yeah, I thought about that too. But I didn't put him because he never fought Page, Coetzee, Dokes, Weaver, Thomas, Tate or a more experienced Witherspoon (with more than 15 fights). There are too many important names he didn't fight. This is not the case of the guys in the rest of the list. It would be like Vitali Klitschko dominating the division until 2015, but never fighting Haye, Chagaev, Chambers, Povetkin, etc. IMO.
