Dempsey, Liston, Holyfield, Frazier.

Not sure why you have Holy's dominance so low, he was undefeated until the age of 30 and he beat everyone he faced coming into his 37th birthday. He was 3:2 against the best 2 he faced near his prime (Tyson/Bowe), Dempsey was 1:2 against the best he faced (Tunney/Sharkey), Frazier was 1:4 against the best he faced (Ali/Foreman) and Liston was 2:2 against the best he faced (Ali/Patterson)

 

in the order of my ATg list I have it:
#4 Dempsey
#8 holyfeild
#13 liston
#18 frazier

However, I have started to believe if it is just this bunch I would swap Liston and frazier around on the basis of the fact that until both were finished as champion Frazier did more against better fighters. Taking all champions into account I put liston higher than joe simply because he beat a reigning champ by KO.

The 1959-63' era that Liston came along in the fighters to beat were Ingo, Patterson, machen, folley and he did this. missing out only ingo. The period is known as the Patterson-ingo-liston era.

The 1967-73' era that Frazier came along the fighters to beat were quarry, ellis, chuvalo, bonnavena and Ali. Fazier got the whole set! This period is known as "ali's exile years"

The 1918-1927 era that Dempsey came along in the fighters to beat were the old guard of the white hope era (gunboat, morris, fulton, willard) harry wills, bill brennan and the bigger ticket sellers like carpentier, Firpo, Tunny and sharkey. even taking out the 3 year "lost weekend"that he had, dempsey still only missed out wills, almost knocked out Tunney and KOd sharkey. This period is known as "the jack dempsey era"

The 1988-99 era Holyfeild came along the fighters to beat were Tyson, douglas, Bowe, Lewis, Moorer, Foreman. Holyfeild missed nobody out among the fighters who mattered but the era is divided. Not only did he not beat all of them at the right time, he lost to moorer and Lewis. there is a case for 1990-94 going down as either "Holyfeild-bowe era" or "the tyson in jail era". However, the later half of evander's peak will go down as the "Lennox lewis era" since from 1997-03' he eclipsed Holyfeild.

 

Yet he's far more dominant than Frazier/Dempsey/Liston

For some reason some people rank continually losing to the fighter that beat you more dominant than avenging that loss :nut

 

Yet him and his management ducked Greb/Wills, lost the series v Meeehan, went 50-50 v Prime Miske, even a shot Johnson would have been better than who he actually faced

 

Perception is pretty irrevelant, especially when you look at the difference in class, Holyfield had far tougher opposition. He didn't lose until the age of 30 (unlike the other 3) and beat everyone he faced until the age of 37. None of the others come close. I'm sure Liston/Dempsey looked great aginst no marks, but that's pretty much irrelevant

BTW his shoulder was clearly torn against Byrd

 

I agree with this but I penalize obvious steroid abusers pretty harshly. He is #1 at Cruiserweight p4p and h2h but is out of my HW top 20 as he was obviously juicing after the first Bowe fight.

 

But the period was known as "the jack dempsey era" not just by mainstream sports fans but the hardcore boxing fraternity. unlike liston, holyfeild and frazier, Dempsey's greatness was not disputed by those that were there.

The era was not known as "the miske era", "the meehan era" or "greb/wills era".

Greb was a great fighter, maybe a fight could have been made but the clamour for a firpo bout, a fighter who was the next biggest draw in all of boxing after dempsey eclipsed both harrys. Dempsey was seen as the giant killer, after the carpentier fight only fights worth half as much were being considered. greb, rightly or wrongly was not considered as a HW fighter to beat at that time. wills was but he blew a big fight with firpo, and dempsey did actually sign to fight him

 

'67-'71 Frazier was a man on a mission and was not to be denied. Frazier would vaporize Dempsey somewhere in the mid rounds and would win a close decision over the Holyfield from the first Bowe fight(pre-steroids). Peak Liston would present a few challenges however...namely the uppercut and the jab. Liston's famous jab wouldn't be a problem as Smokin' Joe was a master slipper at his peak but the uppercut would be a problem.

 

With all due respect...:wtf.

Frazier beat a near peak Ali and destroyed Ellis, Bonavena, Quarry, Chuvalo, Foster and Mathis(don't forget about a past it Machen)...all top 50 HW except Foster who is the best LHW in history...IMO.

 

Holyfield
Frazier
Liston
Dempsey