Top Ten Greatest Heavyweights Ever

Tyson
Ali
Louis
Holmes
Foreman
Holyfield
Marciano
Frazier
Patterson

 

Anyone who puts Lewis in the top 10 has never seen him fight and dosen't remember how the media complained and criticized him while he was active.

Dont just look at records.

 

Saw him fight live three times. He was fantastic. Top 5 all time. Fought in the most murderous punching era of the division... no **** , he was a bit cautious. But he was determined, followed his fight plan, skilled and physically gifted.

 

Lewis was def top 10 but being koed by less than great hwts by pretty much single punches brings him down several notches. Bottom half of a top 10 is more likely.

 

atsch

 

I believe you have it backwards. The record is all that matters. What the media said about him is meaningless. He wasn`t an American Heavyweight so many of the US writers didnt care for him.

 

The fact that he beat every man he faced during his career weighs heavily in his favor.That and because he fought during a very competitive era. There were alot of dangerous heavyweights around in the 90s. I have him right in the middle closer to the top.

 

atschatschatsch

 

1. Ali
2. Marciano
3. Louis
4. Tyson
5. Holmes
6. Holyfield
7. Frazier
8. Foreman
9. Lewis
10. Dempsey

 

Of course. If they could not, that would suggest that boxing has not evolved at all in over 100 years. Of course it has.
But it's not fair pitching pretty much pioneers of what we have today against their more enlightened successors.

I judge fighters on their own merits and leave the fantasy fights at the door.

 

I remember the Lewis era well and what you say is for the most part, true. He was slammed here and there for boring performances and such. But then again, even Joe Louis had his fair share of critics too.

Their flaws don't seem so bad in hindsight though, with the benefit of perspective and once a person can analytically look back over their careers without emotion clouding things.

Truth be told, I was never the biggest Lewis fan when he was active but now I appreciate him a great deal more.
Objectively, it's for me basically impossible to leave him off a top 10 list these days.

 

Anyone who has Ali #1 knows **** about boxing. He was very good, but his reputation exists largely because of hype. It seems just because he shouted "I'm the greatest" enough times all the sycophants and airheads who make up the mindless masses of the general public believe it.

If he was a humble guy who got by on his talents alone, he'd never be regarded so highly. He LOST to Henry Cooper.

 

1. larry holmes