Top ten Heavyweight champs based upon dominance of era

I don't think it was ever going to be practical or reasonable to expect him to fight his own brother.. And remember, Vitali was only present for part of Wlad's reign. He was gone from 2004 to 2008 and again from 2012 to the present.. That's a combined 7 years that Wlad has been cleaning up the division without his brother around.. To give you some scale, 7 years is about the same duration in which Larry Holmes reigned and longer than men like Mike Tyson, Joe Frazier, Sonny Liston, Jim Jeffries, etc, etc, etc... He's beaten everyone else. Chris Byrd, Sultan Ibragimov, Sam Peter, Ruslan Chagaev, Alexander Povetkin, Calvin Brock, Lamon Brewster, David Haye, Etc were the key men that he was expected to fight and he beat them all.

 

Then how is John L. Sullivan on your list? Honestly? He engaged in at best five heavyweight title fights ... the first against Paddy Ryan when he won the title, two against Charlie Mitchell, one against Jake Kilrain and the final one against Jim Corbett.

The first Mitchell fight went three rounds before Sullivan stopped him (Sullivan was down in the first round). The rematch went 39 rounds before ending a draw when the police arrived and threw them both in jail. The Kilrain fight went 75 rounds before Sullivan stopped him and then he lost to Corbett.

If two challengers can fight you for 117 rounds ... and the third challenger knocks you out ... I wouldn't call that "dominating" anyone. :huh Right?

I mean, Sullivan fought literally hundreds of exhibitions, and in nearly all his appearances as champ he pulled a "Toronto Five" and fought several guys in one night, but those four-rounders and six-rounders weren't legit title fights. Most of the guys traveled with him and he fought the same guys night after night.

In his record on the Cyberboxingzone, the majority of his fights were either exhibitions that went the distance, or "fight was scheduled but cancelled" or "Sullivan beat him up at a bar fight."

Most professional boxers are undefeated in bar fights. That shouldn't count as "dominating opponents."

If Wlad Klitschko's record was tallied like Sullivan's was, you'd have five meetings with Shannon Briggs (in restaurants, on waverunners, in the gym) ... a couple with David Haye (including on an escalator at an airport) which were all "prevented before they could fight." Mike Tyson's fight with Mitch Green outside "Dapper Dan's" would've counted. Rocky Marciano fighting Jerry Lewis would've counted. Deontay Wilder vs. Charlie Zelenoff would've counted.

C'mon.

Enough with the John L. Sullivan. If you fought three guys and it goes into the "hundreds" of rounds, you aren't dominating anything.

 

Well no. You said Povetkin is only number 2 because Vitali retired. I merely pointed out another time when that has been the case.

 

I am thinking Sullivan may be a touch high because of Peter Jackson miss and Holmes missed out on too many of the top guys of his era, still he had many defenses but he missed co-champs and rematches but based on the criteria a solid list

 

and i'm pointing out the difference in that Patterson wasn't avoiding anyone.

 

But isn't this in DIRECT contradiction to your original post where you state... Quality of opposition doesn't matter in this instance. Jack needs to be top 7 imo.

 

That was never a salient point.

You said Wlad never faced a number 2, but he did.

 

Yeah, Sullivan might be a "touch" high ... considering the two of the three guys he defended against went 117 rounds against him and the third guy he defended against knocked him out.

"Dominance" isn't a word I'd use to describe that.

 

The fact that you keep referencing the “number of rounds”, suggests that you don’t understand London Prize Ring rules.

An LPR fight could be of 30 rounds, and be over in a few minutes, or it could be one round and last for three hours.

A round just means that a knockdown took place!

 

Interesting. I'm definitely looking forward to the read. Do you happen to know of any video docs available on John L?