The Rings Top 20 2017 All Time Heavyweights!

On or below 175lbs and you are a light heavyweight. Carpentier and Ketchel were in heavyweight fights but they were not heavyweights!
Both were inside the lightheavyweight limit!
Moore was 188lbs for Marciano ,since he was over the light heavyweight limit and there was no cruiserweight division at that time, he was a heavyweight ! It isn't that hard to understand surely?
Tunney and Carpentier's weights for their fight below. Taken from Box rec.
"1924-07-24 : Gene Tunney 173¼ lbs beat Georges Carpentier 173 lbs by TKO at 0:14 in round 15 of 15".
Jones scaled 198lbs for Ruiz, so a cruiser weight by todays weight strictures, fighting a heavyweight.
Look in the mirror and quietly say to yourself ,"actually I was wrong,", you'll feel better for it.

 

Further to this Denver Ed Martin was the coloured champion, he challenged all the leading white heavies,in1900 he challenged Tom Sharkey who replied in print." I never barred nobody outside of a n*gg*r.I will fight no n*gg*r.
I did not get my reputation fighting n*gg*rs and will not fight a n*gg*r.Outside of n*gg*rs ,I will fight any man living"


In 1901 Jeffries then champion was asked to fight Martin the coloured champion.His manager Delaney interjected," no we won't fight a Negro for the championship.Suppose we were to fight Martin for the championship and be defeated, which does not seem possible. America would have to bow to a Negro champion. "
National Police Gazette Dec 7th 1901.
Speaking about Martin the Gazette said".He is young,almost if not quite as clever as Ruhlin,can punch harder is ambitious and thoroughly game.As I said several weeks ago,of all the men now looming up on the pugilistic horizon,not one has better qualifications for usurping the title than he."
Jeffries was quoted in the San Francisco Examiner Dec 28, 1901 as saying, " I will ignore Martin's challenges,while I do not draw the color line strictly,when it comes to championship bouts,the Heavyweight championship was a White's only position,and therefore only whites could challenge for the title".

Pretty much a "Catch 22 "situation for leading black contenders then.
Martin managed to get a promoter willing to put up a big guarantee for Jeffries to defend against him but Jeffries again ignored the challenge,he would fight blacks when his title was not at risk ,but would not take a chance of being defeated by one in a title defence.
He subsequently added Sam McVey and Jack Johnson to the list of black challengers that he refused to defend against . Since you have Jim Jeffries at number 9 in your All Time list and he refused to fight his top 3 leading black challengers and given your views on the black champions who were denied a title shot, I find his prominent position there somewhat contradictory.I'm sure you have valid reasons for your placings and I would be interested in reading them.

 

Yes if the only leading boxers willing to face you are also black ,how are you to progress?

 

Thanks for taking the time to get back to me,I wasn't criticizing just interested.
I'd agree that Wills has the strongest case out of the others, he was the clear number contender for some time. Willard wouldnt touch him with barge pole .

Godfrey I think is very hard to assess. There is perhaps a case for calling all heavyweight champions before Burns just White champions since none of them defended against Jackson.
Certainly Sullivan, who was past his best and Corbet who made tons of excuses not to cross swords with him again are guilty as charged Fitz is a bit more complicated.

Hart said he would never fight another black man after his controversial win over Johnson. Burns was willing to fight McVey but one of them got injured, I forget which at the moment.
Perhaps in the end we have to factor in which black heavies were a round and whether they were serious threats to the White champions, the problem is looking at their records we see so many white contenders missing which of course is not their fault, Catch 22!

 

I'd agree with the underlined, as you know historical importance was factored in. Wlad has actually gone up to my no 10 spot after his gutsy challenge of Joshua,Ill get hate for this, [no change there,] he now displaces Marciano who drops down to 11.

 

Nope.

 

In that fight Wlad at 41 , showed me qualities I was not sure he possessed. That's why he takes the ten spot for me.Just my opinion.The idea that Marciano merits a 3 spot is ludicrous to me.

 

Heart,will to win.