I also had a look at Williams. It also looks correct. Williams got his high ranking by beating Berbick and James Buster Douglas. Obviously you can argue that there were better fighters but that is all subjective. Certainly he wasnt what i have called a blip, like say an Everett Martin. I can remember when Williams got his shot at Tyson, he and Ruddock were being pushed pretty hard as the top contenders. The reality i think is that no one was beating Tyson in those days.
1997 1 Shannon Briggs - French Bowen Valdes Foreman 2 George Foreman - W Savarese L Briggs 3 Evander Holyfield - W Tyson Moorer 4 Michael Moorer - W Bean L Holyfield 5 Mike Tyson L Holyfield 6 Lennox Lewis - McCall Akinwande Goloto 7 Oliver McCall - W Yates DeVito L Lewis 8 Henry Akinwande - W Welch Norris L Lewis 9 Orlin Norris - L Akinwande 10 Herbie Hide - W Tucker 11 Tony Tucker - W Muhaymin Haynes L Hide 12 Brian Nielson - reed pritchard Holmes Gonzales Douglas Grimsley Steele Wingfield 13 Larry Holmes W Harris L Nielson 14 Darren Corbett - Rafferty McGee Okoh Sanjurfo NOrton 15 Chris okoh - L Corbett 16 Julius Francis W Chincangu Francis L Mavrovich (Pre rank) 17 Garry Delaney - W Kiser Oboh L Francis 18 Johnny Nelson W Aouissi Wallyn Murray 19 Dirk Wallyn W Connecny Blieck L Nelson D Turcenov 20 Franco Wanyama W Kadou 21 John Ruiz - W Thunder Anis 22 Maurice Harris - W Hampton Thunder L HOlmes 23 Chris Byrd - W Peterson Cooper Swindell Thunder 24 James Thunder L Ruiz W Grimsley L Harris Byrd 25 Tony Tubbs W Melo 26 Hasim Rahman - W Tillman Wooden Sullivan Toia 27 Michael Grant - W Wooden Butler Cole Gonzalez 28 Lionel Butller - W Gonzalez Woods L Grant 29 Danell Nicholson W Gonzalez haris Williams 30 Ike Ibeabuchi - W Jones Wilson Gonzalez Tua 31 Wladimir Klitchsko - w Weida Monroe Young Wills Ashleigh Machiel WilliamsonBotomawungu Pritcchard Gonzales Halstead Husarik ampkins 32 Richard Jackson- W Gonzalez 33 Marcos Gonzalez - W Manjares L Butler Nicholsen Ibeabuchi Nielson Klitchsko Jackson 34 Ed Mahone - W Hinton Hernandes Smith Bellochi Curry Martin 35 Everett Martin - W Roddy L Mahone 36 Ray Mercer - No Fights 37 Larry Donald - W Woods Abdin Willis Ribalta Lally Biggs Kennedy Witherspoon 34 Tim Witherspoon - W Billups L Donald 35 Keith McKnight - w Litman Donalsdson Scott Jackson 36 Phil Jackson -W Williams L McNight 37 David Izon - W Daniels Savarese 38 Lou Savarese - L Foreman Izon 39 Zjelko Mavrovic W Francis Eros Cantatos 40 Ross Purity W Boyd Rhode L Purity 41 Joe Hipp - W Corrigan Houpe Roberts Hinton 42 Alex Garcia - W Lopez Shannon Briggs win over George Foreman technically was an unranked fighter beating no 1 and on par with Michael Spinks' win, although technically If I recall correctly Briggs may have actually earned a low ranking in previous years whereas Spinks didn’t. I am fairly sure that Briggs would have had a higher ranking than Spinks. The top 10 does look as strong as any era around at the moment. Interesting to see Ruiz and Byrd make an appearance around the same time I always thought they would have similar all time rankings so it will be interesting to plot their progress. Chris Byrd really ended the aussie hopes with wins over Jimmy Thunder and Craig Peterson. He went on to become a lot better than I realised at the time. The Wlad Klitchsko and Ike Ibeabuchi both make their way into the top 30. Overall there looks to be a pretty strong top 10 with a pretty solid new wave of contenders starting to make their way up the rankings.
1998 1 Lennox Lewis - W Briggs Mavrovic 2 Shannon Briggs - W Rhode L Lewis 3 Evander Holyfield - W Bean 4 Mike Tyson No Fights 5 Oliver McCall - W Macklin Muhaymin Cohen 6 Henry Akinwande - No Fights 7 Orlin Norris - W Washington Miller 8 Herbie Hide - W Reid Fischer 9 John Ruiz - W Tucker Ballard 10 Tony Tucker - W Wright L Ruiz 11 Brian Nielson - W Murphy Butler Layne & Others 12 Larry Holmes No Fights 13 Bruce Scott - W Negus Corbett 14 Darren Corbett - W Wallyn Okei Dominiguez Scott 15 Chris okoh -No Fights 16 Vitali Klitchsko W Rhode Billups Francis Ribalta & others 17 Axel Shultz - W Francis Mason 18 Julius Francis L Schulz Klitchsko 19 Garry Delaney - W Griffiths 20 Johnny Nelson W Oboh 21 Dirk Wallyn W Petranyi Beres & others L Corbett 22 Franco Wanyama No Fights 23 Maurice Harris - W Latif Wofford & others 24 Chris Byrd - W Amos Castillo Purity 25 James Thunder W Witherspoon 26 David Tua - Wooden Woods Tubbs Curry Rahman 27 Hasim Rahman - W Lane L Tua 28 Michael Grant - W Izon Sullivan 29 Lionel Butller - L Nielson 30 Danell Nicholson W Mayo Martin Sevill Haines 31 Ike Ibeabuchi - W Rea Davis 32 Ross Purity - W Hulstrom Klitschko L Donald Byrd (pre rank) 33 Wladimir Klitchsko - W Mcintyre Martin Dixon & Othes L Purity 34 Vassily Jirov - W waller Kiser & others 35 Kiser - Stevens Brennan Jackson L Jirov 36 Sedrick Fields W Jackson & Others L Washington Martin Naumov (pre rank) 37 Richard Jackson- L Kiswer Fields I have to say there are an awful lot of retirements and no fights in the top 10. Lennox Lewis is starting to cement his legacy. From memory, he wasn’t really considered a true world champ at this time. Perhaps because of the top 10, he had only actually had a winning record against no 10 and no 2 (who was not that highly ranked). They Tyson and Holyfield fights really were about to dramatically change his legacy. Wlad's ranking is an interesting one. Is it a fair type ranking? He was looking pretty good at the time, but then lost to Purity who was struggling and I would have thought not deserving of any more than a number 30 or so ranking.
1999 1 Lennox Lewis - W Holyfield D Holyfield 2 Shannon Briggs - D Botha 3 Evander Holyfield - W L Holyfield D Holyfield 4 Mike Tyson W Botha L Norris 5 Oliver McCall - W Cohen NC Hinton 6 Henry Akinwande - Minus Shaheed 7 Orlin Norris - W Reed Norris 8 Vitali Klitchsko - W Hide Youla Mahone Sullivan 9 Herbie Hide - L Klitchsko 10 John Ruiz - W Cawley Feliz Williams 11 Dicky Ryan - Strickland Nielson Rhode 12 Brian Nielson - W McNeeley Phillips Witherspoon & others L Ryan 13 Larry Holmes - James Smith 14 Johnny Nelson - Thompson Scott & others 15 Juan Carlos Gomez - W Domingues Scott Tagoe 16 Bruce Scott - L Nelson Gomes 17 Darren Corbett - W Alloun Ashton Simpson 18 Kostiantyn Okhrei - W GAyle & others L Symon & others Pre rank 18 Ken Gayle - Hunter Okoh & others 19 Chris okoh -L Gayle 20 Wlad Klitchsko - W Vujicic Martin Larosa Chincangu Shulz Jackson Eros 21 Axel Shultz - L Klitchsko 22 Julius Francis W Reid Williams Welch 23 Garry Delaney - W Keeton Brown Swaby 24 Vincenzo Cantatore - Wallyn Ray Reed 25 Yan Kulkov - W Wallyn 26 Dirk Wallyn W Petranyi Kezadi Elekes L Cantadore Kulkov 27 Franco Wanyama W Blieck Jerling 28 Derek Jefferson - Cooper Sullivan Foster Harris 29 Maurice Harris - W Monaco williams cole l Jefferson 30 Ike Ibeabuchi - W Byrd 31 Chris Byrd - W Sargeant Ribalta Smith L Ibeabuchi 32 James Thunder W Dixon 33 David Tua - W Bell Sutcliffe 34 Hasim Rahman - W rush Weather L Tua 35 Michael Grant - W Abdon Savarese Golota 36 Danell Nicholson W Billups Swindell Muhaymin Brown 37 Ross Purity - W Boyd Monaco 38 Vassily Jirov - W Rendon Maxime Williams
This seems about right Ike Ibeabuchi beating Chris Byrd deserved to be a #30 kind of ranking at the time. The exposure and hype surrounding a lot of fighters distorts where they really were at the time. It’s gone down in boxing folklore that Ike was on the cusp of breaking into things in the top ten, maybe he was, but I always thought the guys he fought were in reality still around prospect level rather than knocking on the door of the true elite.
Just checked all that. The losses you referred to all occurred before the fighters received their ranking. It isnt that common (although i do notice that it is becoming a little more common) in the 90s. You dont get credit for beating a fighter whose form improves and starts beating other fighters. For example, when Ross Purity beat Wlad, his ranking doesnt go up because Wlad started beating better fighters than himself. AS others have pointed out, there can be some skewing of the rankings (and i think this is made worse when they are not publicised or recognised) but there is no way around this without making personal judgment calls which i didnt want to do. That is all for discussion about the rankings which is fair enough. That is all they will ever do, although i must say, when they are finished i will be interested to add together the annual rankings to get an all time to 1000 or so fighters. It will also be interesting to see how some of the top 10 contenders to some of the older fighters. The career of say a Ken Norton vs a Max Schmelling etc.
2000 1 Lennox Lewis - W Grant Botha Tua 2 Oliver McCall - W Lainhart McIntyre Fields 3 Jameel McCline - W Richardson Fields Minus D Williams Guererro 4 Sedrick Fields - W Briggs Smith Dixon L McLine McCall Maskaev(Pre Rank) 5 Shannon Briggs - W Williams Curry L Fields 6 Evander Holyfield - W Ruiz 7 Mike Tyson W Francis Saverese NC Golota 8 Henry Akinwande - W Sarendo Chasteen Craven 9 Andrew Golota - W Norris NC Tyson 10 Orlin Norris - W Rone L Golota 11 Wladimir Klitschko - W Wolfgram Bostice Barrett Byrd 12 Chris Byrd - W Washington Klitschko L Klitschko 13 Vitali Klitchsko - W Hoffman L Byrd 14 Herbie Hide - No Fights 15 John Ruiz - L Holyfield 16 Brian Nielson - Williams Ryan & others 17 Dicky Ryan - W Washington NC Yates L Nielson 18 Larry Holmes - W Weaver 19 Johnny Nelson - W Aurino Watt 20 Juan Carlos Gomez - W Siluvangi Castro Mayfield 21 Adam Watt - W Melbourne Petridis Scott L Nelson 22 Bruce Scott -W Woolas Keeton L Watt 23 Darren Corbett - W Lewis 24 Alexander Gurov W Prather Yelistratov Okhrei 25 Glen Johnson - W Owoh L Shieka Vanderpool Branco 26 Toks Owoh - W Okhrei Booth Johnson 27 Jean Marc Mormeck - W Okhrei Williams Castillo & Others 28 Kostiantyn Okhrei - L Mormeck owoh Gurov D Beburia 29 Ken Gayle - W Williams 30 Chris okoh -L Gayle 31 Mark Holden - W Francis 32 Julius Francis L Tyson Holden 33 Jesper Kristiansen W Delaney Others 34 Garry Delaney - W Neegus L Kristiansen 35 Vincenzo Cantatore - W McKinney Lobo Lennox Lewis starts the decade out by continuing the 90s tradition of defending the title against guys in the 30s. Grant Tua and both were three good fighters but looking at the rankings, if he wanted to dodge guys he already fought and beat, he should have fought against Tyson, Norris, Vitali, Hyde or Ruiz. Sedrick Fields beating Shannon Briggs was a surpise. This could become the biggest blip in top 10 rankings ever, but we will see what happens with it. Oliver McCall retaining a surprisingly high ranking. Maybe he deserved a decider with Lennox? Andrew Golota finally cracks the top 10 before retiring after the Mike Tyson Fight. I have to say, I cant remember a stronger looking top 10-15 from any year. Australian Adam Watt moves into position 22. Real surprise for me. Who would have thought that technically Corbett holds a victory over the world Champion Lennox Lewis. Bit of a trivia question that one. Toks Owoh becomes the first supermiddleweight to enter the rankings in a long time.
Obviously on potential and with hindsight, Moorer was a lot better than both of those guys. Martin had a good win against Witherspoon, although as others pointed out it was more likley a poor performance from Witherspoon. At the end of the day he did what not many other people have done before. Unfortunately he didnt go on with it and it skewed the rankings. Moorer was a good prospect who looked good, but he wasnt actually fighting the best fighters in the division Stewart Michael Cooper and Smith were his best wins. I am not sure i would necessarilly pick any of those to beat Tim Witherspoon. Would you? To be honest, i am not even 100% sure i would pick Moorer himself to beat Tim Witherspoon. Everett Martin did beat him. It is obviously a difficult situation when fighters rank lower than those they beat, but it always going to happen. If Ali Beats Frazier, Frazier beats Foreman and then Ali Beats Foreman, then surely you would have to rate Ali over Frazier because that is the last result. I agree with you though, as will always be the case, the ratings do not necessarilly reflect the best fighters. But they do give a decent unbiased indication. And given that 1-10 are always so similar to ring ratings, you would have to think that ratings 11-30 are nowhere near as bad as they seem, wouldnt you.
2001 1 Lennox Lewis - W Rahman L Rahman 2 Hasim Rahman - W Lewis L Lewis 3 Oliver McCall - W Green Akinwande 4 Jameel McCline - W Ipitole Cole Grant Whitaker 5 Siarhie Liakovich - W Fields white Ahunanya 6 Monte Barrett - W Cawley Witherspoon Davis 7 Robert Davis- W Wilson Rone Fields Swindell L Barrett Lewis (pre rank) 8 Siarhie Liakovich - W Fields white Ahunanya 9 Sedrick Fields - W Nobles Bosch Maxime Dixon L Liakovich Davis D Purity 10 Shannon Briggs - W Chasteen Waller Minus 11 John Ruiz - W Holyfield D Holyfield 12 Evander Holyfield -L Ruiz D Ruiz 13 Mike Tyson W Nielson 14 Henry Akinwande - W McNeeley Harris L McCall 15 Vitali Klitchsko - W Norris Purity 16 Brian Nielson - W Baker Norris Murphy L Tyson 17 Orlin Norris - W Yates L Klitchsko Nielson 18 Wladimir Klitschko - W Jefferson Shufford 19 Chris Byrd - W Veddar Harris Tua 20 Derreck Brown - W chincangu L Mahlangu 21 Joseph Chincangu - W Hide L Brown 22 Herbie Hide - W Osaku L Chincangu 23 Dicky Ryan - W Sample 24 Larry Holmes - W Weaver 25 Johnny Nelson - W Aries Dominigues Vasilliev 26 Juan Carlos Gomez - W Cole Aurino 27 Sebastian Rothman - W Watt Hobson Ashley 28 Adam Watt - L Rothman 29 Bruce Scott -W Delaney Janvier 30 Darren Corbett - W Green 31 Alexander Gurov W Yelistratove May May 32 Glen Johnson - W Ulrich 33 Toks Owoh - W Okhrei Booth Johnson 34 Jean Marc Mormeck - W Edmondson Durham & Others Lennox Lewis' reign was starting to hit its straps, although you couldn’t really say he was as dominant as a lot of his predecessors (yet anyway). Tyson and Holyfield at 12 and 13 would have seemed ridiculous at the time and it probably is, although it interesting that Tyson was about to be outclassed by lennox lewsi and really struggle to beat the top 10 contenders. Holyfield, also would never be as dominant as he was. So, maybe the system is not as bad as it might seem. Golota dropped out of the rankings due to inactivity. Larry Holmes is hanging on at 24. Brian Nielson, I think, is one who probably gets a bad wrap. His level of competition wasn’t great but I don’t think he is out of place as a top 10 contender for a lot of his reign.
2002 1 Lennox Lewis - W Tyson 2 Chris Byrd - W Pegues Holyfield 3 Evander Holyfield W Rahman L Byrd 4 Hasim Rahman - W Lewis L Lewis 5 Oliver McCall - No Fights 6 Wladimir Klitscho - W Botha Mercer McLine 7 Jameel McCline - W Briggs L Klitschko 8 Maurice Harris - W Liakovich 9 Siarhie Liakovich - W Fields white Ahunanya 10 Monte Barrett - No Fights 11 David Tua - W Oquendo Moorer Chasteen 12 Michael Moorer - W Davis L Tua 13 Michael Grant - Minus Lenart Willis Davis Walton 14 Robert Davis- W Lewis Blakely L Moorer Grant 15 Thomasz Bonan W Wallyn Sukaterin & Others 16 Henry Akinwande W Page Ubokane Suhkaterin 17 Raman Sukhaterin W Fields L Bonan Akinwande 18 Dereck Jefferson W Jackson Fields 19 Lawrence Clay BEY W Nix Fields 20 Sedrick Fields - W bates Palm Cole L Sukhaterin Jefferson Clay Bey 21 Shannon Briggs - L McLine 22 John Ruiz - W Johnson 23 Mike Tyson L Lewis 24 Vitali Klitchsko - W Bean Donald 25 Brian Nielson - W Grant 26 Orlin Norris - NO Fights 27 Jean Francois Bergeron - W Nicholson Brown Brown Cawley Nix 28 Derreck Brown - L Bergeron 29 Pele Reid - W Simpson Chincangu L Sprott D Jefferson 30 Stefan Nielson - W Wallyn Ryan Chingangu & others L Francis (pre rank) 31 Joseph Chincangu - L Reid Nielson 32 Herbie Hide - No Fights 33 Timo Hoffman - W Sauer Purity Ryan 34 Dicky Ryan - L Nielson Hoffman 35 Larry Holmes - W Esch 36 Johnny Nelson - W Sellers D Jones 37 Juan Carlos Gomez - W Murphy Frank Lewis is at the pinnacle of his career here. Though it is a little surprising that he only beat 3 of the top 10 fighters and 2 of those stand at 1-1 with the third 1-0-1. Not really anywhere near as dominant as the Ali Louis crowd at their best and also probably not in the same clase as the likes of Larry Holmes Foreman etc. Without doing a proper analysis, he is probably not any more of a standout than say a Joe Walcott or Ezzard Charles. It will be interesting to see how Wlad and Vitali fare. Maybe even Joshua or Fury. Wlad's win over MCLine put him in the top 10. I am a lile surprised that this was better than the Mercer win, but in reality McLine actually was putting together a decent run and is one who may have been a touch better than I remember. Maurice harris' win over Liakovich was a real blow for Liakovich and seems to have really hurt his career standing. I actually never realised Just how active Michael Grant was even after the Lewis loss. Given how highly he was regarded and that his record wasn’t that bad even after Lewis, it does seem funny how some guys get highly rated and others don’t. A lot of it just seems to go down to landing the fights against vulnerable fighters who are highly rated pushed in the public eye, at the right time. Sedrick Fields actually hurts to type. I can almost feel some of the ridicule to the ratings coming out as I type it. It takes so much longer nowadays for the ratings to correct themselves because noone is interested in making good fights, outside the actual world championship nowadays. I am hoping that has changed a little recently. This actually lead to Tomasz Bonan who I had never heard of but who actually had quite a decent record. But still to show the ridiculousness of the alphabet crowd, Bonan, actually had a fight For the WBC World YOUTH Championship. I am not sure how that works but at the time of this challenge for the Youth Championship (by my maths) was 36 years old! He lost this challenge to the 31 year old Spring chicken Andrezj Warwzyck. It is a shame because I am pretty sure that a win by the 36 year old would have made him the undisputed oldest Youth champion in any sport (with the possible exception of Lawn bowls I suppose). I am a little surprised that Pele Reid retired for a few years as he just stepped into these rankings. I would have thought that he would have had a big pay waiting if he could string together an upset or two against an overrated young contender (he was the one who Kod vitali as a kickboxer wasn’t he? I can remember when this time and no 37 ranked Gomez was one of the next big things. Looking back the Sinan Samil Sam was not really the huge upset it seemed at the time. Gomez had simply beaten noone. Looking at these ratings, McCall and Rahman should have been given a chance at the youngsters coming through. Gomez, Bird and Ruiz against the youngsters or even against Lewis for the rubber matches, or even each other. Not that these would have been big fights, just historically intersting.
2003 1 Lennox Lewis - W Vitali Klitchsko 2 Chris Byrd - W Oquendo 3 James Toney - W Holyfield 4 Evander Holyfield L Toney 5 John Ruiz - L Jones Jr (pre rank) W Rahman 6 Hasim Rahman - D Tua L Ruiz 7 Oliver McCall - W McKinney 8 Corrie Sanders - W Klitschko 9 Wladimir Klitscho - W Moli Nicholson L Sanders 10 Jameel McCline - W Shufford Boswell 11Fres Oquendo - W Harris L Byrd 12 Maurice Harris - W Liakovich 13 Siarhie Liakovich - W Asipelli Walton 14 Joe Mesi - W Wiliamson Barrett 15 Monte Barrett - W Porter Wiggins Kirkland L Mesi 16 David Tua - D Rahman 17 Michael Moorer - W Tisdale Lobo 18 Dominic Guinn - W Tisdale Hatcher Grant Dokiwari Banks 19 Michael Grant - W Johnson Martinez L Guinn 20 Robert Davis- L Mesi 21 Thomasz Bonan - W Nkendzis Polatis Lane Sultan Dychkou 22 Henry Akinwande W Hoffman 23 Thieri Guezouli W Foe Onofrei L Seror (pre rank) 24 Constantin Onofrei - W dos santos Sukaterin Fields Komlosi Ogonek L Guezolli 25 Raman Sukhaterin L Onofrei 26 Dereck Jefferson W No fights 27 Elisier Castillo W Clay Bey Sanders 28 Lawrence Clay BEY W Shufford Clifford L Castillo 29 Luan Krasniqi - W Fields Salita Ligion Francis 30 Ray Austin - W Fields Scott D Lawrence 31 Oleg maskaev - Sadikovski Winmon Fields McKinney Francis 32 Sedrick Fields - W Hilliard Olivara L Krasniqi Onofried Austin Maskaev 33 Shannon Briggs - W Hill Sargeant Lewis 34 Jones jr - W Ruiz Tarver 35 Mike Tyson W Clifford Etienne 36 Vitali Klitchsko - W Johnson L Lewis 37 Brian Nielson - W Grant 38 Orlin Norris - W Funmnaker Weidman 39 Jean Francois Bergeron - W Wilson Lennox about to finish up. Looks like Byrd really was his number 1 contender. And a little surprising (or maybe not if you are not a fan) that he was ducking the no 1 challenger byrd in order to try to fight no 9 Wlad, No 35 Vitali and no 36 Tyson. James Toney ranked surprisingly high but Holyfield really was a good win at this time. Maurice Harris finishes his first career surprisingly high at no 12. The top 20 has pretty much corrected itself by now. Vitali and Tyson are the two obvious exceptions, but Tyson future must prove otherwise and Vitali had always been accused of lack of competition by some. Jones Jr heavyweight career really was nowhere near as impressive as the sanctioning belts made it seem. A Number 34 vs 35 vs 36 dream triangle matchup could have been the most lucrative series in the history of fighters of such a low ranking. Realistically, it wasn’t completely out of the question and each would have got multi million dollar pay days for each fight. If Vitali had somehow lost this series, it might have been interesting to see if the winner (Jones Jr or Tyson) could see if they could challenge the Blip above inno 32 ranked Cedrick Fields. The way their careers went, I am not so sure they could! looking at these rankings, Jones Jr Tyson actually should have happened. It is interesting also that Pele Reid, who stopped Vitali as a kickboxer was actually ranked number 40 when he stopped fighting this year. A rematch with Vitali may not have been the same mismatch as was always thought at the time.
