1. Sonny Liston 2. Sam Langford 3. Ezzard Charles 4. Cleveland Williams 5. Lee Savold (Just off the top of my head)
Tough one, as there are probably a hundred different ways you can look at it, but I'll have a go. In no order. Ezzard Charels Started as a Middle, won the heavyweight championship, beat three ATG heavies, two ATG LHW, and more good fighters than you can name off the top of your head. Had his own little era, and twice gave Marciano hell, even as the Lou Gehrig's disease was manifesting. Great, great fighter. Yet not usually put at the top. Gerry Cooney Yeah, I said, it. In the two years before the Holmes fight, this guy had exactly six rounds under his belt. Imagine if he had good management, and they had mixed in a couple of Ossie Occasio types to take him the distance safely. Imagine if they had taken him down the WBA route first. In any event, after Holmes, cocaine and booze utterly ruined him. Could have been a very good fighter, and is now a punchline. Joe Chonyski Drew with Jefferies, knocked out and trained Jack Johnson, drew with Fitzimmons, had a NC and a 27 round loss to Corbett. The best never to win the belt. Yet, who really knows about him? Larry Gaines Beat Max Schmeling, Primo Carnera, and George Godfrey. Who even remembers him? Lee Q. Murray/Jim Bivins/Turkey Thompson/Elmer Ray Sadly, Joe Louis could not make money off of fighting black fighters, and between John Henry Lewis in '39 and Joe Walcott in '47, some very good guys did not get shots. We tend to remember Harry Wills, Sam Langford, Peter Jackson, maybe Jeanette, McVey, and Godfrey, but who remembers these names? POST SCRIPT: Holy ****! How did I forget about Chris Byrd when I wrote this? Victories over Vitaly Klitschko, Evander Holyfield, David Tua, and a whole bunch of other guys not quite as impressive, and all this from a guy who started at super middle. Put all the asterixs you want...this guy is an ATG!
Patterson wasn't even really a HW. Most of his losses were down to the fact that he couldn't deal with his much larger and more powerful opponents. Great fighter.
That's my top 5 HW Pierre Coetzer Gerrie Coetzee Johnny du Plooy Corrie Sanders Francois Botha Spoiler Mustaches of all time
It depends on the look, but they are both favorites against almost every fighter today except Fury. In my opinion Norton won all three fights against Ali, made tremendous fight against Holmes,and has some other good wins Quarry,Young,Bobick,Zanon,Cobbs. It is clear that he had a weak jaw.