Best five wins from the best contenders

I edited in Chambers for Charr. You guys know a lot more about these recent fighters.

 

Gerry Cooney

1) Ken Norton
2) Jimmy Young
3) Ron Lyle
4) George Chaplin
5) Dino Denis

Alexander Povetkin

1) Ruslan Chagaev
2) Chris Byrd
3) Hasim Rahman
4) Dillian Whyte
5) Larry Donald

 

Cooney:

1) Norton
2) Young
3) Lyle
4) Gregg
5) Dennis

Povetkin:

1) Chagaev
2) Whyte
3) Chambers
4) Huck
5) Byrd

Byrd was the most accomplished among Povetkin's opponents, but the problem here is that he was old and 18 months before that fight he was annihilated by Wladimir Klitschko in a brutal fascion. Fighter can never be the same after such a horrenderous beating, especially at suc advanced age.

And Rahman was even more spent than Byrd IMO.

Povetkin has great depth - guys like Takam and Perez didn't make my top 5 and they were good fighters.

 

Povetkin
1 chambers
2 byrd
3 whyte
4 takam
5 wach

Other options Mike Perez, Boswell or huck
Rahman and chagaev were past prime

 

Chisora is clearly underrated , although we all know his limitations

1 - whyte 1
2 - helenius
3 - takam
4 - malik scott
5 - szpilka
6 - price
7 - kingpin johnson
8 - gerber
9 - danny williams
10 - ondrej pala
11 - sam sexton

 

I think Philipp Brown was a sort of set up. He'd been Cooney's sparring partner - and, yes, fighting a former sparring partner IS a tradition in boxing - and had only had one fight in nearly two years. Why? Because the Cooney-Brown fight kept getting postponed, due to injuries or whatever by Cooney. He served his purpose, though, got Cooney back in the ring, and gave him a few rounds of work. But note that after the Cooney fight, Brown lost more than he won, and he pretty much only won against soft touches.

I'm not going to vote on Povetkin, because I just don't have the knowledge of 21st century boxing that I do of the seventies - nineties.

But Gerry Cooney:

1. Jimmy Young - Young was up for this fight and fought well until he was cut. But Cooney was obviously better that night. The next year Young would win "comeback of the year" in a magazine poll, but after that he willingly became an opponent.

2. Ken Norton - Norton seemed finished by the end of 1979. But he surprised me in handing Tex Cobb his first loss. So was the LeDoux fight a bit of a fluke? Was Norton not yet fully recovered from the rib injury that postponed the LeDoux fight from July to August? (12 year old me had tickets to that scheduled July fight in San Diego. It would've been my first pro in-person card. Cooney was on the undercard in an exhibition.) Of course, Cooney blew Norton out early and easily. How highly you regard that win depends on what you think Norton had left.

3. John 'Dino' Denis - I grew up in Northern California. This is the fight that put Cooney on the map for me. He was just devastating here against the one-time prospect Denis. Denis came in only having two losses: against Foreman and the possibly underrated Leroy Jones. He was on a seven fight win streak going in and would win his next nine fights after losing to Cooney. Denis is looked at today as the guy who got knocked out by Foreman and Cooney. But in his day he was a decent prospect and top-15 heavyweight. Depending on how you feel about Norton in May 1981, I think this fight could possibly be Cooney's second best win.

4. Eddie Gregg - This one really surprised me at the time. Here we have Cooney, who hadn't fought in a year and a half, who'd announced his retirement in that time, and who was known to be battling demons. And we have once-beaten Eddie Gregg, who'd just beat Tex Cobb, knocking him down in the process (!!!), who'd looked decent against James Broad, who'd beaten the undefeated Carlos Hernandez in one round, and who'd looked fairly good in other cable-tv bouts. I figured that he'd give Cooney some good work, if not pull off a win. So what happens? Cooney starches Gregg in 1:26. After this I thought for sure he'd steamroll Michael Spinks the way Tyson did.

5. George Chaplin - Chaplin had been in with Page twice, Dokes, Coetzee, and Shavers for a win. He was known as being tough and slick. Undefeated David Bey took him out him out in '82, but Chaplin rebounded with four wins in a row (including Shavers), all against guys with winning records. So what happens against Cooney? Cooney stops him in two. I was going to put Eddie Lopez fifth, but after examining Chaplin's record I couldn't deny him that fifth spot.

Just missing the cut: Eddie Lopez - I don't really know much about this fight other than the result. But I do know that Lopez was a tough guy who got to the top-15 after the Cooney fight and who drew with a still-good Leon Spinks. I believe there was supposed to be a second Cooney-Lopez fight on CBS in 1981, but it was cancelled, sigh, due to a Cooney injury.

 

I agree, Brewster's is crap, but I gave it a go anyway.

Lamon Brewster

1) Wlad
2) Golata
3) Luan Krasniqui
4) Kali Meehan
5) Michael Sprott

Those last 3 are sooooo poor.

Bob Satterfield

1) Harold Johnson
2) Bob Baker
3) Nino Valdes
4) Lee Oma
5) Johnny Summerlin

Now we're talking. There are a number that could sneak in here, especially big names like Cleveland Williams. But at the time they fought, Cleve was so green and no where in sight that I couldn't put him in. After the big 3 I chose Lee Oma who had a #2 rating at the end of '49 and was on a 14 bout unbeaten streak when Bob KO'd him. And Johnny Summerlin at #5 who held a #7 rating at the end of '55 and was on a 12 bout unbeaten streak when Bob got to him.

 

Bombardier Bob Satterfield

1----Harold Johnson
2----Bob Baker
3----Nino Valdes
4----Lee Oma
5----John Holman

Cleveland Williams--would make the top five opponents beaten, but compared to Holman, was a bit green. Oma was on a 13 bout winning streak and the #2 NBA contender when Satterfield KO'd him. Holman has KO's of Ezzard Charles and Elmer Ray, and a decision over Turkey Thompson. I can't argue though with anyone who subs Williams for Oma or Holman. Satterfield did not feast on leftovers. All of his major victims were at or near the top of their game.

Others--Boardwalk Billy Smith, Nick Barone, Tommy Gomez, Johnny Summerlin, and lots of guys in lighter classes. Satterfield moved between light-heavy and pocket heavy status.

As said, an extremely erratic fighter with great wins but lots of losses, some to ordinary guys. And lots of win one lose one stuff. Why so erratic? I have read he was the playboy type and so often wasn't focused. No question he also had a shaky chin. Besides being an explosive puncher, he was a good boxer when he elected to box.

I think Satterfield is a strong candidate to make our top ten. What is missing is a win over a heavyweight champion.

*after reading scartissue's post, I realize Summerlin was a better candidate than I had thought and could make the top five. He was on an impressive roll. But I still think it fair to rate Holman above him, although not by much.