1. Frazier over Ali in FOTC 2. Ali over Foreman 3. Ali over Liston 1 4. Buster Douglas over Tyson 5. Rahman over Lewis 1 HM: Holyfield over Bowe 2 While most would argue that Ali's Rumble in the Jungle vs a scary prime George Foreman should rank #1, I disagree with that based on simple logic. We know that Ali is > Foreman. If a 74 Ali could beat Foreman, then 71 Ali crushes him which makes Frazier's win over that version of Ali greater than the RITJ. #3 is Sonny Liston #1 because Liston was considered unbeatable back then. According to posters in this forum, only Ali and maybe Foreman could beat a peak Liston. Buster Douglas beat up a prime 23 year old Mike Tyson Hasim Rahman beat the guy I consider as the #3 Heavyweight (Lewis) during his peak years (99-02 run).
I would actually bump Rahman v Lewis off of the top 5 in lieu of Louis-Schmeling I. Louis-Schmeling II is also worth considering due to the socio-political ramifications involved and even though it was a slaughter, it would still be within the realm of your question. However, their first fight was a streaking comet of a fighter against a stepping stone ex-champ. And this was not some lucky/one-punch KO, this was a strategic plan mapped out from watching old 9mm film and brilliantly enacted. To answer the question, this was one of the great wins in heavyweight history.
Schmeling beating Louis deserves to be near the top. No one else beat Louis until well over a decade later, by which point he was very significantly past it. The fight took place right after Louis beat Baer, in one of his best ever performaces too.
I rate Louis above Ali, and Louis was arguably closer to his best vs Schmeling than Ali was vs Frazier. Plus, Schmeling-Louis was a long, planned-out seal clubbing. For Frazier's win to compete, he would have had to essentially Buster Douglas Ali in the FOTC.
Hmmmm Frazier over Ali Ali v foreman Dempsey v Willard Foreman v Moorer Louis v Schmeling 2 (u thought I would say 1)
So what’s the actual criteria here for a top 5 win? From what I seen of the choices so far, it varies from fights between the most high profiled heavyweights, the biggest upsets to those fights with the most historical impact and those where the winner scored their most impressive performance and win.
Max vs Louis 1,2 tied FOTC (Frazier looked like he was invincible that night) Bowe be Holy 1 (H2H One of the biggest Ws) Tokyo Douglas (Huge upset obviously) Ali-Liston (Ali dominated him and “shook up the world”) Foreman vs Moorer (I rank this very highly) Rumble in the jungle (Eh Kinda has to be in the list) Lewis-Vitali (Lewis much as I dislike him stopped the next generations big bad) The three bumps that got Wlad (All were shocking) Jones v Ruiz (P4P) Walcott vs Charles 3 (Best KO lol) There is no order by the way.
Dempsey v Willard? A one sided beating over a no hoper? You could argue Jess’s win over Johnson would be the better of the two.
That win did more for the sport of boxing then probably any other one. Dempsey was the number one most recognized athlete in the country. Everyone all of a sudden loved boxing and the sport blew up. Say what you will of the fight itself but the importance of that bout changed boxing history.
1. Ali - Foreman 2. Schmeling - Louis 1 3. Ali - Liston 1 4. Patterson - Johansson 2 5. Tyson - Berbick (Last 2 mainly because record breaking)