Criteria Overall Record Strength Of Competition Mythical Head To Head Performance Cultural Impact 1) Muhammad Ali 2) Joe Louis 3) George Foreman 4) Larry Holmes 5) Lennox Lewis 6) Joe Frazier 7) Rocky Marciano 8) Evander Holyfield 9) Jack Dempsey 10) Mike Tyson Three to five were the hardest. I wouldn't quibble with a different order there. Some times I change it.
Tyson had far more cultural impact than most of these guys so you aren’t even following your own rules. Foreman has two title defenses to his name. His ass should be nowhere near a top 5.
That was one of the four criteria. If I were rating running backs I would have O.J. and Jim Brown 1 and 2 for cultural impact but there are runnning backs with much more impressive bodies of work. If we were going strictly by cultural impact my top five would be Ali, Louis, Tyson, Rocky, and Dempsey. I haven't done a greatest running backs list in quite a while but I reckon I'd find space in the top ten for O.J. and Jim Brown, but not 1 and 2.
Funny thing about Jim Brown in Burt Sugar's book about greatest athletes I believe he had Jim Brown first.
Except Tyson does fine in every other category. He won the title twice, just like Foreman, and dwarfed his record against top ten contenders. He’s also on a short list of h2h guys who might beat Ali. Might as well swap Foreman and Tyson. Wlad also shits on Dempsey and Marciano.
I did think that having a top ten without Wlad betrayed an "old timer's" bias but here is a list from Ring with him even lower: https://www.ringtv.com/488242-ring-greatest-heavyweight-time/ These lists are subjective but some lists are more tethered to reality than others. I like the job Monte Cox does: https://coxscorner.tripod.com/heavyweightchart.html
I couldn’t care less about what these guys think: Trainers: Teddy Atlas, Pat Burns, Virgil Hunter and Don Turner. Matchmakers: Eric Bottjer, Don Chargin, Don Elbaum, Bobby Goodman, Ron Katz, Mike Marchionte, Russell Peltz and Bruce Trampler. Media: Al Bernstein, Ron Borges, Gareth A Davies, Norm Frauenheim, Jerry Izenberg, Harold Lederman, Paulie Malignaggi, Dan Rafael and Michael Rosenthal As for Cox, I believe you’re linking something from 10-15 years ago.
Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis were also panelists for Ring's list but they didn't get a vote on themselves. Mike has watched a lot of film, including the oldies. Whose opinions would you give credence to?
And if he one of those 2 hits Wlad it’s night night for Wlad. He is one of the most overrated heavyweights in history. Absolutely fought no one. And had a chin that was made of glass. Not to mention didn’t have any skill.
How about Jack Johnson for cultural impact? He's up there with Ali and Louis. Hell, Johnson was so impactful that Louis had to literally be the anti-Johnson! Tyson was more of someone with a huge fanbase than someone culturally impactful.