Top 10 HW of the 70s

Good list. Actually, I agree with everything, but I would put Bonavena instead of Tate.

 

Is it purely down to Quarry having the 'W' against Lyle during the 70s, or are there other facets of Quarry's accomplishments during the decade that make this a clear-cut perspective of their relative position in the '70s Top-10?

 

Yes.

Quarry beat a hell of a lot more elite fighters.

Quarry is one of teh greatest heavyweight contenders of all time.

 

Shavers was rated when Quarry knocked him out. He fell out of the ratings after that win. Middleton was as well I believe.

 

So they were.

Middleton #7
Shavers #6

 

This is simply not true. They beat around the same number of top fighters.

 

1. Muhammad Ali
2. George Foreman
3. Joe Frazier
4. Ken Norton
5. Larry Holmes
6. Jimmy Young
7. Jerry Quarry
8. Ron Lyle
9. Earnie Shavers
10. Joe Bugner

 

Frazier over Foreman? Intrigued not argumentative. Frazier's my favorite fighter of all time so I'll definitely take it.

 

Wow. Shockingly shallow decade.

The 1990's are when the heavyweight division truly began.

 

It had been a long day.

Thanks for calling it out.

Fixed it.

 

I don't see how you figure that out.

 

Lyle had three victories over top ten opponents. Quarry had eight. So your claim "they beat around the same number of top fighters" is simply not true.

 

Quarry and Lyle both beat 7 HW title contenders. Lyles 7 is better than Quarrys 7 which includes Spencer, London twice and Patterson in the 60s. Lyle also beat Peralta who was a LHW contender.

So no I'm correct. You can move the goalposts but any way you slice it they have around the same amount of top wins. Saying Lyle had 3 top 10 opponents when he actually fought them is rankings trickery. Arguments like that are a big part of why I ignore rankings historically.

 

I genuinely don't even know where to start with this.

Rankings are an indicator of how they were doing at a given point in time. The fact that you ignore rankings, speaks volumes to their credibility.
"Quarry and Lyle both beat 7 HW title contenders. Lyles 7 is better than Quarrys"
Where do I even start? There's zero metric where Lyle's wins are better than Quarry.

For one, all 7 contenders Quarry beat were ranked WHEN HE FOUGHT THEM. Lyle only three.

Ellis was not rated by that point and was a shot fighter, and Lyle had to go the distance with him. A much fresher Ellis was knocked out in the first round to put Lyle's performance in perspective.

Mathis was not rated, and a shot fighter at that point.

Only Bugner, Bonavena, and Shavers were rated.

Bugner had just come out of retirement, and took Lyle to a controversial SD.

Bonavena was at the end of the line, and hadn't had a significant win that entire decade.

Mathis was in his very last fight, and came in the bout extremely obese. He clearly didn't give a ****.

Shavers dropped Lyle hard and had him ready to go before Lyle was saved by the bell. Had that happened even a minute earlier Lyle's toast. And that was Lyle's best win.

Quarry dispatched of Shavers in a single round with no life or death battle or anything of the sort.

So no, there's zero universe where Lyle's wins are better than Quarry.

Also where are you getting these 7 title contenders? What's your criteria if not ranking? Household Name? People who literally got title shots? People who were ranked at any point in their career? In neither metric can you get 7 names for Lyle in the 70s.

 

Its a very arbitrary way to filter out wins over important opponents because they lost big fights previously.

Title contender means someone who fought for a title. In earlier eras(not this one) maybe a major eliminator.

Lyles 7 contender wins were over Ellis, Shavers, Bugner, Mathis, Bonavena, LeDoux and Manuel Ramos. While Quarrys 7 are Lyle, Shavers, Patterson, Mathis, Spencer, Londonx2. But you're going to cut out 4 of Lyles 7 while keeping all of Quarrys(or keeping 6 and adding Mac Foster) then pretending Quarry had a lot more better wins. No he didn't.

We can argue whether these fighters were washed indivudually. Ellis was 34 and he was clearly better when Quarry fought him but the rest your way off base. Lyle beat Mathis in his last fight but Mathis was under 30 and had won the "Superheavyweight title" his previous fight. Bugner went on to fight another 20 years. London who Quarry beat twice was at the end of his career too.

Lyles real case is he put up good showings with Foreman and Ali while Quarry was never close to beating Ali, Frazier or Norton in 5 attempts and never went the distance with them. Quarrys best win was beating Lyle himself on Quarrys best day.