Teddy Atlas' top ten heavyweights of all time, do you agree? If not, what is your list??

It's an ok list. No Holyfield or Iron Mike and Larry so low is a little off-putting imo.

1. Ali
2. Louis
3. Holmes
4. Holy
5. Lewis
6. Foreman
7. Frazier
8. Johnson
9. Iron Mike
10. Wlad

I need to see Usyk in a do or die, Holmes-Norton or Bowe-Holy I firefight. I understand he's done outstandingly well, but I can't place him above Liston or Wlad quite yet.

 

Don’t understand the old timers for instance Louis being so high on lists. Holmes and Ali were as good of boxers as the young Billy Conn in every way except that they had 3 inches in height and 40 pounds of muscle and 8 inches of reach on him. Plus truth be told the young Ali was much faster and especially on his feet. They were in a category way above Conn as heavyweights. They would have boxed Louis ears off.

 

I think a lot posters would rate Joe Louis lower in fantasy matchups. His rating comes from his achievements in his own era.

 

Thanks OddR that makes sense. I would say if they’re rating that way they should specify it’s a special type of ranking. Normally the debate is hey this old timer could have beaten so and so and the reply is no the more modern fighter was better etc. That’s really what the debate is who could beat who. I always think if you had a time machine and for example if you picked up Liston at the first Patterson fight and Louis at the second Abe Simon fight and put them in the same ring who would win. Of course there’s some poetic license you take like how do you explain that to them as your asking them to get in your Time Machine . I think though that’s less of a stretch then what some try to say like you have to factor in that if Dempsey was alive today he d be 50 pounds heavier and 2 inches taller because he would have done this and taken that.

 

My ten in no order.
Ali
Dempsey
Louis
Johnson
Lewis
Holmes
Liston
Tyson
Foreman
Holyfield

 

I agree that this is Teddy Atlas’ ranking list of all-time heavyweights.

 

I'm curious to see your list.

 

I don’t really do such rankings very often, and if/when I do they might change before the day, week, month or year is over. That’s because I don’t have some set way to look at it that I’ve ever settled upon: how much is how I think they’d do H2H, how much is accomplishment, how much is historical importance, etc.

My top tier would be (probably in order):

Muhammad Ali
Joe Louis
Larry Holmes

My next tier would include (in no certain order):

George Foreman
Lennox Lewis
Rocky Marciano
Jack Johnson
Evander Holyfield
Joe Frazier

After that (also not in order):
Riddick Bowe
Wlad Klitschko
Mike Tyson
Ezzard Charles

I’m probably missing someone, but I do hold Jack Dempsey below the above for a variety of reasons.

 

Ok, thanks for your list ;-)

 

I really like this SP

I do think that Louis and Ali sit in a tier of their own and if you include Larry, I would argue that Lennox should sit right alongside Larry.

Where does Dempsey, Usyk, Liston, Vitali and likes of Fury rank for you?

 

I’m not going to rank someone like Usyk, whose final chapter hasn’t been written, or Fury for same reason (at least possibly) … of course I would have ranked George after he retired and seemed to be sticking with it, but in general a 10-years-later comeback isn’t going to enhance or hurt a fighter’s resume — usually you’d expect them to lose (or win an easy tuneup or two and then lose) and write it off as I do the latter parts of the careers of Ray Robinson (who had his own incredible comeback, but I’m talking about the latter portion of his final end) and Ezzard Charles.

The others, obviously, I rank lower. But I haven’t given a lot of thought to it and what I did present is probably pretty solid in my thinking but a few could move up or down a bit.

I do hold Larry on par with Louis and Ali — third to them, but on their tier — and Lennox or George would be next but I think both are a notch below the very elite.