Top 50 HW'S 1990-99

I have Botha 8th or 9th for the 90s.

You have him 34th.

He was a champ and he fought everyone. Does doing good in losses count?

 

Tua KO'd three former or future champs in the 90's. I think he's a few spots higher.

 

I admit I have a lot of reservations, but perhaps I didn't fully understand the criteria.
Ike scored two ATG victories at the end of the decade. Tua and Byrd were clearly better than anyone Bruno, Mercer, or Foreman beat, and unlike them, he didn't lose to Ferguson or Morrison. Ike is definitely a top-5 fighter of the decade for me.

I'll never understand how anyone could rank Lewis above Bowe or Holyfield in the 1990s.
He only defeated Evander in 1999, at the very end of the decade, and those victories were absolutely unimpressive, especially the latter.
According to The Ring, Holyfield was the leader in this category for five seasons, Lewis for only one. Bowe was the leader for two, but in the most dominant fashion. He also holds arguably the most impressive and valuable victories over Holyfield, rivaled only by Holyfield's defeats of Tyson and Moorer. Both men fought the best trilogy of the decade, yet they are behind Lewis, who was knocked out by McCall, couldn't beat Mercer, and fought tough battles with Bruno and Mavrovitz. To me, this is incomprehensible.

 

I would put Moorer above Tyson based on the fact that he actually was the lineal champion and beat Holyfield for the title. Tua also should be above Holmes imo.

 

I assume Hunter is Mike (The Bounty) …. Having difficulty seeing him as top 20 material in the decade. Serious how you arrived at that @mattdonnellon. How did you land him there?

 

Bert Cooper beat Orlin Norris, and, gave Mercer, Moorer, and Holyfield hell in the 90s. He also beat the brakes off of Joe Hipp. He likely would have done the same to a guy like Bruce Seldon if given the opportunity. I would place him much higher than 48th.

 

Good stuff Matt.

 

Foreman needs to be higher. There are some other placements i disagree with but that one sticks out for me

 

Here my thoughts ont he oringal list, the bolded parts are for emphasis:

1. McCall did enough outside of the Lewis fight to be ahead of Douglas
2. I would move Tua's resume all the way up to 8. He had a nice set of wins in the 90s and the Ike fight only helps his standing.
3. Seldon was a champion who beat Tucker and defended against Hipp, plus beat a lot of known but past it fighters. He should at least trade places with Nielson. Nielson is too high.
4. Rahman is too low. He was a legitimate top ten contender in the late 90s in a way that Nielson and Hunter never were. He was winning in the late rounds against Tua and Maskaev, the loss to Tua being influenced by a foul.
5. Witherspoon is too low. He destroyed JLG when it still mattered and almost beat Mercer.
6. Ruddock is criminally low. He destroyed Dokes, who was still a highly regarded contender, had two wars with Tyson, and followed it up by destroying an undefeated Phil Jackson. It's better than what Frank Bruno did, to put it bluntly.
7. Corrie Sanders had a better 90s than Zolkin. He should be higher.
8. Purrity beat Wlad Klitschko. Not sure what more he needs to do to be ahead of someone like Jeremy Williams or Brian Nielson.
9. Maurice Harris did more than enough to be the forties, and Derrick Jefferson was a hot fighter who cracked the top ten in 99. Gonzales wishes he had the win column of either.