HW GOAT Candidates During Their Time

I think every time Lewis started to be accepted as special, he blew it, first with Rahmen, and then with the Vitklit fight where a lot of people wanted the rematch. Even McCall was part of that, because after the Ruddock fight, he has the eyes of the people for a quick minute.

I love the guy, and always did, even when the Brits loved Gary Mason.

 

Is Usyk really considered by many as a GOAT candidate?

 

Heres some.

Peter Jackson was probably considered a GOAT by much of the world in the sports formative years. The American lineages primacy was not yet established and even after Jefffies unified the belts someone could use the age excuse for not just Peter Jackson but also Goddard and Fitzsimmons.

Langford lost to Johnson and Fulton but at some point the stacked resume was greater then everyone elses in the conversation combined. That had to be worth some considerations.

Tunney before the rise of Joe Louis. Retired with no unavenged losses. Jack Sharkey had beaten Wills and lost to Dempsey so the success of Sharkey made Tunney look great. Another Jack Sharkey victim from that time George Godfrey won a belt in 1935. Tommy Loughran didn't win the HW title but he did beat both Braddock and Max Baer. So before Louis all roads kinda led back to Tunney.

Patterson was a GOAT candidate because he was the first "2x HW champ". He wasn't even the first 2x even lineal HW champ and the media made it up but either way he was perceived as such. The main objective of Pattersons career after the Liston fights was him trying to become the first 3x champion. While he failed he had several chances.

Holyfield for the same reason as Patterson because of the 4x champ thing and fighting for 5x a few times. Its a stupid GOAT case especially when a fighter is drowned in title shots but you're asking for what people thought not whether or not it made sense. Ali becoming the first 3x champ only popularized the use of this stat as it was something Ali had that the other great HWs did not. Unlike Patterson I actually remember the hype of Holyfield being a 4x champ. As a kid I remember it being mentioned in non boxing spaces.

I think at the end Lennox was the de facto HW GOAT of a lot of people because he beat Holyfield and Tyson. Lennox had no "unavenged" losses which is a diet version of being undefeated. He also had the aformentioned 3x champ mark. After Lennox beat Tyson the "Mike Tyson defense league"(another poster came up with the term) really needs Lennox to be considered one of the greatest ever.

I think Usyk being a GOAT candidate is absurd but if he is surely Liston, Frazier, Foreman and even Bowe would qualify? Surely Patterson case whatever is would transfer to Liston, Alis to Frazier? Fraziers to Foreman.

Wlad deserved to be considered a GOAT candidate but I agree the fighting public clearly wasn't buying what he was selling. But when you look at Usyk barely winning his fights and only beating a few opponents it makes Wlad not getting that love seem surreal and absurd.

 

Fitzsimmons who lost it in DQ to Tom Sharkey. But theres quite a few others who aren't lineal. An ex champ becoming champ again isn't something that should be that rare.

The same thing happened with the media saying Spinks was the first HW/LHW champ there were so many other double champs but they were trying to hype up with Spinks had done. No one had done it under the WBA/WBC/IBF structure so they rolled with it.

 

Corbett was retired and came back. Other then Vitali every other champ in that scenario is considered lineal.

No one was fully acclaimed as the champ at this time and the British world looked to different alternatives in Creedon and Goddard. During Corbetts reign Peter Jackson had been considered the champ by much of the world. Neither Corbett or Peter Jackson had really done anything in years at this point. After retiring Corbett didn't actually win another fight until the Fitz loss to reaffirm this status. He drew a 4 rounder with Sharkey(which only boosted the credibility of the new lineage) then lost to Fitz. The issue is more the DQ.

No question Maher v O Donnell was the flimseyest match to fill a vacant HW title. But then you remember the champ they were replacing was Corbett.

 

Since he beat Fury the 2nd time I have heard it quite a bit. However a lot of it also factoring his P4P success at crusierweight too.

 

JJW, a strong candidate for a Top 10 H2H Heavyweight Champion/Contender/Dangerous Fighter all-time list....

ALL S-HW's need not apply, ALL, none of them worth the mention, NONE!!!

 

It's more about tracking the debate.

The consensus was with Sullivan when he retired.

Later the debate shifted to Sullivan or Jeffries, with the consensus shifting to Jeffries as the people who had seen Sullivan died out.

Then the debated shifted to Jeffries or Johnson.

As the people who had seen Jeffries thinned out the debate shifted to Johnson or Dempsey, but I think it was still a bit of a three horse races.

As the people who had seen Johnson thinned out, and Joe Louis exploded onto the scene, the debate largely shifted to Dempsey or Louis.

Eventually the consensus shifted to Louis, and nobody really mounted a firm challenge to his standing until Ali came along.

The debated shifter to Louis or Ali, with the consensus shifting tom Ali as the people who had seen Louis thinned out, and it never truly seems to have shifted from there.

The biggest threats to Ali's position probably came in the form of Tyson and Lewis, but neither of them quite built the momentum to carry teh over the threshold.

 

Ohhhhh sweet summer child....

 

If only that snake Don King had never managed to corrupt Mike Tyson.

 

The narrative was already building itself when Douglas beat him.