Third greatest heavyweight of all time?

Aside from Louis & Ali, for me, its between Holmes & Tyson!

People might be quick to disocunt Tyson as being up there, but it all depends on one's criteria for greatness!

Every HW in their prime & I think Tyson is right up there & has a great chance at beating any of the greats! I'm not too sure about him beating Louis, Ali or Holmes, but they are the only guys who I think, at their best, would have likely defeated a prime Tyson!

Any other HW at their best & I would be highly confident a prime Tyson would have too much for them!

In terms of achievement & longevity, maybe Tyson doesn't match up to the same heights of guys like Holmes & Louis!

 

No trouble at all mate

 

Jack Johnson.

--Especially if you factor in the whole of the career. He was dominant, had more longevity than arguably any other HW champ this side of Louis, was considered the most skilled HW every until his contemporaries died out in the 60s, and was forced to overcome more adversity (rabid racism) by far than any other HW in history and arguably more than any other fighter in the 20th century.

A professor whose name eludes once said that "the boxer seeks to make you an assistant in your own ass-whipping." Johnson mastered that concept.

Anyway, he's a solid #3 for me.

 

I said boxer as in stick and movers. Not every fighter on the list.

 

Ranking ANYBODY doesn't make sense until you lay down some serious criteria.

:deal

 

Oh well that changes a lot then

 

...I looked it up. Now you can do it right:

Stanley Crouch is a critic and novelist.

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He can be seen and heard making this comment in the documentary, "Unforgivable Blackness"....

What a boxer ideally wants to do, in the ring, is turn his opponent into an assistant in his own ass-whipping. That's really what you want the other guy to do, to assist you in whipping his ass.

...THAT's boxing, bite-sized.

 

Lewis or Holmes as the third greatest heavyweight in history...?

For the record, this poster at least strongly, strenuously, disagrees.

 

Credit they deserve. But this is sophomoric overreach.

 

I think solid cases can be made for Marciano, Lewis and Holmes as well, but I'll go for Johnson. He was one of the select few who beat just about everyone that mattered over a 10-15 year period.