Top 15 Greatest Heavyweights In History (Please Participate)

That's interesting J,I never knew that :good

 

1. Vitali Klitschko
2. Lennox Lewis
3. Wladimir Klitschko
4. David Tua
5. Mike Tyson
6. Muhammad Ali
7. Oliver McCall
8. Evander Holyfield
9. Ike Ibeabuchi
10. Larry Holmes
11. George Foreman
12. Rocky Marciano
13. James Douglas
14. Joe Louis
15. Sam Langford
16. Chris Byrd


Langford's no heavy but so is marciano.
that is why they are so low in this list.
borderline : Kirk Johnson , Aleksander Povetkin , James Toney , Sultan Ibragimov , Joe Frazier.
i guess they will complete to 20.

 

Some decidedly old school picks there.

 

I see that your #2 beat your #1 while past his prime, and your #16 beat your #4.

 

If you look at my criteria, Sullivan fits perfectly. The only knock on him is not fighting Jackson (a fight I think he would have won) but he absolutely dominated his contemporaries and I think head-to-head he would have done well into the 1960's at least.

Langford is my #1 pound for pound fighter of all time. I will include him on all lists from now into perpetuity.

 

1. Muhammed Ali
2. Joe Louis
3. Lennox Lewis
4. Joe Frazier
5. Rocky Marciano
6. Sonny Liston
7. Larry Holmes
8. Gene Tunney
9. Mike Tyson
10. Evander Holyfield
11. Vitali Klitchsko
12. George Foreman
13. Jack Johnson
14. Floyd Patterson
15. Vladimir Klitchsko

 

Ali
Louis
Marciano
Holmes
Foreman
Lewis
Johnson
Liston
Dempsey
Holyfield
Ezzard Charles
Frazier
Tyson
Patterson
Walcott

 

This has been done 10X before here, but here's my 15 for now. A mix of head to head, legacy, and ring records.

Ali
Holmes
Lewis
Jeffries
Liston
Foreman
Dempsey
Louis
V. Klitschko
Marciano
Holyfield
Tyson
Bowe
Frazier
Tunney

 

I want explain a bit of my more unusual picks (at least at the place where they are) and perhaps stir up a bit more of a discussion instead of plain list-psotings:
- Jeffries: for his dominance during his prime; his great resume compared to the view fights he hat (Corbett 2 times, Fitzsimmons 2 times, Ruhlin (w+d), Choinsky (d), Jackson (albeit ancient), Sharkey 2 times, Johnson (l)). If anybody today would have such a stacked resume in so few fights he would be regarded as the greatest ever. Tyson´s run in the 80s was mediocre against this!
- Patterson: for his achievements (youngest champ, first two time champ), his longevity and him beeing competative despite beeing rather small and for a part of his career old. His resume also doesn´t look that bad when you look at it and put some wrong decisions right.
- Schmeling: his resume is better than given credit for (when you make a list of the hws champs and how many ring rated contenders they fought, Schmeling will end up between 8 and 10 if I remember correctly), his longevity (top contender from 1928 to 1937), consistency (in this time frame he only lost 2 fights, the Sharkey fight was a bad decision, one of which he avenged), having arguable the greatest win in hw history, his dominance over fellow top contenders (Risko, Walker, Stribling, Uzcudun, Neusel), achievements (beeing the first and only German to win the title in a time where beeing German wasn´t a benefit)

 

where is your list ?

 

1. Muhammed Ali
2. Lennox Lewis
3. Joe Louis
4. George Foreman
5. Larry Holmes
6. Joe Frazier
7. Sonny Liston
8. Rocky Marciano
9. Mike Tyson
10. Evander Holyfield
11. Vitali Klitchsko
12. Jack Dempsey
13. Jack Johnson
14. Floyd Patterson
15. Ezzard Charles

 

I wonder on what base people rank Vitali Klitschko in their Top15. I can´t even rank Wladimir in there and he surely must rank higher than his brother.

 

Lennox Lewis very overrated here. Just because Lennox says he is top 5 heavy at every given opportunity doesnt mean you have to believe him. Top 15 for sure, top 10 very possibly, but no top 5, and sure as hell no top 3. Marciano is very underrated on many lists.