What heavyweights would actually make a top 100 list?

I think allot of the top10 make the P4P list, as do Patterson, Moore, Charles, Tunney. Whatever is said on this forum, the unlimited division is the hardest to make it in and just because the extra muscle/strength makes them look less spectacular, P4P the best are great

 

I don't actually have a top 100 p4p but I would expect a good dozen or so fighters who fought predominantly at heavyweight, or were champions there, to make the list.

Fitzsimmons was heavyweight champion of the world, and would be close to the top of my p4p list, perhaps right at the top spot.

Others would be : (not in order) - Dempsey, Louis, Ali, Holyfield, Marciano, Charles, Tunney, Frazier, Holmes, Langford, maybe a few others.

 

Heavyweights in the top all time 100


Bob Fitzimmon
Jack Johnson
Sam Langford
Harry WIllis
Jack Dempsey
Gene Tunney
Joe Louis
Jersey Joe Walcott (maybe not
Ezzard Charles
Rocky Marciano
Floyd Patterson ( not so sure
Sonny Liston ????
Muhamad Ali
George Foreman
Joe Fraizer
Larry Holmes
Mike Tyson
Evander Holyfield
Lennox Lewis


As of right now i say no to the Klitchkos but someday soon its a possibility.

 

P4P is such a misunderstood term. It is to be used to compare fighters, taking away the weight difference, not undermine the heavier fighters who didn't have the (mis)fortune of being born a midget. I have said this many times.

 

Muhammad Ali ! Liston and Foreman outweighed him. Not by much,but by an amount that divides a lot of the lighter divisions.

 

Where have all these misconceptions about the term P4P came from. P4P means regardless of weight class. Judging a fighter on skill and ability. The best way to do this is to judge how good fighters are in relation to their own weight class.
EG

Hearns had much more power than anyone at 147. We have to assume that if he was transformed into a HW he would have comparable or harder power than the hardest hitting HWs.

Ali had much faster feet than many Heavyweights , therefore we must assume had he been born to fight a Welterweight he would be comparable to the Welterweights with the fasted feet.

 

I think everyone knows that p4p is some way means regardless of weight class.
But some elite fighters have RAISED THE BAR (or 'set the standard') in PROVING THAT by beating elite fighters who outweigh them considerably.

It's no misconception to say Harry Greb PROVED HIMSELF p4p by not only his ability to outclass elite fighters his own weight, by but also outclassing the top fighters of 10 or 20 pounds north of him.
Pound-for-pound has always been measured that way.

I like your , "If Hearns was a heavyweight ....." ... "If Ali was a welterweight ..... " .... but apart from supplying us with imagining of 6'10 heavyweight with freakish power, and a welterweight that's literally too fast to see ..... WHAT exactly ?

 

ezzard charles would be near the top of any p4p list.
ali

 

Charles was a very canny fighter.

 

I'd argue that last point and substitute Adamek for Holyfield.

 

I personally don't think either Bowe or Lewis make the top 100 P4P list. There's simply not enough places to go around once you start taking into account the other divisions. Not to sure about Tyson or Holmes either.

I personally think to be a heavy making the p4p list you have to be relatively small compared to your comp. This gets me to the heavyweights who would for the most part be crusierweights today, or in the case of holyfield, who fought modern day fighters, many of whom are 230+.

so Louis, Dempsey, Patterson and Holyfield would definately make the list, Marciano, Tyson, Frazier, and those type of fighters would be on the bubble as to whether or not they would crack the top 100. But Marciano tended to fight smaller fighters than himself, and both Tyson and Frazier seemed to fight fighters that for the most part, weighted about the same as them.

As for Charles, he definately makes the list, but more as a light heavyweight, than a heavyweight, same as Tunney.

 

Proving yourself at a higher weight class is a good way to show off how much better you are than those in your weight class, there's no doubting that.
To use another example Roy Jones Jr was fast and powerful at 160 then carried this up to 168 then 175. This magnifies how good a fighter is regardless of the weight class.

Then you get fighters like Greb as you mentioned who could beat "top fighters of 10 or 20 pounds north of him" this again show how a fighter can be great regardless of weight class.


As for having these crazy Hearns and Alis , they arnt intended to be thought of as these comic book mutants you depicted them as but its simply about looking at how much ability they have.

I guess the best was of comparing two fighters P4P would be:

Give a scoring system for all attributes you could think of.
Give another scoring system based on style.
Add all points up and divide by weight. This would giev a true literal definition of Fighter As Lb vs Fighter Bs Lb although this will punish Heavyweights unless you factor in that Speed does not go down when weight moves to to the same extent that power goes down when weight moves down.