Lewis and Holyfield one is tough. Lewis was a late bloomer and was pretty much in his prime when they did fight. Holyfield was a few years older and had more tough fights until that point and was very clearly past it. Holyfield does have the advantage of having beaten better fighters and having a much better chin (very important for the heavyweight division). Lewis has the advantage of being more dominant champion and having a much bigger punch, hence making him a more dangerous fighter. I can certainly see someone ranking Lewis ahead or Holyfield ahead depending on your criteria. But i dont think there is a massive difference either way.
ok, perhaps i rushed that down and didnt express myself well...fighters like willard and carnera..(allthough those two are totally different physical specimens, both genetically gifted BIG men, but carnera was, certainly in my opinion, a genetic freak, as you state, hugely muscled, big boned and predisposed tom build yet more muscle thru hard training)..were the exception rather than the rule way back then, the valuevs of their time if you like...(and no im comparing neither to the big russian stylewise, but hopefully you see what i mean).... the 20 rounds or so that willard etc fought werent fought at the a pace, boxing has evolved a lot since then...(although i daresay there was more fighting than seems present in many of todays snorefests....)...but the fighters, particulalry around dempseys time and before TRAINED for the longer fights, cos they had to, thats what boxing required...IF even the 15 round rule was still in place, todays boxers WOULD have better stamina as they would have to train for 15, not 10 or 12..... im genuinely interested here..could, would, a small,but ferocious hw like dempsey triumphed in an era where EVERY hw he faced out weighed and out strengthed him.....then, perhaps a trite comparison, i think...TYSON..and lookm at what he didm to ostensibly 'in shape' well conditioned heabyweights, so maybe i am being atad unfair on the older generation of fighters.....but again, my list was based on what they did do, did achive, rather than theoretical head to heads.... anyhow, apologies if my previous post appeared dismissive of the willards etc of this world, it was not my intention....gbn
i think putting lewis in top 5 is overrating him, but there is a solid argument for him being in top ten, i could be swayed either way, i have him just outside it