Good Point, but the divison from 1990-2003 was the best division in heavyweight history. Rocky Marciano and Larry Holmes dominated a weak division compared to the 90s division as well as Wladimir Klitschko, despite that they are considered by most as top 10 ATGs and h2h Wladimir would probably beat both of them. And Wladimir held the titles longer than both, if Wlad is not a top 10 ATG, i would be interested to see your list and who you have in your top 10.
Both Klitschkos should be on the The Top-20 Heavies, across 1990 to 2003 too I see no reason why Briggs, Ibeabuchi, Golota and Bruno are on that list but not Wladimir and especially Vitali
Rocky Marciano was Ring Fighter of the Year 3 times. 3 years in a row his fights were awarded best of the year. He beat guys on the ATG list ...The P4P ATG list , not just HW. Wlad never faced a Hall of Famer , let alone actually beat one. Larry Holmes done what Great champs do in an average division and dominated in an impressive fashion. He didn't cheat and hug his way through his run like Wlad. Plus he never lost by stoppage on the way up.
Rocky Marciano beat an old and shot Joe Louis, an old and shot Jersey Joe Walcott 2 times, an old and shot Archie Moore and Ezzard Charles a former middleweight who was far away from his prime at heavyweight.
I take your point and I could have added them. There was, of course, a transitional period, where you could easily have a pool of overlapping fighters; a mix between lists. I omitted the Klitschkos from the earlier list because their dominance had been much more prevalent in the latter period, Post-Lewis (this despite Vitali being particularly relevant to the end of that period, i.e. Lewis/Vitali). Had I have put them both in the earlier list, it would have actually added strength to that period. For the purposes of the exercise, I didn't think that was fair.
It really doesn't matter. Marciano still has a list of Fighters on his record, who are considered Top-100 ATGs. Walcott, I believe, was the oldest, at the time of him competing with Marciano. Moore was old but had proven competitive against Valdes and Olson (I'm prepared to be corrected on those points). Ezzard Charles had been competing at Heavyweight for some years and was on the downturn, for sure. But Marciano still has Rex Layne and Roland LaStarza on his resume, who both might make a Top-100 ATG Heavyweights list. I'd even have a small wager on that.
Good post and whilst I agree to a point what I think Wlads era missed was a Holyfield type opponent, like Lewis had. Tyson whilst great for the few years he was champion he really wasn't the same after 91' and from his release really, again imo couldn't cut it against the truly top fighters. Again just my view but you have Lewis, Holyfield and Bowe in the 90's....Wlad, Vitali and Povetkin in Wlads era and the rest of the fighters from both the 90's and 00's would fit in quite well in either the 90's or the 00's. I think nostalgia plays a big part subconsciously, since the 90's we haven't had the big US shows due to the perceived Euro domination of the division. Again just my two cents
Why? All you need to know is that Wlad isn't in it There's a thread in Classic: The Rings Top 20 2017 All Time Heavyweights! My Top-10 list doesn't differ greatly from this; except that Lewis and Holyfield are in the Top-10. Lewis is actually in my Top-5.