Since becoming a fan of the sport in the last year and a half, my heavyweight goat list has changed tremendously. I'm trying to introduce a friend of mine to boxing now and he really is fascinated by how much I know. But what I know now is peanuts, and it takes real time to build up enough knowledge to contextualize the resumes of fighters properly. Most of my knowledge and interest was and still is in heavyweights. That is to say that Tire Iron Jones has usurped Louis spot in number #2. Most poignantly I explain to my new friend that because a fighter is from the earlier 20th century does not mean his technique is out of date and certainly respect the men who laid the brick in the road so to speak. In boxing it is the styles, rules, and men, that make the fight interesting. Joe Gans may not have a style modern enough to clear out the contemporary lightweight division but a hundred and ten years ago there was ample reason to fear the Old Master because he revolutionized fighting... same with Jack Johnson. These are the sorts of guys who took boxing from a Newtonian science to theoretical physics, they elevated the game and the game continued to change but we can't fault them for this.
He's never lost and his resume is good enough. I also factor in H2H ability. He's definitely above someone like Frazier.
His resume is weaker than someone like Max Schmeling or Floyd Patterson, let alone top 10. If you like no losses, then where do you have Rocky Marciano and James Jeffries? H2H ability are completely hypothetical.
No it ain't. It's not that I like no losses, but that's still impressive. As for the men you mentioned, Marciano is in the lower half of the top 10 and Jeffries isn't even top 20, cause boxing was too rudimentary and poor in his era. True, but not that hard to gauge in many instances. It's obvious for anyone who knows a bit about this sport that Schmelling stands no chance whatsoever against a Lewis or a Bowe.
The early century bums you worship stand no chance whatsover against Wilder. Louis is a joke compared to Lewis and Bowe, they mop the floor with him, KO him in under 3 rounds.
#1 and #2 haven't changed. Do I even need to state who these two are? My #3 and #4 swap around depending on the day of the week. Y'all could probably guess which two I have here as well. But them being #3 and #4, in whatever order, hasn't much changed. The rest have changed somewhat. I'm sure I had Tyson in the top 10 list way back then. I don't now, as I've been looking at the entire career more and not just how they were at their best.
Who says this stuff? Bowe is super hittable -- not exactly as good trait going up against Louis. Lewis was KO'd by two men with less skill and power than Louis. (then again, Lewis would never **** around in the ring with Louis like he did with Rahman) Although let's be real in the end -- Louis is a cruiserweight in today's world.
I don't worship anyone, I don't come up in every single Mike Tyson thread talking how amazing he was like you. Maybe they don't stand a chance, or maybe they do. You can't prove it either way. Meanwhile, we can objectively measure how good someone was within his own era and Wilder was never the best or 2nd best fighter in the world... and that's Fury's whole resume outside of Wlad fight. Louis was the best fighter in the world for over a decade. Schmeling was the only one who beat him in his prime. These are the facts I base my rankings on. You base your rankings on "they'd mop the floor with him", but they actually didn't. I can say that Louis would mop the floor with your beloved Mike Tyson and you can't prove me wrong either.
Well, my biggest change is that I now have a much, much harder time making a ranked ATG Heavyweight list.
Louis was 6'2 and 207 lbs right before w2. He would likely be 215 lbs today and a heavyweight. Almost the same size as Usyk but with much quicker hands and much greater power.
Wow Holyfield at #3! While I usually don't root for specific fighters, I have always been a huge fan of his, and if I made a list I would definitely have him top 10, but 3? I always enjoy your posts & respect your opinions Mr djanders, would you care to say a little more about why you have Evander way up there?
Fury doesn't get in because he doesn't have enough defenses? How many defenses does Fury have to make to equal Liston's one defense against Floyd Patterson?
It hasn't changed except Wilder and Fury moved up roughly 5 spots each. 1. Ali 2. Louis 3. Holmes 4. Holyfield 5. Foreman 6. Lewis (Foreman and Lewis trade places a lot on my list, I go back and forth) 7. Marciano 8. Frazier 9. Tyson 10. Wlad 11. Liston 12. Dempsey 13. Johnson 14. Vitali 15. Bowe 16. Fury 17. Charles 18. Tunney 19. Patterson 20. Norton 21) Wilder 22) Walcott 23) Witherspoon 24) Fitzsimmons 25) Sullivan 26) Jeffries 28) Weaver 29) Joshua
