To me, the choice is easy: 1: Marvin Hagler. This is an open and shut case for me. Not only was Hagler a great, great fighter, but he also was, and is, a great guy. 'Intelligent, thoughtful and gifted with a great sense of humor. His epic fights against Duran, Mugabe, Hearns and Leonard will go down in History. After getting the short end of the decision against Leonard (I wouldn't say he was robbed, as it WAS a close fight, but I thought Hagler won) Leonard refused him a rematch, which caused Hagler a lot of mental distress, as he really thought he'd been cheated and couldn't understand how Leonard would refuse him a chance to make things right. Hagler would have done it, because he was that kind of guy, and the fact that Leonard wouldn't really tore at him. Hagler, being the man that he was, decided to move to Italy to become a movie star. Italy.......of all places....who'd have thunk it? He learned to speak Italian, married a gorgeous Italian woman, and now spends a great deal of his time working for charities and enjoying the great lifestyle of Italy. 'A real role model, and about as far from the average boxing story as you can possibly get. 2: Larry Holmes. While a hard guy to like personally, as he had (and still has) a habit of saying the worst possible thing at the worst possible time, the fact is that Holmes was a SENSATIONAL heavyweight, and apart from his tendency to put his foot in his mouth, a great family man, and real citizen. His career speaks for itself.......SEVEN YEARS as undisputed HW champion, taking on all comers, and beating them, each and every one. Holmes may not have been blessed with the greatest body and skills of all times, though he was fantastically talented, but he had the heart of a lion, which allowed him to pick himself up and win fights through sheer force of will that others would have lost, even if they'd had his exact physical skills. I would take Holmes at his best over ANY heavy in history, including Ali, Lewis, or either of the Klits. In his private life holmes is a real role model. While other boxers took the wrong path and got buried in debt, drugs and debauchery, Holmes quietly went about his business at home, building up a sizable fortune in Easton, Pennsylvania by building and owning a large number of commercial real estate projects. He is a multi, multi millionaire today, and deserves every penny of it. Compare him to Tyson, who is now broke, despite having earned much, much more money than Holmes in the ring. Holmes was, sadly, right about how he was cheated out of the fame he deserved by coming along right after Ali. He should be regarded not only as an all time great, but possibly as the greatest Heavyweight ever...and without a DOUBT one of the top three. 3) Evander Holyfield. To me, Holyfield was the DEFINITION of a professional. 'Always in shape, even between fights, always prepared, and possessed of fabulous skills. If Holy had been just a tiny bit bigger he would almost certainly have been the best ever. Even at his relatively tiny size he was a sensation. In only his third fight after moving up to HW, after KOing Quick Tillis and Pinklon Thomas (both pretty decent HWs) he fought the very scary Michael Dokes in what turned out to be one of the most exciting HW fights ever. And what did Evander weigh in that fight? He was the grand total of 208 pounds. Like I said, if Holy had been born a tad bigger, there wouldn't even be a QUESTION about how great he was. He was beating GOOD heavyweight fighters with a Cruiserweight-sized body. He destroyed the same Buster Douglas who had just given Tyson a beating in Tokyo. There was a lot of talk about how Buster had let himself get fat and out of shape for the Holy fight and wasn't the same guy that beat Tyson. Watch the fight on Youtube. Douglas wasn't THAT out of shape, and looked pretty good. But there was NO way he was going to beat a pit bull like Holyfield....who AGAIN came into the fight at a tiny 208 pounds....against the then 248 pound Douglas. Douglas beating Tyson was no fluke, by the way, as he'd just beaten the VERY tough, and VERY underated Oliver McCall, who was in his prime when Douglas beat him. Tyson made a MAJOR error in underestimating Douglas, and got destroyed by him. Holyfield KOd Douglas in three. Holyfield's epic trio of fights with Riddick Bowe, and utter destruction of the heavily favored Tyson showed me what a great fighter he was. NOBODY, including me, thought Holy had a prayer against Tyson. But nobody appreciated just how great Holyfield was at that time. Even an old Holyfield, at 37 years old, fought a prime Lennox Lewis to a standstill in two consecutive fights. Both were close, and the second one probably should have been given to Holyfield. But Holy was only 215 pounds, and Lewis was a huge man, MUCH bigger than Holyfield. The fact that a beat up, and old Holyfield (he'd been though many, many wars by that time) who looked like a midget next to Lewis could fight Lewis basically even showed me two things: Lewis was no all time great, and Holyfield absolutely positively WAS an all time great. A real hero in the ring. Out of the ring, Holy's life wasn't exactly an example for us all to follow, though there have been many athletes who set much worse examples. But as a boxer, a prime Holyfield would have been too much for almost every HW in history.
Lewis Mayweather and Whitaker,they are my top of boxers and epitomise what the sweet science is all about for me personally,some call them boring but i just love watching how they systemtically break there opponents down,when Mayweather but on a boxing clinic against Gatti it was a joy to watch and i preferred that fight to any of the Gatti vs Ward trilogy as great as that was,you have Lennox Lewis who is one of the most underrated person of his time,he beat everyone there was to beat and when people claimed him to be boring but KOd Tyson,Ruddock and Golota you have to question that,i always felt Lennox had another level to go mind you but on some occassions he played it too safe at times,Whitaker for me was a bit of Floyd who i think copied Sweet Peas basic defensive stance and used it as an orthodox fighter where as Whitaker was of course a southpaw,he also used his reflexes to avoid punches a bit like Roy Jones Jr did as well,now i am not saying he was as good as Jones Jr or Floyd but he had both of there basic styles and converted it into one style,it is a shame he did not have any real punching power otherwise he would have been unstoppable because his athletic ability and his gameplan was pretty much second to none,he made fighters such as De La Hoya and Chavez look stupid during there fights.
1. Floyd Mayweather Jr. (simply imo "the best") 2. Roy Jones Jr. (Fastest and most talented boxer of all time) 3. Mike Tyson (should be near the top of anyone born in early 80's late 70's list)
1.Floyd (Best technical boxer) 2.Sugar Ray Robinson (Greatest Boxer/Puncher EVER) 3.Roy Jones Jr. (Best reflexes and speed in the game) Honorable mention Muhammad Ali