who is your number three and why?

Does the rather dodgy way liston lost in the rematch against ali not mark him down for some of you guys?
I mean some fighters on here get knocked like wlad for having no heart,yet people seem to be willying to let this shocking loss go,why is that?,he to me anyway threw the fight clear as day,and mafia involvement or not,he losses a lot of respect from me for it.

By the way i have got louis at 3 for me,i love this man,and i personaly think he would have giving ali complete hell,maybe even winning it,my top 6 is thus

1 Ali
2 Marciano
3 Louis
4 dempsey
5 Jeffries
6 Holmes

 

I'm fairly convinced that both, if not just the second, Ali-Liston fights were fixes, so it doesn't hurt my opinion on his legacy. Either way, the Liston that fought Ali was nowhere close to the guy that destroyed Patterson, Machen, etc.

About the "Holmes as #3" issue - I'm not sure about him, either. His second career, similar to Foreman's, boosts my opinion of him highly, though.

Holmes was fairly competitive in the 1990s, FAR past his prime. However much he "struggled" with guys like Snipes and Witherspoon, at least he beat them. He didn't let them KHTFO, at least

The Vitali fight totally undermines any thoughts I have of Lewis being a top-tier ATG. One of the very few times he fought a guy that he didn't have both a clear stylistic advantage (slow guys, overrated guys, light punchers) and a size advantage (pretty much everyone), he arguably was losing before that TKO. He was old, and he did win, but if the SHELL of Tyson he fought and a relatively green Vitali could do that to Lewis...

I rate him more highly than guys like Dempsey and Johnson, though. That's for sure. My "contenders" for the #3 spot are Liston, Tyson, Foreman, Marciano, Holmes, and Lewis. All of them have a pretty good claim - each one of them has at least one major flaw in their resume, so it's a close call.

 

I cant beleive people ar picking Liston, the man was an enigma like Tyson but to a lesser degree. I can't see how you can rate a fighter so highly that was involved in fixes and never really achieved too much - he is a myth whose staus has been built up over time.

I disagree with Ali & Louis at 1 & 2 I actually think Lennox Lewis is probably the greatest ever heavyweight head to head.

 

My top 20

1. Joe Louis
2. Muhamad Ali
3. Jack Johnson
4. Jim Jeffries
5. Jack Dempsey
6. Rocky Marciano
7. Sonny Liston
8. Lenox Lewis
9. Sam Langford
10. Joe Frazier
11. Larry Holmes
12. Harry Wills
13. Mike Tyson
14. George Foreman
15. Evander Hollyfield
16. Jim Corbett
17. Joe Walcott
18. Max Schmeling
19. Ezzard Charles
20. Bob Fitzsimmons

 

Your # 14 would KTFO your # 5-6-9-10-12 and 13. And he could beat a lot of others ranked in front of him... how strange is that ?:admin

 

This list is fine up until about #2, then it pretty much goes to hell. having Sam Langford rated ahead of Frazier, Holmes, Tyson, Foreman and Holyfield???? Sheeezzz atsch

 

There is the little matter of Langfords resume. He did beat all the top heavyweights of his period up to a dozen times.