5. "Iron" Mike Tyson- Nicknamed "Iron Mike," and "The Baddest Man on the Planet," Tyson won his first 19 professional bouts by knockout, 12 in the first round. Need i say more? He was one of the most entertaining and most electrifying Boxers that has ever Graced the ring, every time he entered that ring he was like a man possessed and looked at his opposing corner as if they had just killed his family. he went off the rails and has done some terrible things but when he was managed right and was under some sort of control he was the most ferocious boxer that ever stepped inside the ring. Tyson was given his first title fight against Trevor Berbick for the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight championship. Tyson won the title by second round TKO, and at the age of 20 years and 4 months became the youngest heavyweight champion in history. 4. Joe "the Brown Bomber" Louis- Louis, held his heavy weight title for over 11 years, making 25 successful defences of his title, against some truley magnificent boxers, including Max Schmeling, John Henry Louis, "Two Ton" Tony Galento, Arturo Godoy and Billy Conn. in 2003 Joe Louis was named No. 1 out of 100 "Biggest punches of all time". 3. Cassius Clay aka Muhammed Ali- he was the three time world heavyweight champion of the world. he first won this title when he was just 22 years of age. he fought sonny liston for the title in miami florida, many put Ali as the underdog and wrote him off before he even started, but the 'louisville lip' as he was known at the time pulled an amazing win by forcing liston to retire on his stall before the 7th round. he then carried on to face other great champs such as Big George Foreman and Smoking Joe Frazier. in 1970 he beat Foreman in a battle only known as the "Rumble in the Jungle" to regain his World Heavyweight title after being stripped of his belt earlier for refusing to fight in the vietnamese war. in 1978 he regained his worl title for he third and final time beating leon spinks in a rematch. Muhammad Ali defeated almost every top heavyweight in his era, which has been called the golden age of heavyweight boxing. for this reason he is my No. 3 2. Sugar Ray Leonard- IMHO he was P4P one of the fastest punchers there ever was, he had a huge amount of power as well for his size and speed, he managed to outbox some of the best ever and when he needed to, he was able to slug it out and still go on for the victory. he was world champion in 3 different weight classes and faced such greats as roberto duran, marvelous marvin hagler, tommy hearns and wilfed benitez. he was world champion when the opposing competition in the ring was immense, he managed to shine through above all the other great fighters around in his prime. 1. Sugar Ray Robinson- Robinson was a fluid boxer who possessed a quick jab and knockout power. He possessed tremendous versatility. Boxing Analyst Bert Sugar said, "Robinson could deliver a knockout blow going backward." As an amatuer Robinson was 98-0 a magnificent record for an amatuer, he then moved on to professional boxing in 1940, and by 1951 had a professional record of 128-1-2 with 84 KOs. Robinson held the world welterweight title from 1946 to 1951, and won the world middleweight title in the latter year. He retired in 1952, only to come back two and a half years later and regain the middleweight title in 1955. Many other great boxers in history have named him P4P the greatest fighter that ever lived, Robinson's performances at the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create "pound for pound" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. Boxers throughout the years have had so much to say about the man himself including: "Someone once said there was a comparison between Sugar Ray Leonard and Sugar Ray Robinson. Believe me, there's no comparison. Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest." Sugar Ray Leonard "Without a doubt the greatest pound for pound fighter that ever lived." Jake Lamotta "The king, the master, my idol." Muhammad Ali
I've never done any definitive lists. I'd assume that Robinson and Armstrong would be the top 2 though. "Pound for pound" was used well before Ray though. Robinson just helped popularize the term.
Greatest is a tricky one and very few are well placed to put forward an opionion given that many of us know little/not enough of boxings illustrious past; and videos of some are scarce. I'm now of the opinion that Sandy Saddler should be 5 and I'd probably have Ezzard Charles 1 so rather than do that and get into a huge argument....I'll do my 5 favourites, as your list seems to be more inclined towards that anyway!!! These are only fighters from my lifetime, as I think living through the hysteria makes you love them more!! 1) Thomas Hearns. How could you not enjoy watching Hearns!?!? His mixture of shaky chin and devastating power made all of his fights have a ridiculously enjoyable amount of excitement and tension about them. Barely a fight of his I didn't enjoy without the name Barkley in it. How history may have reflected differently upon him had he been able to see off SRL. 2) Mark Johnson. I almost cried when he beat Montiel. Unfortunately he never managed to get the big fights which is a shame. I honestly think he would've beaten both Lopez and Carbajal and cemented his place among the great little men. Seems more famous for the "matrix" video on youtube now but that wasn't really his style. 3) JCC. Once again for the excitement factor. His fight with Taylor is one that I will never ever forget, and one that I will undoubtedly show my children when I'm older. What he did to Rosario was brutally beautiful. 4) Pacman & Floyd tied. Rather than ***** about one or the other like fans of these guys seem to, I just want to appreciate the fact that we have 2 absolutely phenomenol fighters in our generation. There are critiques of each, but with the exception of Whitaker I think these 2 are the greatest since the SRL/Duran era. Please please fight guys!!! 5) Winky Wright. I just always enjoyed his fights. He was a masterful boxer who never really gained the stardom that some of his contemporaries did; which I think made me like him more. His demolition of Trinidad was beautiful, and I so wish he'd have gotten the decision he deserved against Taylor.
:thumbsup Top 4 can go in literally any order for me. I've circled them around and had all as my #1 at one point. In fact my list before that, Langford was #1 and Armstrong #4 and they've swapped.
My top 5 personnel favourite fighters: Thomas Hearns Ray Leonard Ray Robinson Lennox Lewis Joe Louis/Muhammad Ali (tied) Of course there are fighters with better resumes and that are better p4p than some of the guys I've listed, but these are the ones that I can watch again and again, and still enjoy.
I dont like doing lists like that. I prefer to do it by era as that's the easiest way to do things but that list is crazy. Tyson top 5!? He probably barely brakes the top 100 and wouldnt get into a top 10 from 1970 onwards.
my favourite fighters 1_muhammad ali(the best boxer ever in the planet , yes better than ray robinson) 2_ big george foreman , the strongest fighter ever in the boxing and the hardest puncher ever, a ****ing beast. 3_jake lamotta ( the best chin ever and simply 2 balls) 4_ smokin joe frazier( the most brave man that i ever saw, and he did emulate perfectly the style of armstrong) 5_evander holyfield(simply a warrior) my list top 5 goat 1_ali 2_robinson 3_joe louis 4_armstrong 5_willie pep
