1990's top ten heavyweight fights

1 Bowe Holyfield I
2. Douglas - Tyson
3. Holyfield - Moorer II
4. Tyson- Ruddock II
5. Bowe-Holyfield III
6. Mercer-Morrison
7.Ike-Tua
8. Golota -Bowe II
9. Holyfield-Foreman
10. Moorer-Cooper

 

Lewis vs Holyfield 2 is too high. Holyfield only fought in spurts at 37 and Lewis filled the fight with excessive holding. Rounds 7-9 were good but all other were pretty pedestrian. Holyfield vs Bowe 2 and 3 were much more exciting fights that were fought in much higher tempo and didn't contain so much holding.

I'd also rank Bowe vs Golota 2 and Moorer vs Cooper very high on my list. Both fights were electrifying. And if you love crazy fights full of unpredictability you should have enjoyed Alex Stewart vs Ezra Sellers fight

 

1. Jefferson--Harris
2. Tyson--Ruddock 2
3. Tua--Ibeabuchi
4. Mercer--Morrison
5. Tyson--Douglas
6. Holyfield--Bowe 1
7. Holyfield--Cooper
8. Grant--Golota
9. Tyson--Ruddock 1
10. Tua--Ruiz (it was that bad of a ko)

Honorable mention: Rahman--Maskaev

 

1. Bowe-Holyfield I
2. Tua-Ibeabuchi
3. Bowe-Golota II

 

Bowe vs Holyfield 1
Bowe vs Holyfield 2
Bowe vs Golota 2
Cooper vs Moorer
Lewis vs Mercer
Ruddock vs Tyson 2
Tua vs Ibeabuchi
Stewart vs Sellers
Jefferson vs Harris
Izon vs Wilson

I chose the fights based on excitement.

 

Bowe V Holyfield 1 at the top of the list for sure.

I think Briggs V Lennox was an underrated fight.

 

1) Bowe vs Holyfield I
Great fight and slugfest. Contains one of the best round ever.

2) Tyson vs Douglas
Upset of the decade and one of the biggest upset in sport. Douglas fought a tremendous fight and overcame a fabulous uppercut knockdown to beat the supposedly invincible " Iron Man ".

3) Bowe vs Holyfield III
The end of a formidable trilogy. Knockdowns from both parts (the start of the round 6 is one of my favorite ever). Bowe knocked down and Holyfield knocked out for the first time of their career.

4) Tyson vs Ruddock II
Very good slugfest involving the two hardest hitter at the time. Last great performance for both.

5) Tua vs Ibeabuchi
Incredible pace for heavyweights. How the two remained upright is a mystery.

6) Bowe vs Holyfield 2
The " Fan Man " match. Probably a peak Holyfield.

7) Harris vs Jefferson
A hard-hitting mastodon vs a slick boxer with a good defense who wasn't afraid to exchange. The fight ended in a chilling KO.

8) Moorer vs Cooper
Real war in close quarters. Cooper always game and powerful but lacked the finishing ability at the high level. Sensational recovering from Moorer who showed his power, heart and class.

9) Bowe vs Golota 2
Lot of back and forth and tremendous display of heart by Bowe.

10) Moorer vs Foreman
Memorable win for Big Georges who regained the championship against an unbeaten opponent 20 years younger.

Honorable mentions :
Tyson vs Holyfield I
Holyfield vs Foreman
Mercer vs Cooper/Morrison/Holyfield/Lewis
Tua vs Izon

 

Good list. One thing I noticed is how many exciting, eye-pleasing fights did Mercer have - Morrison, Lewis, Holyfield, Cooper and Witherspoon. I actually think Witherspoon fight was Mercer - Lewis or Mercer - Holyfield level good. Mercer was one of the main guys who made that era such exciting.

 

I agree.
I wonder how fights between him and Tyson/Bowe/Ruddock would have unfolded.

 

I think those fights would be classic. Even if Bowe workrate would be too much for Mercer to be as competitive as he was against Lewis or Holyfield, the fight would be brutal.

Ruddock and Tyson fights would have been very exciting as well in the early or mid 90s.

BTW, Tyson and Mercer actually signed to fight each other on January 19th 2002, but Lewis sued to prevent that fight from happening because he was afraid Mercer would still his millions by beating Tyson. While both Mercer and Tyson were shot in 2002 I'd actually favour Mercer to stop Tyson back then, so I understand Lewis here. That version of Tyson had no stamina whatsoever which is bad against extremely durable guy like Mercer

 

Cooper vs Moorer
Cooper vs Mercer
Morrison vs Williams
Morrison vs Hipp
Holyfield vs Bowe 1
Holyfield cs Bowe 3
Golata vs Grant
Mercer vs Lewis
Foreman vs Stewart
Holyfield vs Tyson 1

 

Where is Izon vs Jefferson