Based on their top 5 wins, which Heavyweights beat the best opposition ?

There is no formal order to the rankings.

Ali
1. Foreman KO8
2. Liston I TKO6
3. Norton SD12
4. Frazier II UD12
5. Frazier III TKO14
6. Liston II KO1*
7. Quarry I TKO3
8. Shavers UD15
9. Lyle TKO11
10. Norton III UD15

Lewis
1. Holyfield II UD12
2. Klitshcko TKO6
3. Tua UD12
4. Mercer MD10
5. Golota KO1
6. Ruddock KO12
7. Morrison TKO6
8. Tyson KO8
9. Rahman II KO4
10. Briggs KO5

Holmes
1. Norton SD15
2. Shavers II TKO11
3. Witherspoon SD15
4. Cooney TKO13
5. Mercer UD12
6. Weaver TKO12
7. Shavers I UD12
8. Williams UD15
9. Berbick UD15
10. Snipes TKO11

Foreman
1. Frazier TKO2
2. Norton TKO2
3. Lyle KO5
4. Frazier II TKO5
5. Moorer KO10
6. Stewart MD12
7. Schulz MD12
8. Cooney TKO2
9. Coetzer TKO8
10. Roman KO1

Tyson
1. Spinks KO1
2. Holmes KO4
3. Thomas KO6
4. Tucker UD12
5. Ruddock I TKO7
6. Ruddock II UD12
7. Biggs TKO7
8. Bruno TKO5
9. Berbick KO2
10. Botha KO5

 

Tyson's Best 5 wins:

vs Berbick (KO2)
vs Thomas (TKO6)
vs Spinks (KO1)
vs Holmes (KO4)
vs Ruddock (UD15)

 

Any of those guys at their best were without question better than the highly ordinary Tucker. :yep

 

Sonny Liston:

vs Williams (TKO2)
vs Machen (UD15)
vs Patterson I (KO1)
vs Folley (KO3)
vs Patterson II (KO1)

 

Sonny Liston:

Floyd Patterson KO1
Floyd Patterson KO1
Zora Folley KO3
Cleveland Williams KO2
Cleveland Williams KO3

That's pretty impressive.:good

 

You beat me to the punch.:yep

Machen was a 12 round fight though.

 

Ta for the correction, my mistake.

 

Super Greg Page

Marty Monroe WRTD5
Jimmy Young W12
James Tillis TKO8
Renaldo Snipes W12
Gerrie Coetzee KO8

 

Not too bad. :good

 

Lennox Lewis:

vs Ruddock (TKO2)
vs Holyfield I (draw, aye right!)
vs Rahman II (KO4)
vs Golota (KO1)
vs Mercer (MD10)


Ps: Holy II, Tyson and Briggs just miss out. In the case of the Bruno win that was a pretty good one, however Lewis' performance up until the fifth when he began to sway the momentum more his way wasn't particularly impressive (to be fair to Bruno he fought the fight of his life and jabbed excellently). Having said that Lewis wasn't quite the complete article by that stage, still a bit rough around the edges.

Nice left hook and finish, however.

 

Could've been even better but we'll never know.

 

Yeah, damn mallards

 

The only very debatable fights Holmes didn't take which he conceviably should've were Page and a Weaver rematch. Hercules was probably well warranted in feeling hard done by with the eventual stoppage as Larry was similarly hurt earlier on in the fight, but allowed to continue. He might have lost anyway but certinaly derserved a chance to continue (ala Lewis-McCall).

As for 'Spoon, well I thought Larry beat him fairly by a single round, maybe two, but could understand those who scored it the other way or even. Dokes or Thomas would've been other possibilities- will all due respect I don't think it was Larry who did all the ducking all the time. It's the promoters job too to try and make these fights happen, sadly not always adhered to in that era. :-(

To give Larry credit it did take a bit of guts to come back out of retirement and face a prime Tyson, aged 38.

 

... seeing that you might have been around at the time and old enough to remember (I'm not overall totally sure of your age, honest) what was your view on the senario back then? Have your views changed any regarding the overall title situation?