Ron Lyle 1 Oscar Bonavena 2 Jimmy Ellis 3 Earnie shavers 4 Buster Mathis 5 joe bugner Clevelans Williams 1 Ernie Terrell 2 Dick Richardson 3 Alex Miteff 4 Alonzo Johnson 5 young Jack Johnson man cleveland was tough to pick five. Def a group of under the radar fighters who were decent but not world beaters. Lyle was rather straight forward with number 5 being up in the air
Ron Lyle 1----Oscar Bonavena 2----Earnie Shavers 3----Jimmy Ellis 4----Gregorio Peralta 5----Joe Bugner Not making the cut--Buster Mathis. Seems overrated to me as he beat very few contenders. Others--Boone Kirkman, Jose Luis Garcia, Larry Middleton, Vincente Rondon A decent group and decent depth, although Lyle's top achievements are his good performances against Foreman and Ali. Cleveland Williams 1----Ernie Terrell 2----Billy Daniels 3----Alex Miteff 4----Wayne Bethea 5----John Holman Others--Omelio Agramonte, D. Richardson, Alonzo Johnson, Roger Rischer, Young Jack Johnson. Drew with Eddie Machen For such a famous name in heavyweight history, this is underwhelming. Terrell is the big name, but had not done anything yet. The rest either fringe contenders or over the hill or both. The draw with Machen in retrospect is probably his best effort. Possibly the weakest resume so far.
I was gonna put Petalta to but went with the bigger name in Mathis. But damn was williams hard to pick. Had a lot of C wins and not so many Bs to choose from you know. These guys were good fighters but good in the stepping stone sense not serious contenders.
Ron Lyle 1. Oscar Bonavena - In the previous four years Bonavena had only lost to Ali and the close one to Patterson. After Lyle, Bonavena would fight seven more times and never lose again. 2. Larry Middleton - first fight - at that point Middleton was in the middle of the top 10 and had a win over Bugner, and excepting a loss and a draw very early on, his only loss was a decision to Jerry Quarry in his previous fight. Lyle ruined Middleton. 3. Earnie Shavers - Shavers, in the last year and 3/4, was coming off of losses to Quarry and Bob Stallings, and drew with Jimmy Young. I think, despite the loss, that this fight gave Shavers the confidence needed to become a better and higher ranked fighter. 4. Jimmy Ellis - I rate the Shavers win over the Ellis win because, when they fought Lyle, Shavers was on the way up while Ellis was on the way down. 5. Joe Bugner - It was a close fight on the scorecards, but Lyle basically put Bugner out of commission for five years. I thought about putting Buster Mathis in at number five. After all, as I keep joking, he did enter the Lyle fight as the Super Heavyweight Champion of the World (by somebody). Lyle retired him. But I think Bugner had a better career than Mathis. Cleveland Williams 1. Ernie Terrell - First fight, obviously. Some may argue that Terrell was green and unranked, but after the Williams fight Terrell would beat several contenders and wouldn't lose again until facing Muhammad Ali. 2. Billy Daniels - First fight. Seems crazy, but at the time of the fight Daniels was in the lower half of the top ten, had only lost to Ali, and is the highest ranking contender, at the time of the fight, that Williams beat. 3. Alex Miteff - Miteff was the second highest ranked, at the time of the fight, boxer that Williams beat. Not sure why. 4. Sonny Banks - Honestly, at this point I'm looking for ex-contenders / recognizable names who had more than one win in his previous three fights. Williams has an impressively padded record, but there's not a lot of depth there. 5. Ted Gullick - I was thinking about putting Terry Daniels, fresh off of the Frazier shot, here, but I just couldn't. I think I've heard that Gullick was considered promising for a while. Going in, he only had two close decision losses on his record. After Williams, he had six more fights and never won again.
Ron Lyle 1) Jimmy Ellis 2) Oscar Bonavena 3) Earnie Shavers 4) Joe Bugner 5) Larry Middleton Cleveland Williams 1) Ernie Terrell 2) Alex Miteff 3) Billy Daniels 4) Roger Rischer 5) Dick Richardson
contender of the day Lee Oma 1----Bob Satterfield 2----Tami Mauriello 3----Joe Baksi 4----Gus Lesnevich 5----Lou Nova Others--Tommy Gomez (an interesting fighter whom I will soon do one of these for), Phil Muscato, Johnny Flynn, Omedio Agramonte, Jo Weiden, Freddie Beshore, Nick Barone Oma had one of the most up and down careers of any ever high rated heavyweight contender. Overall, his record was 64-28-3 in 96 fights with 29 KO's. He was stopped an eye-opening 17 times. Oma turned pro in October, 1939, and with only five wins over mainly losing preliminary competition, somehow managed to break into The Ring's yearly rankings at light-heavyweight in 1939. A head scratcher. I assume this was based on his amateur achievements (or on his connections?) He quickly went on a losing streak and seemed to be turning out to be a nothing pro until he reversed it with a 13 bout winning streak starting in 1943 which earned him a fringe NBA rating. Wins over Nova, Mauriello, Baksi, and Lesnevich followed and got him as high as #4 in the NBA ratings, but he came up short against Walcott. In late 1946 he started another losing streak which lasted until he was stopped by Bruce Woodc-ck in September of 1948. This fight is often considered a dive, but with Oma's weak jaw, who knows? In his next fight Oma KO'd Tommy Gomez and started another 13 bout winning streak over mainly fringe contenders and trial horses which took him to the #2 contender spot, until he was KO'd by Satterfield in 1950. He rebounded to beat Nick Barone, then Satterfield in a return, which earned him a shot at Charles. He was stopped by Charles in a title fight in his last contest. Why so erratic? The explanation back in the day was that he was a playboy who for long periods didn't train and was a regular on the night club circuit. When he got serious, he was a talented stylist. Hard to argue that he didn't have a weak jaw though. His resume ended up pretty good for a contender.
Wow Cleveland Williams has a four way tie for fifth. Alonzo Johnson Wayne bethea Sonny Banks Roger Rischer...had another three guys that were one off of them!!! Very diverse opinions on Williams... Well next up Nino Valdez and Frank Bruno vote away!!
Nino Valdes 1 Ezzard Charles 2 Tommy Jackson 3 Don Cockell 4 Brian London 5 John Holman Not the best top five but def not the worst. Not a terrible resume for Nino Frank Bruno 1 Oliver McCall 2 Gerrie Coetzee 3 Joe Bugner 4 James Tillis 5 Carl Williams Wasn’t to sure about Franks top 5 as my early 80s following is limited (hate that era). But not a bad lineup as well.
Nino Valdes 1) Ezzard Charles 2) Hurricane Jackson 3) Mike DeJohn 4) Pat McMurtry 5) Don Cockell With a very credible honorable mention to Joe Erskine. Valdes' resume wasn't bad at all with some decision-making on who gets left out. Frank Bruno 1) Oliver McCall 2) Gerrie Coetzee 3) Joe Bugner 4) Pierre Coetzer 5) Carl 'The Truth' Williams Bruno's too had some good names but I had to juggle a bit on who may have been long in the tooth or just coming into their own.
Yeah had a hard time w Bruno. Def had some decision making w Nino. I don’t think u could go wrong with a lot of different bottom three combos
For the most part I think we saw things fairly the same. There are always a thing or two to debate, but I think the structure on both is sound.
Nino Valdes 1----Ezzard Charles 2----Hurricane Jackson 3----Don C-ckell 4----Brian London 5----Joe Erskine Others--Agramonte, Neuhaus, Sys, Rickardson, Holman, Bethea, Carter, Summerlin, DeJohn, McMurtry Valdes has a very deep resume which seems to me to be made up of mainly second-tier contenders with the striking exception of the big upset of Charles. And possibly Jackson. I can't get a solid handle on how good I think Jackson really was. Valdes consistently failed against the top guys--Moore, Johnson, Baker, Satterfield, Machen, Folley, Liston--except for Charles and Jackson. I was pretty comfortable with his top four. I went with Erskine at #5 because he came in undefeated and it was such an impressive KO. DeJohn was a near alternative. Holman and Carter didn't make the cut because they seem to have been over the hill.
Frank Bruno 1----Oliver McCall 2----Gerrie Coetzee 3----James Tillis 4----Joe Bugner 5----Carl Williams So so resume to me, but others may know more about this era. Definitely not one of the impressive top fives.
