Best five wins thread. Lineal / Ring Magazine heavyweight champions.

Likely the worst lineal HW champion ever in terms of resume.

 

lol at Neon Leon, Jesus, to have Liston, Ali, Frazier and Foreman in a row followed by Leon, lol

 

I disagree. Ellis when he faced Frazier his previous 4 wins leading up to that bout were of Leotis Martin, Bonavena, Quarry and Patterson. To me that is far superior to Moorer’s one win over Holyfield who put on a tired performance in their fight.
Ali nudges Frazier in the one slot as well because Ali had much more left in the gas tank after their 1971 mega fight. But it’s splitting hairs both are great wins.
Machen easily is a better scalp than Peralta or Chuvalo.
Quarry I believe was a better fighter prime for prime over Norton but that’s debatable.
I’ll side with Frazier’s resume over George’s but will concede your original point that it is arguable.

 

One thing that I have learned from this thread, is that Marvin Hart is not particularly close to being the worst lineal heavyweight champion!

 

That title belongs to Shannon Briggs, whose best scalps are nearly 50 y.o. Foreman, 45 y.o. Mercer and Lyakhovich (lucky win). Other than them... No one

Leon at least beat Ali, Mercado and Evangelista. So he might be #2 worst.

 

But the bizarre thing, is that even the worst of them, seem to have some sort of X factor, that separates them from other contenders!

Spinks beat Ali after only eight fights, after Ernie Shavers had failed.

Briggs pulled out a win against the White Wolf, who everybody thought that Wlad was afraid of!

 

Hart and Sharkey have surprised me the most. Didn’t think much of either but my opinion has changed.

 

I'm most disappointed so far that Carnera snuck into Louis's top 5 wins, I don't think he belongs there I voted Pastor but it's a nit pick

 

Neon Leon Spinks

1. Ali 1
2. Alfredo Evangelista
3. Jesse Burnett
4. Bernardo Mercado
5. Kevin Isaac

 

Ahh Pastor is a sneaky good pick. Nobody talks about him

 

I think Budy Baer was better than Carnera as well, just unlucky to come along when Louis was at his peak.

 

No they don't. An excellent mover and only stopped twice in his career once to Louis and once to Conn. Defeated many of the notable black dynamite fighters of the late 30s and early 1940s, including Lem Franklin by Ko, Jimmy Bivins, Booker Beckwith, Turkey Thompson, Roscoe Toles, and others. He also beat Lee Ramage and several other notable fighters and had draws with Tami Mauriello ( a fight many felt Pastor won - but mayby the powers that be didn't want him earning a 3rd try at Louis), Draws with Maxie Rosenbloom and Lou Nova. Pastor would get knocked down alot but in between really boxed the heads off ppl