Which Heavyweight beat the most 'live' opponents. To qualify this a 'live' fight is one against an opponent who is a genuine threat. Please don't change the question (it's not about who is the best)...it's about who beat the most contenders,good fighters or as i've labelled them 'live' fights. For me it's Lennox...Tyson rates quite high...be interested to see how people see it and where you guys place Ali , Holmes,Louis etc...
Has to be Ali. Liston, Foreman, Frazier, Norton, Patterson, Leon Spinks, Shavers, Moore... Lewis is super up there, too.
Lewis has way more than Ali for me. Remember its who has the most.. Liston Foreman and Frazier dont count for triple points...they just count as 3 opponents although you could argue Frazier and Liston count as 4 because he beat them twice each.
I'm thinking the same way. Perhaps someone looking to push the Lewis barrow can make compile comparative lists to support their argument?
Ali was THE MAN in the golden age of the HW Division, fact. Lewis was getting stopped by Rhaman, McCall etc.
Not the best Resume in terms of quality but Wlad has fought A lot of live bodies. Byrd 1, Brock, Peter 1, ibragimov, Haye, Povetkin, Wach, and now Pulev. Even Thompson 1 he was older but hand't lost in years.
...and Ali got decked by little 180 pound Henry Cooper and and his corner had to resort to cheating to get him back in the fight. Got beat up and dropped by little fat 200 pound Frazier,arguably lost 3 times to Norton and got beat by the 6-0 Leon Spinks. There is no "etc" in that statement, Lewis didn't lose to anybody else. He took both McCall and Rahman lightly the first times. In rematch he smoked both of them easily. Lewis beat every man he ever faced. Ali can't say the same. At nearly 38 Lewis beat prime Vitali on only 2 weeks of training. At the same age Ali was getting waxed by Holmes and Berbick.
McCall and Rahman KOed Lewis. Ali got up after being felled by Henry Cooper and disposed of him soon after. You say Lewis took McCall and Rahman lightly. Ali took Cooper lightly too, and was still good enough to get up and KO him :good
It didn't take some long to wander away from the topic: "Which Heavyweight beat the most 'live' opponents?? To qualify this a 'live' fight is one against an opponent who is a genuine threat".
Ali should of been dq'd against Cooper for the use of smelling salts of that there is no doubt. On the flip side The ref may have saved Lewis life with that stoppage.
Still having trouble with the topic I see. "Which Heavyweight beat the most 'live' opponents?? To qualify this a 'live' fight is one against an opponent who is a genuine threat".
I have to go with Muhammad Ali as most already have... Jimmy Bivens had a pretty damn good resume too, when it came to beating " live opponents."