The ratings I went by was selected by Ring magazine in early 1988. Here's the annual ratings for 1988 selected in early 1989 against today, 1. Tyson vs. Wlad. Tyson 2. Holyfield vs. Peter. Holyfield 3. Chagaev vs. Rodriques. Chageav 4. Witherspoon vs. Valuev. Valuev if Tim shows up out of shape 5. Dokes vs. Povetkin. Povetkin but a very close fight. 6. Ruddock vs. Ibragimov. Ruddock 7. Maskeav vs. Tucker. Tucker 8. Norris vs. Virchis. Virchis 9. Douglas vs. Thompson. Douglas 10. Damiani vs. Ruiz. Ruiz These 88 annual ratings are pretty screwy though and made me scratch my head a few times. It's 5-5 in my view for these rankings but 4 and 5 could go either way.
1. Tyson vs. Wlad : Tyson by Early KO 2. Spinks vs. Peter: Peter by Early KO 3. Chageav vs. Holyfield: Holyfield UD 4. Tucker vs. Valuev: Valuev UD 5. Povetkin vs. Witherspoon: Witherspoon by mid-rounds KO 6. Ibragimov vs. Thomas: Thomas UD 7. Maskeav vs. Williams: Maskaev KO 3 (either guy could get starched early in this one) 8. Virchis vs. Berbick: Berbick UD (although I could see Virchis stopping him) 9. Rodrigues vs. Thompson: Rodriguez UD (this one is a toss up, imo) 10. Ruiz vs. Biggs: Biggs UD (assuming rules are properly enforced) To me, the Maskaev-Williams, Virchis-Berbick, and Rodriguez-Thompson fights are all "pick 'em" matches. The rest are pretty easy to call as I see it.
Witherspoon's power is extremely underrated. When the guy wanted to hit, he could bang. Ray Mercer was very clear in the post fight interview that no one had ever hit him like Witherspoon had.
I think we'd better avoid that, and not just because you'd probably have a hardon after seeing a smaller guy beat a bigger guy in Peter. :admin
Yeah but how much did Spinks have left in '88? He lasted only 91 seconds with Tyson. Even McNeely lasted longer than that. Spinks was also wobbled badly by the relatively soft (and at that point, slow) hitting Holmes. You can point out what Toney did, but Toney has a cast iron jaw and still was wobbled 3 or 4 times, holding on to the ropes at one point. And that was a lesser prepared version of Peter - in the rematch, he came in at better shape, better cameplan of combinations and jabs, and barely lost a round. Of course, Toney lost a step too, which goes to show you the heavy handedness of Peter. We're talking about the '88 ranking's here, which is the by Tyson ruined version of Thomas, who is hardly capable of beating anyone in any top10. Holyfield vs Thomas is one of the saddest non-lethal fights i've seen.
Yeah, but Spinks is not Toney, either. His durability at heavyweight is very questionable. Holmes staggered him. Tyson had him down with the first punches that landed. Cooney had him in some trouble, although he was washed up. Peter is no technician, but he's landed on every opponent he fought and i don't think Spinks can take it, especially not the past his prime version in '88.
Your right, spinx was an IN-SHAPE young fighter, while toney was a 38 year old obese middleweight. Honestly I think toney was way past his prime when he fought sam peter and he still deserved the first fight in my eyes. I think the fitter younger toney of 2003 would have pitched a near shutout over sam peter. I also think in general michael spinx is much better than any version of james toney, and would easily cruise over sam peter.
1. Tyson vs. Wlad (Got to go with Tyson early on but if it goes past 7...Vlad could start to work the 1-2...leaning towards Mike 2. Spinks vs. Peter.. (.Spinks had the style to confuse but Peter has the power to keep Spinks too carefull...Peter 3. Chageav vs. Holyfield.. (Holyfield had trouble with Ruiz and Moorer and I think Ruslin would be a problem but this one is close,,,Evander SD 4. Tucker vs. Valuev...( Nicolay Big and Awkward..Valuev UD 5. Povetkin vs. Witherspoon..(Povetiken by TKO or UD..WORK ETHIC 6. Ibragimov vs. Thomas...( This one close because of Thomas's jab but IGY Tricky.....DRAW 12 7. Maskeav vs. Williams ( OLEG by KO,,OLEG POWER...Williams chin weak O.M.By K.O. 8. Virchis vs. Berbick...VIRCHIS BY KO...NEVER THOUGHT MUCH OF TREVOR 9. Rodrigues vs. Thompson ...THOMPSON BY EASY UD 10. Ruiz vs. Biggs...RUIZ LEANS CLINCHES AND OUT MUSCLES BIGGS FOR UD
A lot of the previous posts and threads are quite interesting to read there is a massive archive to go through but I thought this one was worth reviewing.
1. Tyson vs. Wlad. Tyson 2. Holyfield vs. Peter. Holyfield 3. Chagaev vs. Rodriques. Chageav 4. Witherspoon vs. Valuev. Maybe one of those fights that Valuev wins officially, but questionably. 5. Dokes vs. Povetkin. Povetkin. 6. Ruddock vs. Ibragimov. Ruddock 7. Maskeav vs. Tucker. Tucker 8. Norris vs. Virchis. Haven't seen enough Virchis. 9. Douglas vs. Thompson. Douglas 10. Damiani vs. Ruiz. Damiani