George Foreman's Top 10 Heavyweights!!!

Surely not

 

Take 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 off and you have a great list.

 

So he's put a certain fighter at 5, below John L Sullivan..

 

Here's the list he posted on his website a few years back:

1. Joe Louis. To be honest with you, number two is way off. Joe Louis is in a class by himself.

2. Rocky Marciano. Just look at Rocky Marciano's record. Nobody beat him. You can't take that from him.

3. Jack Johnson. A big brave cat, because he'd do whatever he wanted and get out of the way.

4. Muhammad Ali. Put him down as the GREATEST MAN to ever box, and a hero bigger than boxing. Once Ali lost his speed, it only showed that he'd never developed a great defense.

5. Joe Frazier. Only because he depended solely on his left hook do I rate Joe Frazier below Marciano. Marciano could hit with both hands.

6. Jack Dempsey. Jack Dempsey's very name means strength and courage. Other than Joe Louis, there is not a name in boxing or in sports with more meaning.

7. Mike Tyson. A phenomenon. What Mike Tyson was able to do with his speed of hand and punching power is as phenomenal as what Muhammad Ali did when he was Cassius Clay with speed of feet. Tyson deserves to be in the top ten; this is where I put him, the youngest man to become Heavyweight Champion of the World.

8. Sonny Liston. If Sonny Liston truly had not lost his cool, had not underestimated a young Cassius Clay; and kept the same mind set that he had as a contender, history would have been a lot kinder to him. Sonny Liston could not believe Muhammad Ali was so fast and had so much courage. It just made him fall apart.

9. Floyd Patterson. The First Two-Time Heavyweight Champion of the World.

10. Evander Holyfield. For standing up to Mike Tyson.

As you see, I didn't make the list...The first time around, George Foreman was too mean and too crude. The second time around, too sophisticated and too publicity conscious to exploit his power...

Honorable Mention (Alphabetically ordered) Max Baer, Ezzard Charles, Jersey Joe Walcott

 

Foreman at various times has described everyone from Dempsey, to Ali, to Lewis to Pele Reid as the greatest Heavyweight of all time. I wouldn't pay too much attention to his lists.

 

Can you really argue with Big George, John L Sullivan has done a lot last couple years to improve his legacy?

 

The lockdown might be getting to George if that's a serious list.

 

Foreman is a sweet guy, but he is not the most reliable observer.

He has a tendency to say what he thinks that people want to hear.

When he visited the UK, he said that Audley Harrison would be the next undisputed champion, after he beat one of the Klitschko's.

He idolized Joe Louis, so he is always going to get the #1 spot on his list.

He probably grew up with Rocky Marciano, and Floyd Patterson, so that might explain their high ranking.

Given Sullivan's sudden rise to grace, I wonder if he read Adam's book!

 

The list is nowhere near as out there as people are making out.

Not that I agree with much of it.

 

Here’s my thing with John L:

He could lick any sonuvabitch in the house.

But what about the sonsabitches who were outside the house? And the ones in the house who weren’t sonsabitches?

 

George’s lists are as random as his commentary was. Boxing’s greatest and most likeable troll.

Love ya George!

 

Little known fact about John L is he possessed a 10 inch long tongue and his humble statement of fact has been misinterpreted as a shameless boast due to this lack of insight and the passage of time.

 

I concur. Most of the names are correct, just not spotted correctly.

 

Whatever his failings, he is modest enough to emit his own name, and be proportionate about his victims!