Greatest Achievement By a Heavyweight

:huh

 

Not a robbery in either but very close fights that went the way of the challenger. I disagree with both results.

 

Wow really? I thought Holy definitely got the better of Bowe (rematch) and that Moorer definitely pulled it off against Holy the first time.

They were more competitive fights, than close fights IMO

 

I scored both 6-6 but holy got the kd v moored to edge it.

I think it's a huge misrepresentation to call moorer the best hw at the start of the fight and foreman the best at the end.

 

Jack Johnson becoming the first black Heavyweight Champion - more of a cultural breakthrough than a personal acheivement.

Joe Louis 25 consecutive lineal title defences - Phenomenal.

Rocky Marciano retiring undefeated at 49-0 - given his opposition, excellent.

Floyd Patterson becoming the youngest Heavyweight Champion and the first to regain it... - Great personal acheivement, not overly significant to the sports history bar trivia.

Joe Frazier winning the first fight between two undefeated Heavyweight Champions - Trivia

Muhammad Ali beating Big George Foreman in Zaire - Excellent personal acheivement, considering the killer Foreman was, and a great leagacy for HW & Boxing history

Larry Holmes going 48-0 and defending the lineal title 20 times - like Louis & Marciano, but less meaningfull

Mike Tyson cleaning out the division at just 21 years old - far greater than Patterson's stats, simply because at that time Tyson was a killer and "arguably" the greatest HW in history.

Evander Holyfield winning the Heavyweight title 4 times, Great personal achievement and more HW history.

Lennox Lewis beating Vitali Klitschko in a 'passing of the torch' Fight - No Big Deal, bar personal acheivement, and given the fights outcome there were too many questions as to whether Klitscho would have beat him.

 

Bob Fitzsimmons knocking out Jim Corbett while weighing under the middleweight limit is something that has never been repeated has to be right up there.

Max Schmelling defeating Joe Louis arguably the greatest fighter ever beaten must be a very good chance also. As do other huge wins like: Ali v Foreman/Liston, Douglas Tyson etc.

I agree also that Foreman's comeback was a massive achievement.

 

Last time I checked, 167 lbs is over the middleweight limit.

 

You gotta love it when people go around talking about a lucky punch. Foreman made his own luck by throwing the punch. If that knockout was a lucky punch, then all of his kayoes were due to luck.

It's true, Foreman did spend years fighting bums, those who weren't were usually washed-up. Also true, he was never a relevant force in the 90s (or barely).

And he was getting his @ss kicked by Moorer. ALL of the criticisms are true.

IMO that's what makes the Holy and Moorer fights so remarkable.

 

I want to play devil's advocate and say Marciano's 49-0. The feat probably will never be duplicated again in the HW division and he cleaned the division out. The only criticism you can use is that most of the fighters he fought weren't very big, but nonetheless, it's hard to really pick holes in the achievement as opposed to some of the others.

 

Douglas vs Tyson
Ali vs Foreman
Foreman vs Moorer
Rahman vs Lewis
Braddock Vs Baer

 

hell no

 

Vitali retired for 4 years and came back to beat the no. 2 heavyweight in the world.

Foreman retired for ten years, came back and had like 30 fights before landing a big punch and actually beating a quality opponent. The "came back after 10 years" argument is bull****. It didn't happen that way.

 

This might be the single biggest win ever.

 

Hell YES !!

 

True, but Fitzsimmons weighed 158 for that fight.

Either way, i always thought that even today, anyone weighing less than 168 was a super middleweight.