Greatest HWs of the decades ?

1890 - 1899 Peter Jackson

1900 - 1909 Jack Johnson

1910 - 1919 Jack Johnson

1920 - 1929 Harry Wills

1930 - 1939 Joe Louis

1940 - 1949 Joe Louis

1950 - 1959 Sonny Liston

1960 - 1969 Muhammad Ali

1970 - 1979 Muhammad Ali

1980 - 1989 Mike Tyson or Larry Holmes

1990 - 1999 Lennox Lewis

2000 - 2009 Lennox Lewis

 

Ezzard Charles probably belongs on your list.
Liston perhaps too.

 

I cant see putting Liston over Marciano in the 50's since most of Liston's work came in the VERY late 50's and early 60's.

I think Marciano did more in the 50's than Liston did.

 

But Charles had to contend with Louis in the 40's and Marciano in the 50's for such a honor of being the "Man" of the decade.

 

Hypothetical Duran deserves a mention

 

For the heavyweights?

 

I think Holyfield achieved the most in the '90s, a lot of Lennox's best work was in the '00s so he takes that decade despite retiring in '03.

Holy was the true Champ '90 to '92, '93 to '94 (but imo he beat Moorer), & '96 to '99. Plus he had huge wins in Tyson x2 & Bowe.

Lewis was the true Champ '99 to '01 & '01 to '03. His greatest win by far was Vitali in '03.

 

Exactly.

I don't know how Lennox Lewis can be considered the dominant fighter of the 90s when he was an afterthought for most of the decade (although, to be fair, much of it wasn't his fault).


Think of the 10 biggest, most consequential fights of the decade. Then think of how few of them Lewis was involved in (just the Holyfield fights, IMO). It's tough to call a guy the dominant heavyweight of a decade when most of the prime time action did not involve him.



I think Holyfield deserves this. He was the legitimate champ from 90-92 and 93-94. He was recognized by most as champ from 96-99. He was involved in most of the big fights of the decade.

 

Fun spin off from the thread title

1900's - jeffries
1910's - johnson
1920's - dempsey
1930's - louis
1940's - louis
1950's - rocky
1960's - clay
1970's - ali
1980's - holmes\tyson
1990's - holyfield\lewis
2000's - lewis\wlad.
2010's - wlad.

Where i've put the slash is where the decade is split roughly 50\50. With the 80's and 90's the two standouts didn't face each other until the end of the decade so I don't feel it fair to claim one had supremacy other the other.

The 00's lewis was the man up until 03 and from 05 to 10 wlad's resume is amazing, he spent much of the time recognised as the best heavyweight even tho he didn't get the prize until towards the end, but beating peter then byrd convinced most people.

As for the thread title - 70's had ali, frazier, foreman, holmes and norton. Closely followed by the 90's which had holyfield, lewis, bowe and tyson. Both cracking era's which saw most of the big matches being made.

 

You have left it out, but

1890s is definitely Fitzsimmons, with his win over Corbett, something that Jackson and Sullivan couldnt do.

1900s could be very close between Jeffries and Johnson but i agree with Jeffries.


I think Riddick Bowe is a pretty big Wild card in the 90s, as Tyson still is.

 

Yeah if i'm going back to the beginning i'd have

1880's - sullivan
1890's - fitzsimmons

Yeah bowe was ok but I wouldn't put him up with lewis and holyfield, he did very good in his career, but not quite great. Ironic really because had the rematch gone his way we could have seen fights with lewis and tyson and everything would be different.

You know what, since the fitzsimmons thread I did, I am frankly amazed at his feats. Like most boxers with a similar style he began wild and crazy but eventually refined his style and became an amazing boxer. To have so much success in a weight division he had no right fighting in is bloody phenomenal!