HEAD to Head the 10 BEST heavyweight fighters of the last decade-

Everyone list the best best heavyweight fighters on head to head in the last deacade from Feb 1999 to Feb 2009-

You must list fighters in order-
You must list the best/prime fighting yrs-
You must then give a little summary at the end to conclude

1. Lennox Lewis - 1999-2002
2. Evander Holyfield - 1999
3. Vitali Klitshcko - 2003-2004
4. Wladimir Klitshcko -2006-2009
5. Mike Tyson - 2000-2001
6. Ike Ibeuachi - 1999
7. Chris Byrd -2001- 2003
8. David Tua - 1999-2001
9. David Haye - 2008-2009
10. John Ruiz - 2000-2002

1) Lennox Lewis during the last decade beat most of the best men out ther at the time of fighting time including; Holyfield, Tyson and Vitali.

2) Holyfield whilst the latter part of the decade proved very inconsistent.....still showed in the Valuev fight how good he was at his best in the 1990s. The version that fought Lewis in 1999 is the second best heavy of the last 10 yrs.

3) Vitali has proven to be a tough if somewhat awkward customer...giving Byrd and Lewis who he bost lost to a tough time and has never really lost in a conclusive manner. The version that fought Lewis and beat Johnson, Sanders and Williams for me shows he was the 3rd best of the last decade.

4) Vladimir a fighter who oozes talent....his resume is the best of the last 5 yrs having beat a faded Byrd, S. Peter, T. Thompson, Brock and Ibragimov. 4th best

5) Tyson hardly did anything in the last decade but this isnt about achievments rather about if you pitted all the best guys in one night against each other.......the Tyson version that dealt with Saverese and Golota would be handful for any fighter. 5th best

6) Ike Ibeacuhi only fought for one year in the the last decade due to imprisonment but on head to head you cannot argue with a man who had previously gone head to head with Tua and beaten Byrd who also went onto beat some top names. Iron chin, good strength and good punching power makes him tough to beat.

7) Chris Byrd - Small, and below average punching power made Byrd boxing skills even more remarkable. Whilst he was found wanting when up against the very best Ike, Wlad etc he did beat some good fighters around his very best yrs such Tua, Oquendo, and McCline

8) David Tua was probably blessed with one of the greatest chins and power combos ever......if one was to search then you maybe pop up a Foreman or a Tyson but then Tua chin was better than Foreman and Tua had better one punch power than Tyson. The man is the epitomine of cudda, wudda, shudda.......whilst his chin and power were never his doubt, his fighting skills, conditioning and mentally are very much in doubt. Still at his very best.....he beat some decent condenders and the fact that Lennox Lewis chose to backoff and jab rather than enage shows the immense respect he had.

9) David Haye is very much new the elite scence.......but his speed and punching power is the best of the last decade. Whilst having beat just one KNOWN heavy in Barrett......his past fights including Mormeck and Macarenelli show that Haye is the real deal. His chin and at time wild style could be his undoing. Only a current prime Vlad or the very tough Vitali could beat him in the current division.

10) John Ruiz was/is boring, dosent have the best chin, power, or skills and at times was inconsistent as he lost to Roy Jones, J. Toney, Holyfield. Even though.......he still had some great names on his ledger K. Johnson, Golota, Rahman, and McCline.

This is my personal best 10 head to head heavies-

Of course its open to debate so i welcome any other views etc

 

I did think about Jones......but he only fought one big man in Ruiz. Was very impressive.

Deffo think Ruiz can be changed and Haye well it early days.

 

yeah this is purely head to head.

I feel we all can do this fairly easily as we have countless tapes of all the above mentioned fighters and we are all around whilst this happening.

Comparing fighters from the 30s to 60s or 20s to the 80s is too much, too complex etc.

The last decade is good.......as it gives us a better understanding if the division is going anywhere.

The first 5 yrs to me looks better as the quality of fighters on head to head seems alot stronger.

Also if anyone feels like putting down the current era.......then maybe we should look at the fighters that have graced it in the last decade.

Top 8 would prove troublesome for any fighters in history.....no easy fights there.