So far i have Ali, Louis, Lewis and Holmes. The names i need looked at for 5 are Foreman, Liston, Frazier, Holyfield, Marciano and Tyson.
I think that if we accept your 1-4 then the clear cut candidate for the No5 slot would be Jack Johnson or Jack Dempsey. So none of the above.
Thanks Sonny, he's definitely being considered heavily. He was never defeated, so he's hard to argue against. The others are patchy, but Marciano has no lows really. He's the definite favourite at the moment in my mind.
Seconded. Can't go wrong with Marciano. I actually have Ali, Louis, Lewis, Marciano and Holmes in my own top5. Marciano has a great record: knocked out every single ranked contender he faced (even if you think his opposition is weak, which other champ has ever done that?), he defended the title against the #1 contender 5 times and once against the #2 contender. Not that much longetivity but no else dominated like him with the exception of Tyson in the late 80's. He is a bit smallish and so is his opposition, but i think greatness (i.e. relatively to his own era) is an important aspect. Also consider that master boxers like Charles, Walcott, Moore and LaStarze should've given him stylistic problems but he stood up to the challenge and came out on top every time.
I'd look closely at Foreman. He vanquished many serious guys -Frazier, Norton, Peralta, Chuvalo, Lyle, although he had the misfortune of having a forecasted long reign interrupted by Ali. Head-to-head, he presents a serious threat. Both Foremans. His comeback had the makings of a fraud until he did the unthinkable. You have an accomplishment that I think is the greatest single achievement of any HW ever -the reclamation of the title -by KO- 20 years after losing it, and that against an undefeated southpaw in his physical prime.
Thanks mate. Even if George doesn't make the cut at 5 comments like yours help me greatly for what looks to be a very hard fought position at #6. 5 - 10 are really open with 6 - 10 looking anybodies.
1. ali 2. louis 3. liston 4. holmes 5. foreman liston would have beaten every fighter except ali & louis. he'd have beaten foreman & louis too. edit: i like that triangle shape of my list!
Fair enough, i am listing with both resume and head to head ability taken into account. Resume is probably taken into account a little more than head to head if anything.
yes both are important but resume is more influenced by politics of boxing. everyone knows that liston was ducked by floyd so he was the uncrowned king who beat a good list of contenders. what would liston's resume look like if he didn't have muhammad ali to derail him? what liston was around in 1990s to fight 1999 holy and 2002 tyson. what if lewis was in 1960s facing guys like ali, foreman, and liston himself? true, liston doesn't officially have as many "title" defenses - but he beat a string of very good contenders, had 1 loss to marty marshal in a competitive & understanable circumstance (it was his 8th fight) and then to ali and the last one was when he was 72 years old. people will rate lewis higher than liston but had the times switched - liston would have done just as well if not better. for these circumstantial reasons i weigh head to head very heavily, and those opinions MUST be at least "backed up" by achievments in the ring - which they are.
