Pound-for-Pound ratings were created in the 1930s when Henry Armstrong was holding titles in three (of the eight) divisions because eveyone knew Joe Louis would kill Armstrong if they fought, but they wanted to recognize how awesome Armstrong was (since he held nearly half the belts in the sport) even though most lumbering heavyweights would probably beat his @ss. So heavyweights often appear on such lists, but ranking one at the top would defeat the purpose of having a pound-for-pound list. Pound for pound is just a means to recognize smaller fighters who clearly couldn't beat everyone in boxing, but are very talented nonetheless. The heavyweight champion is already supposed to be able to beat everyone in all the other weight classes, so if you were putting a REAL list together of who the best fighter in all of boxing was ... It wouldn't be some featherweight somewhere who may not be able to beat someone five pounds heavier than him. Or it wouldn't be Floyd Mayweather, who would probably get his #ss beat by Serena Williams. The BEST HEAVYWEIGHTS Would be at the top. Pound for Pound has never been a list of who can beat the most or best fighters in the sport ... it's a list to promote guys who aren't heavyweights. But when Tyson and Wlad and Ali were dominating, they'd often appear somewhere on the list because totally ignoring them would've just been dumb.
Yup. I don't believe Holyfield or Lewis ever got to #1. https://www.ringtv.com/403193-the-ring-pound-for-pound-history-from-iron-mike-to-chocolatito/
That makes sense. I would've thought Lewis after beating Holyfield in their rematch might have had a chance.
Exactly. It's sad that interest in heavyweight boxing became so low that the wholly made up and completely subjective title of "p4p nr1" can be somehow considered a superior status to be heavyweight champion. I think that happen first in the late 70s, early 1980s, when Ali retired and Ray Leonard was being built up as his replacement.
Its happened a heck of a lot in the last 13 or so years since Lewis went. The heavy weight division became unwatchable in many ways. Floyd and pac etc took over the big number s and the heavy s became the klitschko show. Only recently has there been renewed interest in the heavy weight picture. A similar situation to ali retiring and leonard and the smaller men coming to the fore. When the heavy s stink people look south for entertainment.
According to Ring Magazine, the last time that a heavyweight was rated the best p4p fighter in the world was 1989. 1989 P4P ratings 1. Mike Tyson 2. Julio Cesar Chavez 3. Pernell Whitaker 4. Michael Nunn 5. Antonio Esparragoza 6. Meldrick Taylor 7. Azumah Nelson 8. Raul Perez 9. Virgil Hill 10. Marlon Starling Pretty sure Tyson was rated p4p greatest the previous year in 1988 as well. Since then though the closest a heavyweight has been ranked anywhere close to the top has been Evander Holyfield at #4 in 1991, Riddick Bowe at #6 in 1992, Holyfield #5 in 1997 and #3 in 1998, Lennox Lewis #8 in 2000 and Wladimir Klitschko #6 in 2011. If you were going strictly by those P4P ratings, you would have to say that Evander Holyfield would have to be considered unofficially the best heavyweight of the last 25 years or so. I think most people would have thought that Lennox Lewis would have been seen as the most dominant heavyweight during that period so it's a real surprise that he's never been rated higher than #8 on the annual P4P lists ...... well, according to the Ring anyway.
Of course he was. Prime Tyson is the best HW of all time. Sorry, but the likes of Tyson, Bowe and Lewis are all better than Evander. Lewis was the dominant HW, he had the best career. Tyson had a higher peak/prime, but he never achieved his full potential.
