My All-Time Top Ten Heavyweight List

Dempsey also sat on the title for years, ducked his #1 contender, and never fought a dangerous challenger of Holyfield's caliber.

If Tyson had been as inactive as Dempsey was and chosen his opponents like the latter, he could've held the title for a decade.

Actually, as terrible for the sport as they are, the ABC belts do not tolerate that kind of bull****, so they would've stripped him of any "title" long before that.

 

Jeffries was a great one in his day, may have been better today with new tecnique, he was a big man and fast and powerfull

 

Jeffries was a great one in his day, may have been better today with new tecnique, he was a big man and fast and powerfull

 

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Sanders is too low.

 

And Tyson wasn't dominant in his wins? Unlike Dempsey, he was unbeaten in every fight pre title and was never even seriously trouble pre Douglas, the same can't be said for Jack.

Saying Dempsey gets credit for his long title reign is also flawed, considering he took entire years off while going into show business and actually had LESS actual title fights than Tyson did, despite the longer longevity. Dempsey also failed to take on the best fighter of his title reign, while Tyson beat every contender of his era.

In Head to Head which should be a big criteria in these lists, Tyson deserves to be ranked above him as well.

 

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Well, there are certainly some unorthodox choices in there, and if you use the criteria I use, they look farly ridiculous, but with another set- and there is no one objective set of criteria for "greatness"- they could become acceptable.

 

1. Ali
2. Louis
3. Tyson
3. Marciano
5. Lewis
6. Holmes
7. Liston
8. Johnson
9. Foreman
10. Frazier
11. Wills
12. Dempsey
13. Holyfield
14. Jeffries

These are the true elite HWs. The ones that come after this such as Schemling, Walcott while great fighters are a slight step behind these.

 

This looks like a fairly reasonable list. There are a few minor details that I might change, but overall I like it.

 

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I agree with this post.

Anyone who tries to make an argument for Dempsey reigning longer than Tyson is actually doing more of a diservice to the guy than anything else. When you think about Tyson scoring some 9 title defenses in just over 3 years and beating every available challenger, It makes Dempsey's 6 defenses in 7 years, plus ducking of Harry Wills look pretty poor. The next approach that a Dempsey advocate will take, is to try and sell you on the " magnificent accomplishments" that Jack did during a pre-title run. Of course, when its mentioned that Tyson won some 27 matches between the ages of 18-20 before blasting Berbick, while Jack was a grown man who lost a few matches, they resort to the old, " he was a hobo fighting out of a boxcar" trick.

The pattern repeats itself time and time again. When someone provides a convincing argument that a given champion's legacy surpassed that of Dempsey's, the tales of heroism start flying. When that doesn't work, next come the excuses.

 

The first six look like you're going for a chronological listing (swap Ali and Marciano). Do you think that older = better? Larry must've been brilliant to get a mention in with this lot. But no, seriously, how the hell do you rank someone like Jeffries ahead of Ali and Louis?

I'd go with:

1. Ali
2. Louis
3. Marciano
4. Holmes
5. Lewis
6. Foreman
7. Frazier
8. Dempsey
9. Liston
10. Johnson

Tyson close, just doesn't have the big name that gets him in there. Head to head he's near the top though. Though in saying that, Dempsey doesn't exactly have a big name either. Hmmm.

 

Jeffries for many years was ranked as the greatest HW of all time and it seems that everyone who saw him fight agreed and anouther thang is he didnt take one fight to pad his recourd he fought near the top/at the top of the division his WHOLE career he is also possibly the greatest athleat of all the HW champs and was the size of modon HW while running as fast as olympic sprinters

my questionn to you is how do you not have him in the top 10

 

H2h shouldn´t be a criteria at all. Far too much speculation there. Stick with the facts.