My top 10 Heavyweight list

Gene Tunney was rated highly in many lists and polls up through until the 70s and 80s.

He's certainly one who gets less mention in recent years.

 

I have to agree with anyone who says that Gene Tunney was an all time great fighter. He only lost once in many fights, and that was by a decision. He was truly an impressive boxer on film. Would he beat Dempsey in his prime? I don't know for sure. But he definately could have given a lot of very good heavyweights and lightheavyweights trouble in my opinion.

 

Yes, I think Gene was an exceptional fighter in his day. I haven't the sightest clue as to how he'd do against men like Archie Moore, Michael Spinks or Bob Foster, but I think his resume is very impressive nonetheless.

 

Yes, but the same is probably true of let's say, Louis or Marciano, but they certainly got to some formidable fighters in the late rounds. Tyson never really did. His only knockout after the 7th was against Jose Ribalta.

 

Solid post.

Truthfully, I think that If a Tyson Ali fight took place and Tyson was ahead after 5-6 rounds, I see him winning. I simply don't see Ali turning around the fight and overcoming a very confident Tyson. To beat Tyson you have to get him early, make him respect you and control the pace from the start. If he gets the early jump on you and controls the momentum from the start, the odds of him winning the fight go up exponentially, because it means he can handle your style or rather what you've brought to the table. There is no turning it around which is why all his fights have typically been one sided in his favor or in his opponents favor.

 

Well, I'm going purely from memory, and there was some survey of boxing experts done in the early 60s, where Dempsey was #1. The main point is that Dempsey should be up there in that group, and that he has dropped precipitously over the 30 years I've been following the sport. To me, he's become shockingly underrated. Where do you rate Dempsey?

 

Dempsey did win a poll by Ring Magazine back in the sixties by one vote over Louis, if I remember.
Dempsey is certainly a solid candidate for a top ten position, but I can't put him in the top five as he simply took too much time off as champion, did not fight Wills, and did not defeat Tunney. His resume is okay and reasonably deep, but does not equal in quality that of my top five. He doesn't match Ali, Louis, Marciano, Holmes, and Lewis in my judgement. He was in a position to gain a higher rating, but just did not do enough after 1922.

By the way, I don't know if his rating has slipped that much. In 2000 he was ranked fourth by both the AP and ESPN, behind Ali, Louis, and Marciano, and ahead of Johnson.

 

I got to admit I always had him in my top 10 until the mid/late 90s. There is little doubt that people (myself included) go for who is in fashion at that moment in time...

For example I notice a lot of people on this fourm started to rate The Original Joe Walcott highly in the last year or so. Burley and Young Griffo were in vogue in the early 90s; Carpentier in the 70s and early 80s.

:think Perhaps I should start spinning Kid Gavilan; he deserves it.

 

That's true. When you're good enough to survive the first 6 against Tyson, you have a pretty good chance of at least going the distance.

 

I think Tyson would trouble Ali with his hand speed,and power ,but Douglas showed the blue print to beat Tyson ,imo and although Tyson wasnt at his best I envisage a prime Ali doing the same to Tyson.If Tucker had shown more ambition I think we might have seen a very competitive fight ,just my imo.

 

What exactly do you mean by "severe"? The first fight Bowe won by a wide margin on the scorecards, but it was a war, he had to go through hell to get it, and he looked on ***** street himself once or twice. The second fight, Holyfield edged him by boxing smartly. The third fight, a sickly Holyfield still managed to put Bowe down and nearly out in round six before finally caving in in the eighth. I don't really see why some people think Bowe "owned" Holyfield or somesuch; he just barely got the better of him in a three-fight series. And while Bowe will not go down in history as a legend of boxing, he was a force to be reckoned with on his night.