My Top 10 Heavyweights on a head-to-head basis

1. Ali
2. Lewis
3. Vitali
4. Foreman
5. Holyfield
6. Tyson
7. Holmes
8. Bowe
9. Wlad
10. Liston

Coming up with that was harder than I thought. I don't necessarily think Ali beats everyone, or Lewis beats everyone but Ali but they beats more of the others than those below them. Styles makes fights so it's hard to say who was better. Obviously this favours modern, bigger heavies more as it's purely head to head and many were simply too small despite how great they were.

 

For me, something like:

1. Lewis
2. Vitali
3. Ali
4. Foreman
5. Tyson
6. Holmes
7. Wlad
8. Holyfield
9. Bowe
10. Liston

 

I like this list and have contemplated on myself.

My problem with Lewis at #1 is that I can see a number of the other guys landing a huge shot and knocking him out. Prime Foreman an obvious candidate.

I'm a bigger fan of Louis, too. I think a prime Joe can take Ali, Holmes, and Tyson.

 

1. Vitali Klitchko
2. Mike Tyson
3. Anthony Joshua
4. Lennox Lewis
5. Wlad Klitchko
6. Riddick Bowe
7. E. Holyfield
8. Larry Holmes
9. Ali
10. Foreman

I would hold reservations for Fury until after the Wilder fight.Should he win and how would effect my list.

There's a lot of guys head to head that could be on this list of we ignored popularity contests.

 

Well thought out list and I appreciate the thought that’s gone into this.

Considering the ferocity of Foreman Mk1 and Tyson Mk1, the sublime genius of Ali and to a lesser extent Holmes while factoring the phenomenon of supersized modern heavyweights with power, natural boxing skills and good to great footwork like Lewis or immense size, power, weight, conditioning and good fundamentals like Joshua.

In a straight h2h with each at their absolute best, my list:

1. Lennox Lewis
2. Muhammad Ali
3. George Foreman
4. Mike Tyson
5. Larry Holmes
6. Evander Holyfield
7. Vitali Klitschko
8. Wladimir Klitschko
9. Joe Louis
10. Anthony Joshua

Special mention to Joe Frazier, Tim Witherspoon, Riddick Bowe & Sonny Liston

Why Lennox at Nō1
Lewis had footwork skills not dissimilar to Ali, threw every punch in the book and had power akin to Foreman whilst being bigger than both. He also had the brains to decipher any opponents challenge and the mental discipline to stick to a plan for the duration of a fight. IMO this is a combination that no other Heavyweight in history can match in sufficient quantities to overcome Lewis at his best.

Why is Joshua at Nō10
As a fighting package such as Frazier is better than some on the list of 10 but his disadvantages against someone the size of Joshua would be insurmountable for him, the same can be said for some others.

Why Tim Witherspoon gets a mention
Witherspoon was IMO one of the best heavyweights of the very late 1970s / 1980s but was criminally frozen out of contention by Don King. That doesn’t detract from his brilliance, toughness and high credentials as a World Class Heavyweight. Forget his late career form, at his best he took a prime Larry Holmes all the way and some think beat him in their showdown. He was possibly the one Heavyweight around at the time who could have beaten the young prime Mike Tyson, hence Don King freezing him out of the World boxing Scene

Why Riddick Bowe doesn’t make the 10
Against Holyfield Bowe showed great skill and resilience but as good as Evander was he was at a definite size and reach disadvantage. Bowe never ever showed that same quality or desire against quality bigger men, he was on the way to losing against Golotta on both occasions and flat out refused to step into a ring with Lewis.

 

Lennox
Vitali
Ali
Foreman
Wlad
Holmes
Luis
Liston
Bowe
Holy


Tyson

 

Hahhahahhahahahhahahhaha lol @ Juiceshua above wlad, foreman,holmes, ali , bowe . Juiceshua can’t box and has a glass jaw. Just stop

 

That's funny you should mention glass jaws.

When has any 175 pounder broke Joshua's jaw and got a SD win on him in the process ? You probably don't know who im referring on your list of unbeatable guys because you're a fool who posts without thinking and not realize we could go all day/night nit picking fights ,good luck with that it wont go so good for you !

Louis over Bowe already tells me someones knowledge and how far it goes and leaving Tyson off the list way down below as though its a consolation prize? FOOL. !

 

Can we all agree Lennox Lewis, Vitaly Klitschko, Muhammad Ali and George Foreman should all be top 4? Top 4 IMO, regardless of order, they could all beat/lose to each other on their given day in their prime.

 

Then surely you’d have Golota over Bowe?

 

No, because:

1. Bowe wasn't at his best
2. I'd pick Bowe to beat more top heavyweights than Golota

 

It's about five years too early to be putting Joshua on a top ten list. Let's see how he gets on against the best of his peers before we start comparing him to fighters who fought and defeated far better fighters than AJ has faced. Don't get me wrong, he has a shot at getting there but it's too early now.

 

Yep agreed. Styles makes fights and sometimes a boxer will lose more fights to fighters the boxer they beat. It's not as simple as saying well he beat him and that is that.

Golota's mental fragility and average chin would see him lose to more boxers than Bowe at his best ever would and I say this as a Golota fan.