Ridiculous list. Southpaw Dereck Chisora, Wilt Chamberlain, George Godfrey (when he wasn't throwing fights), Rocky Marciano after eating 10,000 blueberries, and Hughie "The Improved Muhammad Ali" Fury, would destroy everyone on it.
1) Ali 2) Louis 3) Marciano 4) Foreman 5) Lewis 6) Holmes 7) Holyfield 8) Frazier 9) Tyson 10) Dempsey
I think it's generous to put Tunney in your top 25. I like Tunney, and I am about to begin his biography, but it needs to be recognized Tunney isn't underrated imo, I think he's rated just well like you explained.
Hi Buddy. As of today ! slightly surprised that Johnson is rated so high matey, when I first got interested in boxing 1969ish, and for decades after I thought JJ was a monster, rippling with muscles, towering over most of his opponent's in the rare photos I saw in the Ring, OMG surely no other HW could beat this colossus, it was only with the advent of more photos and books, and of course YT that I realised he was not a huge big HW, in fact by the standards of HWs from the 70s onwards he was small, not to say small HWs cannot be great, and beat heavier fighters , of course not. Also his boxing approach/style was , well slightly passive, mostly on the back foot ( sort of ) only leading when the opponent was maybe in some difficulty ! also not that many defenses, 1 against a MW ( mind you it was The Michigan Assassin ) but still a much smaller fighter, Moran a OK fighter I suppose, yea so I have demoted Jack over the last 20/30 years, not sure he would make my top ten now. just musing my friend. stay safe.
Fair points Mike and other people have over the years have pointed out the fact that i rate Jack too highly.The thing is i loved the Jack Johnson story from a very young age and i am too long in the tooth now to change my opinion no matter what facts are presented to me to the contrary.So for me Jack stays no 3 but much appreciate your thoughts Mike
my personal favorites are people like Holmes, Bowe. i would even throw in Lewis. Foreman is also my top ten because he meets the criteria People who are over 6 feet and have proven power People like Tunny, Corbet, Patterson are too small and would be blown out of the water by the likes of Tyson (see Marvis Frazier, Michael Spinks) and NO amount of skill is going to keep them off I also like Norton because of the unforgettable account he gave in his narrow loss to Holmes Frazier, I would leave out of my top ten because a lack of versatility - left hand only, no right hand, little mobility and nearly no jab
Omg just noticed i left Smokin Joe off my list should have known better than to post a top 10 when i was drinking
As Big George proved you don't have to do everything right to be immortal. Tom Jones and Elvis can barely play an instrument but they did one thing very well.