My top 50 heavyweights of all time

SuzieQ, would you mind telling me why Tucker, whose greatest victory is a low-on-stamina Douglas (a journeyman/fringe contender at that time) rates over Klitschko, who has beaten several top contenders and has been the #1 contender in the division for roughly six years? Dito with Ernie Terell, Cleveland Williams and Pinklon Thomas.


And would you mind responding to for instance the substance of Marciano_Frazier's post?

 

ChrisP,
To be fair, I think Terrell has several wins over contenders.
And Wladimir Klitschko has been KO'd twice in the last six years, not number 1 contender for that sort of stretch.

Tucker should probably go below both of them.
Is that what you meant ?

 

Lewis should be top 5

 

Lets see,

Liston at #2. Ali at #3. Holmes at #9, Holyfield at #15. Lewis at #11 Wlad Klitshko ranked below Terell, Tucker, Thomas and a bunch of others that he shouldn't be.

Man, this list sucks.

 

He was ranked in the top10 in 2000, the #1 contender in 2001, 2002 and 2003 untill the Sanders fight. #1 again (no champ) since late 2005 until right now, mid 2008. That's eight years of being in the top10 of which 7 years were at the top.

Terrel had a good 3-4 years in the mid 60's, but overal, Klitschko's resume is better.

 

Sonny, there's no ****in' way Earnie Terrell deserves a higher rating than Klitschko. Wlad has been a top contender for most of the past decade and is like 11-2 in world title fights. I'm surprised Bigfoot Martin didn't get a top 30 spot on Suzie's list.

 

Yes, you could well be right about Klitschko's resume against Terrell's.

As for Klitschko's ranking, I think Lewis was the number 1 contender while Rahman was champion (2001). I dont know if Klitschko deserved a number 1 ranking that early. Even John Ruiz (who beat Holyfield, who was gave Lewis a close fight, IMO) should argue for a higher place than Wlad in 2001.

Following the loss to Brewster, Wlad was barely worthy of a place in the top 10, seeing as he hadn't done much to come back from that brutal loss to Sanders only a year earlier .

His winning run has re-established him, but him being number 1 since end of '05 (with a win over arguably undeserving-of-a-ranking Sam Peter !) seems to be only explicable by an extraordinary dearth of decent fighters in the division. How else could a win over Peter make him number 1 at that time ?

 

I'm not really bothered with lists. I dont do them. (If I did I'd put Tyson below Holyfield, and leave Tony Tucker off. That's my only real comment on SuzieQ's list. And it's just the obligatory "token input" comment we all make on these threads. )

Terrell and Klitschko are not even close to being great heavyweights, IMO. I guess that's why top 50 at heavyweight is something I dont really care to get involved in. There aren't 50 great heavyweights in history.

But the spin on Wlad Klitschko is kind of laughable.
"11-2 in title fights" but who the **** cares about alphabet titles ?
When Lennox Lewis was champion no one was taking the other titlists seriously, certainly not the WBO title seriously. Wlad's WBO fights were being view with interest but NOT as "title fights". No one would have dared insult Lennox Lewis and EMBARASS THEMSELVES by talking about those fights as "title fights".

Now you shamelessly do so. Unnecessary spin to inflate Wlad's career accomplishments.

 

Okay, you may be right that Klitschko wasn't the #1 again since early '06 when he knocked out Byrd.

You gotta remember though, that Klitschko's ability was lightyears ahead of anyone in the division, Peter was seen as the next big thing especially after his brutal knockout of Williams. Wlad beat him and then the longest reigning champ in Byrd. If you add to that that Brewster soon lost his belt, got a tremendous beating in his victory over Klitschko for which he declined a rematch, then i think it's pretty clear.


Thomas, Williams, Terrel, Tucker etc were outstanding fighters, but i don't think they deserve to rank over Klitschko.

Then again, if Machen/Williams 2x/Patterson 2x/Folley/Harris/DeJohn ranks over Frazier 2x/Foreman/Liston 2x/Quarry 2x/Patterson 2x/Bonavena/Lyle/Young/Shavers/Terrel/Cooper, then anything is possible i suppose.

 

Ha, ha, ha. Liston above Ali, that's just ****ing outrageous, but I love it! Makes for a fun discussion. Needless to say I don't agree with you, but I think it's cool that you stick your neck out like that for your favourite fighter. Cheers!

 

Suzie you are a boy for getting heights wrong.
Louis 6 1 1/2
Johnson 6 1/4
Marciano 5 10 1/2
Foreman 6 3
Frazier 5 11 1/2
Jeffries 6 2
Langford 5 7
Carnera 6 5 3/4
Wlad 6 61/2
Lyle 6 3
Baer 6 2 1/2
Godfrey 6 3
Jeanette 5 11
Williams 6 3

Good topic though it should run for about a year!

 

That's a very good list.

I rate Ali above Liston, and I rate both Klitschko's much further up, but all in all I think the list is admirable.

You've got the ranking for fighters like Tyson, Lewis, Johnson, Dempsey, Holyfield etc., spot on., in my opinion. A lot of lists I've seen here make bizarre rankings of the aforementioned fighters.

I think Walcott is a little high too, but all in all there is never going to be complete agreement, however that is certainly one of the better lists on ESB.