Harry Wills George Foreman Jim Jeffries Evander Holyfield Also, would you have any of the following above any of the above - Walcott, Charles, Schmeling, Bowe, Wlad?
Holyfield - greater wins, longevity, proven against most styles, more complete Foreman - physical beast with amazing strength, power, workrate, big power in all his range of punches Wills - I used to rate him higher but his best wins really arent up to that much, dominated for 12years (from 1914-1926) though which puts him up there Jeffries - Strongman wrestler with little skill in a weaker era without many top wins
This looked so apealing untill you asked me to explain why. You would have ben hard put to find four heavyweights whose resumes had such different strengths/weakneses. We would have to credit Jeffries as being the most dominant because he basicaly cleaned house untill Jack Johnson came allong, though his reign was short. We would have to credit Foreman has having the two most spectacular wins on the list, some 20 years apart, though the rest of his resume lacks depth. Wills Pisses on everybody else on the list for depth, but had hios ups and downs and never clinched the No1 spot. Hollyfield wnet up against the toughest opposition of the three qualatativley over the longest period and that is reflected in his ups and downs. In short you could justify any possible listing of the four names. No.
George Foreman Two incredibly dominant wins over a top 10 ATG Heavyweight in Joe Frazier, Decent resume aside from those two wins, also. Incredible come-back and re-taking of the HW title at an advanced age. Pretty dangerous H2H with top 3 (in my opinion) power at HW. Harry Wills Great resume and longevity. Dominated Sam Langford the way no one else could (even though in most of their bouts Langford was past it). Evander Holyfield A very good resume, longevity, and P4P one of the most dangerous fighters in heavyweight history. Did remarkably well against bigger opponents. He was one of the most skilled technicians in heavyweight history with great speed, skill, durability, mobility, combination punching ability and good power. Jim Jeffries He was big and tough. Made his name beating older, smaller men and some who weren't older, just smaller. And some who weren't older or smaller, just not very good. I would rate Bowe and Wlad clearly below them. Walcott, Charles and Schmeling are in the same tier.
Janitor put it all better then I could, and Max put a nice touch on his Jeffries take, heres my lesser shot: Foreman-just awesome at his best (Norton, Frazier 1), came reasonably close to Evander in his older aged career also. Evander-was very skilled across the board and tough as nails in his prime. Jeff-his bouts with Fitz aside, Corbett would have won by a landslide in their first go if it had been over 15 and it would seem so might have Sharkey. Wills-his greatest wins (over Sam) also may be the biggest drawbacks on the man. Past his prime Sam still put the one punch ko over the big man twice leaving me to believe Jeff would have also.
Of the four top guys I'd say they are as follows 1. Jeffries 2. Foreman 3. Holyfield 4. Wills I think Foreman, Jeffreis, and Holyfield are all above Walcott, Charles, Schmeling, and Bowe. I want to see how Wlad's career ends before placing him, but for now he's not above Foreman, Jeffries, or Holyfield either. I'd place Wills slightly below Schmeling, and Bowe, but slightly above Walcott. Chalres and Wills are about even.
FOREMAN - The 'anywhere punch' - anywhere it hits you it breaks something inside you - to stand and trade with Foreman was considered suicide for 99% of the fighters he faced not only in his prime but also into his 40's!! Smart elusive boxers could make him pay for mistakes but none of the below could (except maybe be Charles/Walcott) - he is also the only heavyweight great to be a serious contender AND CHAMPION in 2 different eras!! How many people could say that arguably they were briefly avoided by both Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson haha (Charles, Walcott, Bowe on their best nights would be slotted in here in that order) HOLYFIELD - great warrior but can't rate him above Big George who at 42 gave prime Vander a troublesome distance tussle - also his records against alot of his best opponents hinders him a little 1-2 versus Bowe, 1-1 versus Moorer, 0-1-1 versus Lewis (should've been 0-2), and 1-1-1 versus Ruiz - not dominant enough to be rated above George JEFFRIES - did fight avoided blacks Bob Armstrong, Peter Jackson, George Godfrey and obviously Johnson aswell - think he would've tortured Wills personally WILLS - made out to be more than he was in my book - usually by Dempsey-haters using him as a beating stick - fact is, at his best lost first 4 matches to old Sam Langford before Sam went completely blind