Rank these HW fighters: Fury, Joshua, Bowe, Schmeling, Norton, Witherspoon

There is recency bias combined with DKSAB. Having Fury at the top is laughable.

 

I don't know enough about Schmeling (other than the Joe Louis bouts) to rank him.
Anyway, 1. Bowe and 6. AJ. Maybe Tim at #5.

 

What a strange collection of heavyweights. What was your thought process on selecting these guys?

You also don’t specify if - it’s legacy or head 2 head that you want them judged.

If we’re going by Legacy I would have to place Schmeling at the top of the list. He has the singular best win, as well as 4 total wins over hall of famers. While his resume is not super deep it’s probably the best of this group.

Bowe has the next best win but not much depth
Norton has the 3rd best win, the second man to defeat post exile Ali.
Followed by Fury beating a 39 year old Wlad
Followed by Joshua over a 41 year old Wlad.
then you have Witherspoon with no truly great win but a solid resume of good wins

My list would be

Schmeling
Bowe
Fury
Joshua
Norton
Witherspoon

Honestly after Schmeling there is not much separating the rest of the pack. Joshua’s resume is deeper than Fury’s but he has more losses, and Fury holds the best win.
Bowe beat Holyfield but missed a lot of good opponents in the 90s and his one loss record is deceiving. He got stuffing beat out of him by Golota retiring at 29 and should have been disqualified against Mathis Jr.
Norton has some good wins but was knocked out badly and quickly multiple times against all the best punchers he faced.
Witherspoon has good depth but no signature wins.
After Schmeling you can basically shuffle the deck with these guys.

Now head to head is different story. I wouldn’t pick Max to beat a Joshua. A 6’1 195 guy vs a 6’6 245 guy is tall order to confidently pick against.

 

1.Joshua: Klitschko, Povetkin, Whyte, Parker, Ruiz, Pulev, Brezeale, Takam, Helenius
2.Bowe: Evander Holyfield x2, Thomas, Dokes, Tubbs, Biggs, Cooper
3.Fury: Klitschko, Wilder x2, Whyte, Chisora x3
4.Norton: Ali, Quarry, Young
5.Shmeling: Louis, Sharkey, Stribling, Uzcudun
6.Witherspoon: Tillis, Smith, Bruno, Tubbs