TOP 10 heavyweights of the 1980s

I know there are many here who hate heavyweight discussions in general, but there are probably a lot more of us who share an interesting in heavyweights of the 1980s.

The 1980s was a bit of a muddled decade at heavyweight. Two fighters dominated the division during the decade, Holmes and Tyson, and they are clearly the top 2, and then there's a whole bunch of guys who are often very difficult to split, so that's the "fun" part.

My rankings are based on results/performances from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 1989.
Achievements outside of those dates just don't count.

I'm bound to doubt this list as soon as I've posted it, but here goes :

1. MIKE TYSON
Ended the decade 37-0, was 37-0 in the 1980s. Destroyed lineal champion Mike Spinks and defeated 3 other "world titlists", he had 34 KOs and had at least 10 wins over top 10 contenders, mostly KOs of course, and a few other wins over decent fringe contenders in his pre-title build-up. He was a dominant force, a disciplined destroyer. The way he took care of business in those days is the stuff of legend.

2. LARRY HOLMES
While I would rate Holmes ahead of Tyson on an "all time" list, within the 1980-'89 period he comes out second best, since his best wins/performances were probably in the late 1970s. Holmes wasn't at all prime for much of the decade, and lost to Mike Spinks who was not a legit heavyweight. He also had disputable wins over Tim Witherspoon and Carl Williams and in his last fight of the decade he was battered by Tyson.
On the plus side, Holmes dominated plenty of ranked heavyweights, was 16-3 in the period (ALL world title fights), was champion 1980 to 1985. It's an ATG reign. It puts him well clear of the rest of the pack.

3. TIM WITHERSPOON
Wins over Greg Page, Tony Tubbs, James Smith, Frank Bruno, James Tillis, Renaldo Snipes as well as his 1983 fight with Holmes that could have been scored his way.
He lost to Pinklon Thomas and had that strange 1st round loss to Smith, who he'd previously dominated.

4. PINKLON THOMAS
The 1984 win over Witherspoon was his best, but KO wins over Weaver (1985) and Tillis (1982) were impressive at the time too, and a 10-round draw with Coetzee (1983) doesn't hurt him. A loss to Berbick (1986) was quite close but he really looked like he was suddenly dropping off form, although he didn't disgrace himself against Tyson either (1987). He looked shot already in 1988 against Holyfield, but Holyfield was hitting his prime so that's no disgrace at all.

5. MIKE WEAVER
Started the 1980s with KO wins over unbeaten John Tate, once-beaten Gerrie Coetzee, a 15 round decision against unbeaten James Tillis. A very good run. His 1st round loss to Dokes was considered a premature stoppage, and I had him ahead in the the 15 round rematch that was declared a draw. He was KO'd by Thomas in 1985 but bounced back to KO a young Carl Williams in his next fight before being smashed away in 1 round by Bonecrusher.
He was in his mid-thirties and being used as a stepping stone by 1986/'87 but still managed to beat down some of these prospects, such as James Pritchard and Johnny Duplooy (although he lost the rematch).

6. TREVOR BERBICK
On the plus side : impressive upset wins over John Tate, unbeaten Greg Page, unbeaten Pinklon Thomas for the WBC title, as well as secondary wins over David Bey and unbeaten Mitch Green. He was also the first challenger to take Larry Holmes the full 15 rounds.
On the minus side : Had a dull loss to S.T. Gordon, a loss to Renaldo Snipes, didn't exactly win many rounds in his fight with Holmes, Tyson destroyed him, and he ended the decade with dreary performances losing to C.Williams and J.Douglas.

7. TONY TUBBS
I don't think Tubbs did an awful lot but his only losses in this period were to a prime Mike Tyson and a close 15-round loss to Witherspoon.
He comfortably defeated James Smith, Greg Page and Orlin Norris. (the Norris win was officially changed to an NC because Tubbs tested positive for weed or coke but I don't hold that against him!)

8. JAMES "BONECRUSHER" SMITH
He turned professional in 1981 and was 22-8-1 by the end of the decade.
Numerically that doesn't suggest a good fighter but 4 of those 8 losses were to men ranked above him on this list (specifically my #1, #2, #3 and #7).
The other 4 losses were:
In his pro debut as a late-sub opponent for prospect James Broad.
Hotly disputed decisions to Marvis Frazier and Adilson Rodrigues.
A 1989 KO defeat to contender Razor Ruddock, whereupon Smith was clearly past his best already.
His wins include : KOs over unbeaten 21-0 Frank Bruno, Mike Weaver and Tim Witherspoon. Decisions over David Bey, Jose Ribalta and Jesse Ferguson, when those guys were all pretty decent fringe contenders.

9. TONY TUCKER
He turned professional in 1980 and was 35-1 by the end of 1989. The problem is, most of those 35 were very poor opposition.
The only loss was a decent 12-round decision loss to prime Mike Tyson in a unification fight, so that's good.
By far Tucker's best win is the 10th round TKO against Buster Douglas for the IBF title in his previous fight.
Other than that, he beat Eddie "Animal" Lopez, a fat and faded James Broad (who was a proper contender), an old Jimmy Young who was on a 4-fight losing run ..... and a bunch of stiffs.

10. MICHAEL SPINKS
Rightly or wrongly, I'll throw Spinks in this last spot, despite being only 4-1 as a heavyweight, he was legitimately the lineal champion of the world 1985-'88.
His 1985 win over Larry Holmes, despite Holmes's complaints, was a just decision.
The rematch was contentious.
Steffen Tangstad and Gerry Cooney were soft-touch defences perhaps but Spinks at least went out there are made short work of them.
Okay, the less said about his effort against Tyson, the better.

 

Yes, the interesting thing is, there probably are quite a few other heavyweights of the 1980s that I might pick to beat some of the men on my list, prime-for-prime.
But some of them just didn't do enough. And you have to factor in the losses too.
There are so many possible match-ups that could go either way, and in the real world there were lots of close fights. I guess theire was whole crop or two of heavyweights who were equally matched, hence so much "inconsistency" on their records.

 

Yes. The only thing easy about the 1980s order is Tyson and Holmes as the top 2, and it doesn't really matter who goes #1 and who goes #2.

#3 to #10 is the tricky part and I'm sure there can be hundreds of possible permeations.

 

Solid list. 9 of the same names as mine, except I have Weaver on mine and I don't have Bruno.
I don't like Michael Spinks above Holmes, but it's your list. Cheers.