top 10 hw's of the decade and how do they compare?

Oleg Maskaev is not a contender for the list. The first Rahman fight, by far the biggest win of his career, was in 99.

 

Lennox Lewis
Wladimir Klit
Vitlai Klit
Chris Byrd
John Ruiz
Ruslan Chagaev
Hasim Rahman
Nikolay Valuev
Samuel Peter
Lamon Brewster/James Toney

 

I think the main reason the last decade seems particulary weak for heavyweights is because Lewis' prime doesnt coincide with the Klits and the two brothers obviously never fought each other, so the three greatest HWs of the decade never really engaged

Imagine if Lewis had a couple of fights each with the Klitschko's and the two brothers fought each other, then you would have 3 great fighters and some great unifying fights, wite Instead the 3, from 2000 on, mostly fought guys who, while often very good fighters, were a level below the elite. When there is not enough competition the era often seems weak, but this shouldnt detract from the skills of the top fighters.

 

That's a big part of the reason, but another part is that Lewis and the Klitschko's have styles that are perfect for making pretty good boxers look worthless. Off the top of my head, Byrd, Chagaev, Ibragimov, Tua, Gomez, and others were made to look terrible when put in the spotlight because they couldn't deal with the jabbing and tall-fighting. It also would have been nice to have more contenders fighting each other.

 

Brewster deserves to be on instead of Peter. Peter's only win of value was the second Toney fight. Maskaev sucked and Peter got a gift in the first Toney fight. Chambers also did more than Peter.

Brewster should get the 8 or 9 spot.

 

okay...but Peter accomplished very little. The man who dominated him, Chambers, has definitely done more and lost fewer.