This one should get plenty of comment, and not much need to set out the contenders for everyone, at this stage. I will start off with a quick ranking off the top of my head, probably with some obvious ommissions and errors to start discussions. let us see if we can get a consensus on the ranking. 1. Muhammed Ali 2. George Foreman 3. Joe Frazier 4. Ken Norton 5. Floyd Paterson 6. Joe Bugner 7. Earnie Shavers 8. Jimmy Young 9. George Chuvalo 10 Floyd Paterson. Let us see if we can get a consensus here.
Obviously Ali is at the top of the list but the rest could be moved around from place to place. For example Foreman is placed above Norton and Frazier but both men beat Ali and gave him hell in a 3 fight series while Foreman was exposed by Ali and knocked out when they met yet Foreman KOed both Frazier and Norton so go figure. Then we have Jimmy Young who beat Foreman and loses disputed decisions to Ali and Norton (and let's face it...those 2 decisions could have gone the other way)so imagine if Young got those decisions...He'd have wins over Foreman, Norton and Ali! And what about Jerry Quarry? Granted he couldn't beat the likes of Ali, Frazier and Norton (well maybe Norton in his prime) but he beat 2 men on the list..Patterson and Shavers as well as a host of other good fighters during the period. I'm rambling some but I think it's difficult to accurately rate these fighters except for Ali. All were very good or great at some point and some were inconsistent at times. Records alone don't tell the whole story which is why it's tough to place each fighter accurately. Like I said, Ali is certainly at the top due to the fact that he beat every fighter on the list at least once but the others I'm having a hard time with.
comparing Norton to Frazier were interesting. Both lost close and disputed 3 fight series to Ali, and both were blown out by Foreman. I think that Foremans dominance over these two puts him a clear second. Actually there is a decent argument that he should be rated over Ali, but i think Ali is consensus one and Foreman consensus 2. No. 5 is where it starts to get hard. Would it be fair to put in say Floyd Paterson, Jimmy Young as the next two. I think that Young's victory over Foreman must lift him into consideration, probably as no 5 ahead of Patterson. Quarry, is an interesting one. I deliberately left him out because he is not in the same class as Ali or Foreman, and also because i knew he would find his supporters who also push his barrel. 8-10 also gets very interesting. Big names and hitters like Shavers and to a lesser extent Lyle, as opposed to solid chins and performes like Chuvalo, Or other less heralded guys like Bugner.
Is this best over their whole career or best during that decade? Patterson didn't do much of note in the 1970s, but had a very good career overall. Much of Holmes's resume comes from outside that decade and Foreman added to his resume after 1979. On the flipside, John Tate looks very good if you just look at what he did in the 1970s. PS: Was Patterson so great as to get two mentions? :hey
Patterson only lost one fight in the 70s (to Ali) if not mistaken, and had a big win over Bonavena but yeah, I don't have him so particularly high. Holmes did most of his work in the 80s obviously, but has some good accomplishments in the latter part of the 1970s when he initially became the WBC champ. 5-10 is so debatable and flip-flop prone that I can't even keep my story straight most of the time.
1. Muhammad Ali 2. George Foreman 3. Joe Frazier 4. Ken Norton 5. Larry Holmes 6. Jerry Quarry 7. Jimmy Young 8. Ron Lyle 9. Earnie Shavers 10. Joe Bugner
Let's add a twist to this list...Instead of records or accomplishments during the decade, let's go head to head (My favorite way of asessing greatness) and take each fighter on that list and assume they're at thier very best. Now let's have them all meet each other at least once in a round robin tournament so to speak...Sort of like a baseball season and then rate them. At the end of the "season" who would come in 1st, 2nd etc..Assuming like I said that they're all at thier best (best during the 70's only). Might be interesting to see what our fellow experts think.
Both Floyd Pattersons lol: :huh) that you have at numbers 5 and 10 did their best work in the previous decade. I see it like this - 1 Ali 2 Foreman 3 Frazier 4 Norton 5 Young 6 Holmes * 7 Quarry 8 Lyle 9 Shavers 10 Tate I rate Holmes as my third on my ALL TIME heavy list,but as he only came into prominence during the last couple of years of this decade,I have him at sixth
And I thought it meant p4p . hw will b : 1. George Foreman 2. Muhammad Ali 3. Joe Frazier 4. George Chuvalo 5. John Tate 6. Earnie Shavers 7. Jimmy Young 8. Ron Lyle 9. Ken Norton 10. Jerry Quarry 11. Oscar Bonavena 12. Larry Holmes
1. Ron Lyle 2. Roberto Duran (ducked by every HW out there, had to stay at 135 and 147) 3. Muhammad Ali 4. Jimmy Young 5. George Foreman 6. Joe Frazier 7. Earnie Shavers 8. Carlos Monzon (KO'd Frazier in sparring) 9. Duane Bobick 10. Nick Wells 11. Larry Holmes 12. Jerry Quarry
