Top 20 Heavyweights of all Time

all i meant by my first comment is that louis' loss should mean more because he wasn't as shot as Ali although neither of those losses can mean a considerable amount to their legacy

 

Agreed.

 

Thanks alot man, been looking 2 days for it.

OT:
Don't forget that Joe fought many bums while Ali, Marciano or Lennox Lewis didn't.

I'd put now Lennox in top 3. He beat Tyson, Holyfield, Vitali, Bowe (Olympics), Golota (1min), Bruno, Tucker, Mercer, Briggs, McCall, Akinwande (undefeated at that time), Tua, Ruddock and would beat any prime HW besides Ali if not him too + Lennox never ducked anybody, it were other who ducked him being pro e.g. Bowe.

 

In that case, also put a * next to Lennox's 2 ATG wins, because Tyson was a shot-to-**** overweight corpse with no stamina.

 

reznick you are the man

 

Reznick your videos are always awesome. The order is not too different from mine, personally i would tweak it slightly, but we all have our own opinion on it.
Great video, editing and music. I will look forward to your next one.

 

-That would be a goof on my part. It should be 7-2.

-I can see Tommygun's argument about not including it though, very sad fight and by far the least meaningful of the bunch.

 

Here's where I disagree.

When comparing Tyson and Dempsey's career it's probably one of the easiest comparisons that could be made given their styles and of course their enormous popularity and career arc.

Now in terms of run up to the title, Tyson was blemish free. And while I can appreciate that it was difficult to do the same during Dempsey's time, his level of competition pre-title is about even with Mike's therefore Tyson has the pre-title edge.

Dempsey
Carpentier (Solid win)
Sharkey (Future Heavyweight Champ - Solid win)
Miske (Past Prime but Good win)
Firpo (Solid win)
Gibbons (Good Win)
Williard (Lineal Champ - Good win)
Levinsky (decent win)
Fulton (decent win)
Brennon (decent win)

Tyson
Spinks (Lineal Champ & Former IBF Champ - Solid Win)
Ruddock 2x (Solid Wins)
Tucker (Undefeated IBF Champ - Good Win)
Biggs (Undefeated Olympic Gold Medalist - Solid Win)
Holmes (past prime - Former Lineal Champ & IBF Champ - Good Win)
Thomas (Former WBC Champ - Good Win)
Botha (Former IBF Champ - Good Win)
Bruno 2x (Good Wins)
Tubbs (Former WBA Champ - Decent Win)
Berbick (WBC Champ - Decent Win)
Smith (WBA Champ - Decent Win)

When you consider the popularity of both Champions they simply lack that coveted ATG Heavyweight Win on their resume like FOTC, that continue to resonate long after the bout. It is of my opinion that both resumes contain some very underrated wins on there.

Carpentier for example was a huge fight but over time it's value has been undermined regretfully. Same with Firpo and of course Sharkey who would go on to win the title after Dempsey and Tunney.

Tyson's wins tend to get downplayed as well, Spinks was a very good win over an ATG LHW fighter who made his way north and enjoyed the success at Heavyweight that eluded some greats in the past. Tyson's demolition of Spinks has undermined the win over time in the same manner that Liston's win over Patterson is diluted because Patterson was "chinny." This of course is despite the fact that Patterson was a 10-1 favorite over Liston in thier first meeting. In Tyson's case his win over Spinks came at time where people gave Spinks a legitimate shot. Tyson was still the favorite but nobody really expected short work of him.

His win over Holmes at 38 is often downplayed because of Holmes's time off, but little is said about Foreman taking a year and half off between the Morrison fight and the Moorer fight and winning the title back at the age of 45. Holmes was in shape and had been preparing since the Biggs fight. This was a good win especially since he did to Holmes what nobody would every repeat.

In the end it comes down to this:

1. Tyson's resume had better depth.

2. Tyson's reign as champion was better due to the frequency of his title defenses. Dempsey made fewer defenses and held on to the prestigious honor of being Heavyweight Champion even though the crown was being held hostage.

You may speculate as to how Dempsey would have emerged as he aged by becoming more of a boxer but that is all speculation. I can easily speculate that had Tyson not gone to prison his legacy would have been further enhanced with wins over Morrison, Bowe and Mercer. What we do know is what happened so I'll stick to that.

We know what happened when Tyson got older, he couldn't adapt his style to accommodate his declining reflexes. Dempsey retired at age 32. So we don't know what would have happened. Frankly his early retirement may have saved his legacy to the extent that it may have prevented further losses from Schmeling, Baer or Carnera who in all likelihood would have beaten a past prime Dempsey.

As for Holyfield; well this has already been a long post so if anyone wants to take a stab at it feel free.

 

:clown

 

Great Job reznick

The top 10 is the same as I have, just in a different order.