My work here is nearly done, a long haul from 1880...comments, suggestions, criticisms, all welcome...and remember it is just for fights in the decade. I found it hard to separate the placements from 5 to 20 but here goes; W.Klitschko 1 Lewis 2 V. Klitschko 3 Byrd 4 Chagaev 5 Rahman 6 Toney 7 Valuev 8 Tua 9 Ruiz 10 Peter 11 Holyfield 12 Chambers 13 Sanders 14 Brewster 15 Ibragimov 16 Haye 17 Jones 18 Maskaev 19 Brock 20 Oquendo 21 Austin 22 Gomez 23 Mccall 24 Sam 25 Briggs 26 Liakhovichn 27 Kirk Johnson 28 Thompson 29 Donald 30 Mccline 31 Tyson 32 Golota 33 Williamson 34 Mesi 35 Etienne 36 Arreola 37 Adamek 38 Krasniqi 39 Whitaker 40 Boytsov 41 Solis 42 Barrett 43 Virchis 44 Ustinov 45 Nielsen 46 Pianeta 47 D.Williams 48 Botha 49 Boswell 50
Big effort with that, good job. I go for top 10 in my lists, would struggle to go far beyond that, but this is my top 13 (Still need to do a little review, so might make some changes): 1. Wladimir Klitschko 2. Lennox Lewis 3. Chris Byrd 4. Hasim Rahman 5. Lamon Brewster 6. John Ruiz 7. Vitali Klitschko 8. Evander Holyfield 9. Jameel McCline 10. Fres Oquendo 11. David Tua 12. Samuel Peter 13. Ruslan Chagaev I guess my main main points of disagreements would be: Underrated: - Jameel McCline I give him some credit for the Chris Byrd fight, which to me could've gone either way - but even setting this aside, He had some solid victories over Grant, Briggs, Whittaker and Boswell. I think should put him in the top 20 at least. Overrated: - David Haye He only had 2 heavyweight fights in that decade, against past-prime Barnett and always overrated and already exposed Valuev. I struggle to see how He can be ranked above Brewster for example. Even if Lamon was erratic, He still holds the win over the best Heavyweight of the decade and had couple decent wins on top of that. Then there's bunch of other guys who also clearly did more than Haye, in the 2000s. Just my 2 cents. Again, good job with that. An impressive project.
Much more than two cents! I f**k*d with Haye, I was crediting him with Ruiz too, which took place in 2010. Thanks. I'll edit that. McCline, I don't really rate his wins that much, Grant I don't rate in the decade and Boswell, Whitaker and Briggs are not in my top 25, add in losses he suffered and I think he is about right. In fairness, you could talk up or down dozens of these fighter, so erratic were results.
Yes, that's why there's not that much room for disagreement ). McCline We already discussed. As for Oquendo - I have him high since to me, He got jobbed against Holyfield and Toney, plus I had him beating Byrd as well. He had couple respectable wins on top of that also and two guys that stopped him, had to come from behind to do it. On the other hand, I believe that Valuev received some gifts, or at least was very unconvincing in many fights (Donald, Ruiz, Holyfield...), getting many calls just because of being the A-Side, so I don't rate him that highly.
IMO Overrated (Byrd, Toney, Tua, Samuel Peter, Holyfield, Maskaev) Underrated(Chambers, Ibragimov, Haye, Calvin Brock, Oquendo, Briggs, Thompson, McCline, Monte Barrett) Finally Sketon isn't ranked. If Skelton started his career 5 years earlier he might be like 10th.
Rahman, Ruiz, Holyfield, Sanders, Brewster, Liakovich, and Tyson are too low. Sam, Williamson, and McCall are too high. Not sure how I feel about Jones and his single victory. He should be a little lower. Adamek shouldn't even be on there since he only beat a shot Golota, but he should rank fairly highly in the next decade. Guinn and Dimitrenko should be on the list. After looking though three of these, I sense a little bit of UK centric ranking. Edit: Solis removed because his best year was 2010.
Yes, that's a good pick. Matt had a good "body of work" and some solid wins in the 2000s. He certainly fought on higher level and has better wins than Boswell, Ustinov or Nielsen. I think I'd put him in top 40. I think from the British Heavyweight scene, even someone like Sprott could be considered. At least He was in competitive fights regularly and picked up some respectable wins over Williams, Audley, plus some undefeated guys over in Germany. I also agree with @NoNeck that Adamek doesn't really belong if We take just the 2000s into account. Dimitrenko is a good pick. Where I'd differ is regarding Solis. He had the talent, but He didn't really do much. I'd probably knock him off alltogether, along with Adamek, Boswell, Ustinov, Nielsen, Boytsov... Throwing in Guinn, Dimitrenko, Skelton, Sprott.... and maybe some of the Heavyweight Explosion regulars. They had some decent fights on there. How about Charles Shufford? He did beat Brewster and Elieser Castillo.
I’m actually wrong about Solis. His wins over Barrett and Austin happened in 2010, excluding him from the list. I was thrown off because Boytsov was listed above him and was around at the same time as Solis, but had a worse career. Skelton and Sprott never saw the top ten and are little known outside of UK.
Austin was his best win, but it was in 2010. He also only made top 10 in 2013. I'm surprised at it, looking back - but it was a bit of a dry period in the Heavyweight division, so I guess it didn't take much. It all comes down to how much one feels that losses take away from a fighter, but in terms of wins, Sprott has: - Timo Hoffmann. - Danny Williams - Cengiz Koc - Rene Dettweiler - Audley Harrison Maybe not quite murderer's row, but it's certainly more impressive than anything that Solis could brag about, particularly pre 2010.
Got it. It's hard to remember exact timing, I had to double check some things too. I would not have Boytsov in my top 50. He was a popular Heavyweight prospect, but He was very carefully managed. What is his best win in the 2000s... Bidenko probably? A solid gate-keeper, but I don't think that's enough. I think You probably noticed that I don't value undefeated record that much, so I'd look favorably at guys who might've stumbled quite a bit, but fought on higher level and picked up some solid wins. Elieser Castillo for example. I'd rather have him on lists like this over somebody like Boytsov who put together a nice record, but against carefully picked opponents. On the Euro scene, it could be Hoffmann, on U.K/Euro - Sprott etc. Just my preference.
Yes he won the EBU/Commonwealth double and the WBU title as well. He debuted at 35 by the time he got his big fights he was done. He was supposed to be part of the Lennox and Akinwande generation. I would also put Audley Harrison over Danny Williams. Audley gets a bad wrap because of the Olympic expectations. Those guys are really expected to be great. Sprotts 3-12 against HW contenders and the Skelton win was speed boxing. Or even super speed boxing given speed boxings 4 rounds. A few of his better wins are speed boxing. Shufford is a great pick as well. Derrek Jefferson is another Wlad defense that made a Ring top 10. He put Botha down 15 more spots. Dammmm.