Which heavyweight champions fought the best fighter on the planet most often.

Hhascup struck me as very serious about his facts and he says it's from his old Ring mags. If I remember correctly he was involved in some such work as Boxrec or similar. Fleeting memories, but I seem to recall him talking about such.

 

Tyson Fury 2-0

Wladimir Klitschko (W)
Deontay Wilder (W) - their second fight

 

Briggs was arguably the lineal champion when Lewis beat him, but he was never considered the best in the world. Including him shows the flaws in adhering to a strict lineal policy for exercises like this.

 

Briggs put up a damn good fight against Lewis though. Even rocked him a couple of times. Fast hands an decent power.

 

Iron Mike was a heavyweight champion who beat the best on the planet with 10 title defenses

 

Nah, Holy was the best contender during his reign. Witherspoon was also up there with anyone he beat.

He didn't duck anybody, but these guys were as good or better than anyone he beat.

 

What? Hold on a minute. I've been reading more than a few threads in Classic about how great a champ Floyd Patterson was, but I don't see him on your list, and no one in subsequent posts has listed him as fighting best opponents in his title reign(s).

Am confused. Did Patterson fight the best on the planet during his times as champ, or was his resume paper thin?

 

Ok sorry, but still I was wondering if he had faced any ranked HWs. He fought Liston twice, Ali trice, Quarry twice (I think) and Moore once. Doesn't that fit your criteria? Even Johansson was ranked highly.

 

That 1 is real important to you isn’t it?

 

Yeah this is a wee bit outdated.

 

Ya think?

 

My take on Larry Holmes vs. Muhammad Ali: The Lineal Title that Muhammad Ali vacated when he retired was still up for grabs when he returned. Larry Holmes was universally recognized as the best Heavyweight on the planet after Ali retired. Ali returned. Holmes beat him. Larry Holmes became Lineal Champion at that point in time, by defeating the last guy to hold the title of Lineal Champion (even if it was about 2 years back when Ali recaptured it). Ali's condition has no bearing on it. He was cleared to fight and therefore fair game. It seems pretty clear cut to me.