Which HEAVYWEIGHT Defeated The Most Top 10 CONTENDERS?

Joe Frazier vs Ring Magazine Top Ten
10-4 (7 Knockouts)

1966
Oscar Bonavena - No. 9 -W 10


1967
George Chuvalo - No. 4 -KO 4


1968
Buster Mathis- No. 10 -KO 11
(Frazier 19-0 17 ko)
(Mathis 23-0 17 ko)

Manuel Ramos - No. 4 -KO 2
Oscar Bonavena - No. 3- W 15

1969
Jerry Quarry - No. 3-KO 7
(Frazier 23-0 20 ko)
(Quarry 31-2-4 18 ko)

1970
Jimmy Ellis - No. 3 (WBA Heavyweight Champion) -KO 5
Bob Foster ( World Light Heavyweight Champion) -KO 2

1971
Muhammad Ali - No. 1 W 15
(Frazier 26-0 23 ko)
(Ali 31-0 25 ko)

1973
George Foreman - No. 2 - LOSS 2
(Foreman 37-0. 34 ko)
(Frazier 29-0. 25 ko)

1974
Muhammad Ali - No. 1 - LOSS 12
Jerry Quarry - No. 3- KO 5
(Frazier 30-2 25 ko)
(Quarry 49-6-4 30 ko)

1975
Muhammad Ali - World Heavyweight Champion - LOSS 14

1976
George Foreman - No. 2 - LOSS-5

 

Jerry Quarry defeated (15) Past, Present, Future, Top Teners
London x2, Miteff, Patterson, Daniels, Spencer, Mathis, Foster, Bodell, Corletti, Middleton, Neumann, Lyle, Shavers, Zanon.

(8) Ring-at the time

Patterson - No. 5
Spencer - No. 2
Mathis - No. 6
Foster - No. 1
Bodell -No. 8
Middleton - No. 7
Lyle - No. 3
Shavers - No. 6

 

Good stuff. Are you doing a Top 10 list? We all would appreciate that Ronny! :good

 

Two fighters who never held the title, who really went through the mill on this basis, are Bob Satterfield and Turkey Thompson.

 

Awesome thread, the kind that keeps bringing me back.

(Well, also the chance to see how people think Harold Johnson would have done against every heavyweight who ever lived.)

 

What really matter is how those "contenders" are remembered now... not what they were ranked back then. Just because a guy was the #1 contender, doesn't mean he was a great or even a very good fighter. It just means at some point people thought he was good.

Let's look at Heavyweights who honestly fought and beat some very good fighters-

Ali beat lineal HW world champs-
Floyd Patterson x2, Sonny Liston x2, Joe Frazier 2 out of 3, George Foreman, and Leon Spinks 1 out of 2.

He beat HW world title holders-
Ernie Terrell, Jimmy Ellis, and Ken Norton

He beat LHW world champs-
Archie Moore and Bob Foster

He beat non-world title holders-
Doug Jones, Henry Cooper x2, George Chuvalo x2, Cleveland Williams, Zora Folley, Jerry Quarry x2, Oscar Bonavena, Buster Mathis, Joe Bugner x2, Chuck Wepner, Ron Lyle, Jimmy Young, Ernie Shavers, and others.

Holyfield beat more lineal HW world champs than anyone else-
George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Mike Tyson x2, James Douglas, Rid**** Bowe (1 out of 3), Michael Moorer (1 out of 2), and Hasim Rahman. He drew with lineal HW champ Lennox Lewis (he also lost to him).

He beat HW world title holders-
Pinklon Thomas, Michael Dokes, Ray Mercer, Jon Ruiz (1 win, 1 loss, and 1 draw), Frans Botha

He beat LHW world title holder-
Bobby Czyz

He beat non-world title holder-
James Tillis, Adilson Rodrigues, Alex Stewart x2, Bert Cooper, Vaughn Bean, Fres Oquendo, Lou Savarese, and others.

It's worth mentioning that at CW he went 18-0 (14) overall and 6-0 (5) in CW world title fights.

It's also worth mentioning that at age 46 he was robbed vs. Nikolay Valuev for the WBA HW world title.

 

Not a bad list, but the only names that really matter in retrospect are Patterson, Lyle, and Shavers.

He had two close fights with the past prime Patterson. Patterson dropped Quarry and Quarry dropped Patterson. In the end Quarry went 1-0-1 vs. Patterson.

He won a clear decision over the still improving Ron Lyle.

He stopped Ernie Shavers in the 1st round.

Hard to forget his KO losses to George Chuvalo, Joe Frazier x2, Muhammad Ali x2, and Ken Norton though.

He was outboxed by a past prime Eddie Machen and Jimmy Ellis (close fight).


David Tua beat lineal HW world champs Hasim Rahman (he also drew with Rahman) and Michael Moorer. He beat WBA HW world champ John Ruiz. He beat WBC HW world champ Oleg Maskaev. He beat WBA CW world champ Robert Daniels.

Tua lost decisions to lineal HW world champ Lennox Lewis, WBO/WBA HW world champ Chris Byrd, and a very good contender in Ike Ibeabuchi (close fight). He has never been stopped and only went down once (in his 56th pro fight) in 59 pro fights. 52-5-2 (43) overall.

Tua also beat Darroll Wilson, David Izon, Obed Sullivan, Danell Nicholson, Fres, Oquendo, and others.

 

I only mentioned Tua to put Quarry's career into perspective. People always mention Quarry despite the fact that he took some serious ass beatings. He had a few solid wins as I mentioned above but when he stepped up he really got stepped on. At least Tua never got stopped. He did go 12 round with Lennox Lewis and blocked most of the punches with his face.

Quarry beat a faded Patterson and drew with him but he did get dropped by him as well and many people feel Patterson should have went 2-0 vs. Quarry. He beat Lyle by decision and stopped Shavers. He beat a few decent pros like Mac Foster. He was outboxed by a faded Eddie Machen and lost a close decision to Jimmy Ellis.

Tua stopped Rahman and Moorer. He also stopped Ruiz and Maskaev. Are these wins as good as Quarry's over Patteron, Lyle, and Shavers?

 

Ali is the GOAT heavyweight no doubt.

 

A bit subjective Hookie. Some of those fighters Tua beat weren't even known let alone ranked a year later. I would be surprised if Tua is remembered the same way as Jerry Quarry.

 

Ali and Louis are by far the winners hear.

 

Holy cow Archie Moore was rated number five at that age!!!

 

Someone brought up that Jerry might have been champ in another era. I wonder if Weaver, Dokes, or Coetzee could have actually beaten him? Could they have beaten Lyle, Shavers? None of those guys had what could be called iron chins.

I doubt Quarry could have taken the big 90s guys besides perhaps old Holmes and Foreman. Holy, Bowe, Lewis...TKO by all imo. Wonder how he would have done against someone like Wlad (great fighter), Vitalij.

 

Exactly. The alphabet organizations have offered us some inept "top 10 contenders."

For example, James Tillis once kod the WBA's highly rated Domingo D'Elia.

 

I don't think Mathis was ranked by the Ring