Which If Best Top Ten List

List A
1. Rocky Marciano
2. Muhammad Ali
3. Joe Louis
4. Joe Frazier
5. George Foreman
6. Jack Dempsey
7. Larry Holmes
8. Jack Johnson
9. Mike Tyson
10. Sonny Liston

Holy/Lennox missing....Tyson & Johnson I have just outside.
marciano a little higher than I put him, and so is Frazier (as much as I like him)...Holmes should be moved up...Not to bad though.

List B
1. Joe Louis
2. Muhammad Ali
3. Jack Dempsey
4. Jack Johnson
5. Gene Tunney
6. Rocky Marciano
7. Ezzard Charles
8. George Foreman
9. Joe Frazier
10. Larry Holmes

holy/lennox/Liston missing...Johnson just outside, Tunney & charles are to high...holmes/Foreman to low..Not horrible, but I like A better so far.

List C
1. Muhammad Ali
2. Joe Louis
3. Floyd Patterson
4. Ezzard Charles
5. Rocky Marciano
6. Jack Johnson
7. Sonny Liston
8. Larry Holmes
9. Jimmy Bivins
10. Sam Langford

No Holy/lennox/Forman/dempseyFrazier....Johnson just outside..I like Patterson, BUT NOT IN THE TOP 10! Charles, Bivens & Langford should be lower. Holmes to low...I like this the least so far, Floyd's ranking at 3 makes this hard to take serious.

List D
1. Muhammad Ali
2. Joe Louis
3. Rocky Marciano
4. Jack Dempsey
5. Jack Johnson
6. Larry Holmes
7. Sonny Liston
8. Joe Frazier
9. Sam Langford
10. Jersey Joe Walcott

No Holy/Lennox/Foreman...johnson/Langford/Walcott to the outside...The rest of the list looks defendable. the best so far???

List E
1. Muhammad Ali
2. Joe Louis
3. Evander Holyfield
4. George Foreman
5. Larry Holmes
6. Rocky Marciano
7. Sonny Liston
8. Joe Frazier
9. Jack Johnson
10. Jack Dempsey

I would flop lennox for Johnson...Evander at 3 seems to high...dempsey (IMO) seems low.

D & E
A
B
C

 

None are great shakes but I'd say overall 'A' is the best: for want of a better word (despite the too high placings of Marciano, Foreman and Dempsey). I still have a problem with Lewis not being on any of 'em.

 

'E' is reasonably good overall, appart from the #3 and #4. Put Lewis in drop Dempsey and Foreman and it'd almost be there.

 

I'd say A, then E, then D, then B, then C. A is the only one in which I feel that all of the placings are reasonably defensible and a sound argument could be made in their favor. E would be the best but for Holyfield at #3, which I feel is getting pretty far into stretch territory. D looks all well and good until you get to the last two names, which, although I love both of those guys, do not belong there ahead of the likes of George Foreman, Jim Jeffries, or even Holyfield or Tyson. List B is approximately equal to list D, but ranks below it just because the strange choices are higher up the list, and List C is last on the basis of the strange choices being outright abundant and distributed throughout.

 

It is already stated that Lewis should not be considered so all lists are form before 2000.
As of Y2k i like E the best. Move down Holyfield to around 6-8, switch Holmes & Foreman and it is pretty good.
I think you have to look at when the list could be made in order to determine which fighters are eledgible (spelling), and what was known about them at the time in order to choose the best list.

List A: is could be around 1988 otherwise no Tyson.
Marciano above Ali & Louis discualifies it for me.

List B: could be made during Holmes reign e.g. 84.
Tunney and Charles over Frazier & no Liston is wrong.

List C: Has Patterson at 3 and above Liston and it is made after 82 otherwise no Holmes, so that disqualifies it for me. I don´t like Bivins in it either.

List D can be from around 85, No Tyson, Holyfield & Foreman, the comeback moved him up on an all time list. There is nothing that is really wrong with at the time. Yuo can allways switch fighters 1 -3 positions no problem. Good list.

List E is from The Ring right before Lewis - Holyfield if i am not mistaking. Holyfield should have beat Lewis plus few others around Y2K to justify 3rd. otherwise not much to argue about.

I would say D&E are the best. I might lean towards D if it was made when i think it was.

 

Fair enough observations in that last post. Providing the lists were made at those given times some of them would be a tad more understandable I suppose. Still some bizarre inclusions/omittions, though.

 

Every single list requires a certain degree of second guessing, but at least list E doesn't feature any fighter who would qualify as a significant reach to be in the Top 10, IMO.

 

If I were to revise it, List E would become....

1. Muhammad Ali
2. Joe Louis
3. Jack Johnson
4. Larry Holmes
5. Rocky Marciano
6. George Foreman
7. Joe Frazier
8. Jack Dempsey
9. Sonny Liston
10. Evander Holyfield

 

I will take B. Tunney is too high for my liking though as is Charles. Also no Larry Holmes.
But out of the list. It is the one I choose.

 

List C was awful, I don't think I can ever trust Boxrec again.

 

So, the experts' poll and the public list are pretty good with Ring Mag's list closing up, but the battle of the losers was between

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Which sugar just pulled out.


Good stuff, Fogey.:good




On a sidenote, i think most people's rankings here are on par if not better than most official historian's rankings. There's boxing historian's that don't have Monzon in their top10 middleweights. The moral? Just because someone has a title does not necessary make his opinion reliable.