Who were the top 10 heavies during the 80`s

Norton would’ve been smoked early by Shavers and Cooney, let alone Tyson. A faded Norton would’ve just been another Tyson opponent to be downgraded by “hardcore” fans after the inevitable beatdown.

PS Holmes fought him in the 70s.

 

Surely Tyson's 80's work has to be rated higher than Holmes? He was undefeated, beat Holmes, and had a similar caliber of victories.

 

That didn't happen in the 80s.

 

I wasn't talking about a fight between Norton and Mike, though I agree Ken would have lost that one bad.

What I meant was hypothetical, and outside the context of the topic 80s (I should have explained that).

I was just asking in general who Tyson beat as an opponent in the 80s that was the level of even a late '70s Ken Norton?

Part of it might be that Mike only held the title for a few years in the 80s. There's also the widely held belief that Holmes ranks higher as an ATG.

It's mostly boxing casuals who rank Tyson high in the top ten heavy ATGs (though there are some notable, knowledgeable people here who disagree). Mike went downhill after his 80s reign, though he did have some really good performances after Douglas it could be argued he never quite reached the level of Bowe, Holyfield, or Lewis in the 90s.

 

This was a tough choice. I ended up making Holmes #1 due to the 15 title defenses.

 

Pretty good list

 

I would 100% rank Holmes higher as an overall fighter. I was a bit surprised that when I analyzed strictly their 80's records, Tysons was superior IMO.

 

Spinks was probably better. The Holmes fight for Norton was sandwiched between a questionable win over Young and getting starched by Shavers.

Tucker, Thomas, and Williams have a case. Berbick maybe a little worse but somehow his resume was solid.

I think 91 Ruddock was better.

 

It didn't happen for only 41 days. Lol

 

Michael Spinks shouldn't be that low.

 

I can't see any possible argument for Tyson not being #1.

Holmes fought both Shavers bouts, Norton and Weaver in the 70's. He also lost to Spinks x 2 and Tyson as well.

Tyson may have only entered in 85 but the work he got done in the space of time left was incredible really. Undisputed champ, lineal champ, 9 defences, stopped almost everyone and most of them brutally, almost zero filler once champ and never lost at any stage, or even looked like losing a fight after winningg the title. 37-0 with about 33 stoppages. Insane really.

His first bout post 80's was his loss to Douglas. If he never fought again after Carl Williams one can barely imagine where he'd be ranked and what esteem he'd be held in.

 

Well he does have two wins over Holmes and only the loss to Tyson so despite not doing much else he didn't have enough bouts against decent fighters to lose as many as the typical up and down 80's guys. Depending on ones criteria they could certainly pop him much higher.

 

This is interesting. I'm wondering if any of the names above had a victory as great as beating a pre-Zaire Ali, or arguably beating a Larry Holmes in his prime.

This is where I doubt. Even a past-it Norton against Holmes gave one of the most courageous performances in the 20th century, on a par with Holyfield against Bowe in their first fight. When did any of the above names do anything like that in the heavyweight division? Certainly not Spinks..

Actually, my friend, we could conceivably assert Berbick gave very courageous performances against both Holmes and Tyson...he was also champ once, with big wins over Page and Thomas.

Perhaps Berbick is a far better example...Spinks really didn't do much as a heavyweight, beat a Larry Holmes who was deep into his decline (once, and barely), beat up a partied-out Cooney, then beat up some garbage collector (or something) before being trounced by an on-fire Tyson. (Of course, if you're talking about light heavy Spinks, he was practically as good as they came).

 

Holmes knocked the crap out of top contenders Gerry Cooney, Leon Spinks, and Trevor Berbick, also future champs Tim Witherspoon and James Smith (stopped him, something Mike Tyson couldn't do). Also ranked were Renaldo, Snipes, Leroy Jones, David Bey, and Carl Williams...on paper that's still pretty damn impressive (actualy no, that's just generally pretty damn impressive, period). He held the title well over five years in the 80s, Mike held a bit over 3.

I am concerned you're underrating the 80s Holmes a bit but then...oh hell, I'm probably just sticking up for my favorite fighter again, ignore me lol.