Your top 10 favourite heavyweights of all time that don’t make

This is a good list you made.

Hard to answer because it is tough to say who does and does not get in the top ten. Does Ezzard Charles make the top ten? I think it is fair to exclude Usyk, but if he beats Fury and retires undefeated, he definitely has some sort of asterix by his name. Maybe...

Usyk
Charles (if you don't put him on your top ten)
Chonyski
Byrd
Larry Gaines
Schmeling
Sanders
Tua
Witherspoon
Ibeabuchi

Runners up:
Elmer Ray
Quarry
Lyle
Mercer

You could really go on and on with this one.

POST SCRIPT:
Not always as a fighter, but as a person, I always liked Bonecrusher Smith. He was a softspoken, nice guy college graduate and gentleman who would have gone further in the sport if he was just a little meaner.

As a fighter- sometimes he was that guy who could come from behind with one big punch...and sometimes he just stunk it out!

 

1) Jersey Joe Walcott. A man of mixed legacy. Had a vexing style all his own. Beat Louis in 1947 but lost the decision. Knocked out prime Charles, had Marciano outpointed until the fateful 13th round. But will be remembered also for inexplicable losses to inferior opponents, the odoriferous round one kayo loss to Rocky, and his disastrous refereeing of the Ali-Liston bout in Lewiston.



2) Floyd Patterson. Exciting boxer-puncher who beat a lot of bigger heavyweights. Youngest heavyweight champ until Tyson came along. Had blinding hand speed. Always interesting to watch.

3) Gene Tunney. Tough-as-nails ex-Marine, defeated only by the great Harry Greb, smart enough to marry big money and retire to the life of a country gentleman.

4) Jerry Quarry. He might've been champ if he'd been born 15-20 years earlier. Had a great left hook to the body. Specialized in beating big punchers: Shavers, Lyle, Mac Foster. We know how well he did against Patterson. How would he have fared against Marciano?

5) Max Baer. Had glaring technical faults as a boxer but a killer with that lethal right hand.

6) Jack Johnson. When Muhammad Ali was starting out, Johnson was consistently ranked with Louis and Dempsey as the greatest heavyweight champs. The tendency today is to dismiss him as a defensive boxer with an archaic style. I think he still belongs in the top five. A towering, controversial figure in sports history.

7) Bob Satterfield. Put all of his considerable power into every punch. Never dull. You knew almost every fight of his would end with smelling salts.

8) Ezzard Charles. An artist in the ring, never properly appreciated. Twice gave Marciano all he could handle.

9) Evander Holyfield. A true warrior. Wasn't afraid to fight anyone. Punctured the myth of "unbeatable" Tyson. Overmatched against Riddick Bowe but still managed to eke out a win. Stood toe-to-toe with old George Foreman and prevailed. Was still fighting and beating tough guys at the end of a 28-year career.

10) Vitali Klitschko. They don't come any tougher. Lennox Lewis wanted no part of a
rematch after winning over him on cuts in a brutal bout. Might have cracked the top 10 all time if he'd fought in a better era.

 

Full disclosure, I have Johnson and Liston in the top 10.

Braddock
Charles
Dempsey
Holyfield
Norton
Patterson
Schmeling
Tunney
Walcott

 

My top 10: Johnson, Dempsey, Louis, Marciano, Tyson, Holmes, Foreman, Liston, Ali, Lewis

 

In chronological order, a smattering of non-top 10 fighters I enjoyed watching or reading about or just intrigued by:

-Jack Sharkey
-Lou Nova
-Bob Baker
-Floyd Patterson
-Zora Folley
-Eddie Machen
-Oscar Bonavena
-Jerry Quarry
-John Tate
-Gerry Cooney
-David Tua

I know it was supposed to be 10, but I just kept going.

 

Tunny almost makes it for me. I can't stand the guys who didn't fight the black fighters, but Tunney's achievements were so good that he would be the one where I would somewhat overlook that.

 

Fat Willie Meehan
Gunboat Smith
Sam Mcvey
Tom Sharkey
Billy Miske
Tony Galento
Oscar Bonavena
Mike De John
not favs as such, but sort of interesting.
stay safe guys.

 

Moorer - I liked his style of fighting
Ruddock - disappointed when he was finished by Lennox
Morrison - Fragile and fun to watch
Shavers - Vicious power and someone I met a few times, very soft spoken and polite
Vitali - not exactly elegant but a tough, effective heavyweight
Usyk - the other side of the coin to Vitali, really nice boxing skills
Norton - nice guy who fought an insanely high level of opposition
Patterson - so hard to rate because of inconsistency, but I liked watching him
Golota - crazy but I always watched his fights to see what would happen
Walcott - a crafty fighter.

 

Jeffries? Do you mind going into more detail about that one?

EDIT: As in more detail on why you're a fan, not more detail on why he's not top 10.

 

Leon Spinks: To me an almost storybook tragic character who seemed like a nice guy (if not a disciplined one) who was a case of way too much, way too soon … became a major celebrity overnight and found it overwhelming

Bert Cooper: Ran hot and cold, but man that right hand equalizer could show itself at any moment

Jimmy Young: Defensive master if offensively challenged

Earnie Shavers: That wrecking ball right hand (and an almost-as-devastating left hook)

Jimmy Ellis: Storybook career going from middleweight journeyman to holding a piece of the heavyweight title and giving all sorts of guys fits

Henry Cooper: Corker of a left hook and bled enough they should have named a hospital ward after him

James Braddock: Who can resist a lovable underdog?

Michael Dokes: I thought for a while he’d be Holmes’ heir, but he lived too much in the fast lane — either as a fast-handed lighter guy on the way up or as a more grounded balls-to-the-wall type in the latter part of his career, just fun to watch

Ken Norton: He gave The Greatest all he could handle and seemed to always handle himself with class

Tex Cobb: Life of the party, even when the party was him taking six to land one

 

I don't think there's any argument for him being top 10 at HW, but at #16 I have him higher than most.

In fights contested above 180lbs his 52-20 record looks underwhelming at first glance.

However, he was 26-1, with the only loss being an SD to Elmer Ray, which he later avenged.

Only 4 of those 20 defeats came during or around what I'd consider Ezzard's prime, the Ray SD (avenged 1-1), JJW (2-2) both aged 30 and Rex Layne aged 31 (avenged 2-1 to Charles).

Charles's successful 8 x defences of the lineal HW title stacks up pretty well historically, from a purely numerical perspective. He's 2 defeats each to JJW & Mariano mean he ended with a 9-4 record in lineal HW title fights.

Aside from JJW x 2, Rex Layne x 2 & Elmer Ray, Charles beat a shot Joe Louis, Jimmy Bivins x 3, Joey Maxim x 5, Bob Satterfield, Joe Baksi, Gus Lesnevich and Cesar Brion in fights contested over 180lbs.

Without question an ATG P4P boxer, but only a borderline ATG HW imo.

 

Cleveland Williams. Worst luck of any contender at HW imo.

Zero amateur career so he learned his trade by feasting on obscure names.

His first loss to Sylvester Jones when he was extremely green, also has some dubious circumstances. Williams was chasing Jones around the ring, when the bout was abruptly cut short to make room for the main event (Marciano against Walcott I believe), and the scorecards were tallied from that point.

The loss means nothing imo. If bouts were stopped early and scored in that manner. Many ATGs would've had more losses. Ali would've lost to Banks, and Cooper. Frazier loses to Quarry, and Mike ****ing Bruce of all people.

He was also, still very green when his manager matched him with Satterfield as a last-minute substitute no less, because Satterfield's scheduled opponent never showed up, and William's manager owed the promotor a favorite.

He won the first round, before hurting Satterfield and getting excited and going in for the kill, which was a result of his youth and inexperience.

And in his prime, he had the misfortune of sharing an era with a H2H monster in prime Liston.

On top of all that, he comes razor close to qualifying for a title bout, and draws with the number 2 rated Machen, (with two judges scoring it a draw, and the third for Williams by a clear margin ) which eliminates him from a title shot.

Injures his hands against Young Jack Johnson, and as such goes into the rematch with Terrell (who imo was not much improved than the Terrell Williams had knocked out just a year prior) with damaged hands, and comes close to knocking a gassed Terrell out, only to lose a controversial razor thin SD (In Chicago where Terrell lived at the time), where the AP scored it for him.

In '64 things are finally looking up. Williams seems to be doing his best work. He becomes the number 2 contender and beats Billy Daniels to qualify for a rubber match with Terrell for the championship opportunity that's alluded him his entire career..... then lady luck turns on him again. He gets shot by a policeman during a scuffle, loses 60 pounds, dies on the operating table, loses ten feet of his intestines, suffers permanent partial paralysis in his hips. Works his ass off, makes an unlikely return and comes back albeit as a shell of himself.

Fitting that now that he's shot (literally) he gets the title shot he's waited so long for........ against the greatest of all time..... on his absolute best day.