Who are the top 10 heavyweights of all time?

Question

Who are the top 10 heavyweights of all time?

Answer 1

Holyfield

Ali

Foreman

Tyson

Marciano

Dempsey

Louis

Frazier

Moore

Answer 2

1) Muhammad Ali

2) Joe Louis

3) Rocky Marciano

4) Larry Holmes

5) George Foreman

6) Jack Dempsey

7) Joe Frazier

8) Jack Johnson

9) Gene Tunney

10) Evander Holyfield

Answer 3

People answer this question most of the time without any research, and almost always with no clear way of picking each fighter.

There should be two top 10 list considered in this discussion always.

(The early 1900's are almost unfair to count because their was so much blatant bribery, set up fights, threats, mafia involvement. The whole sport was controlled by bookies and mobbed up promoters. There was very rarely video on the fighters plus the training and technique and skills were not even close to what they are today. It’s a completely different sport now. There’s another list if you want to bother with it, Top 10 great heavyweights of the early 1900's, 50's and under.)

One list should be comprised based on accomplishments of the fighters taking their time frame into consideration.(There record, records held, other heavyweight greats that they have beaten, titles held, time as champion, longevity..... ext. )

The other list should be who beats who, put two fighters in the ring, take away accomplishments and who wins.

Note: Muhammad Ali shouldn't be included in a top 10 list simply because Ali transcends the sport itself, to put him in the first list would be an insult to his legacy.

Who beats who list fighter vs fighter

1. Larry Holmes

2. George Foreman

3. Lennox Lewis

4. Evander Holyfield

5. Ken Norton

6. Joe Louis

7. Joe Frazier

8. Mike Tyson

9. Rocky Marciano

10. Sonny Liston

Answer 4

#1 Ali - speed never seen before or since

#2 Louis - Dominate for 12 yrs

#3 Marciano - undefeated

#4 Foreman - Holmes toss up

#6 Dempsey - vicious

#7 Johnson - he was before his time

#8 Liston - Good jab, very powerful

#9 Lewis - if he only put it all together earlier in his career

#10 Frazier - heart of a lion

Honarable mention: E. Charles, Holyfield, Moore, Patterson, Tunney

Answer 5

ali

frazier

tyson

foremen

holyfield

dempsy

Answer 6

I have gone through this many times, with many following suit.  Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis stand above the rest of the division.  THEN you have your top 10.  In no certain order, here they are and the reason others didnt make it on my list.

Jack Johnson

Jack Dempsey

Rocky Marciano

Sonny Liston

Joe Frazier

George Forman

Larry Holmes

Mike Tyson

Evander Holyfield

Lennox Lewis

Of this list of Top 10,  NONE of them would go undefeated in a series of fights.   All would suffer at least one loss against another on this list.  IT is unlikely that any of them would lose to any of the champions not on the list.  

The Best of the Rest:  Gene Tunney,  Ezzard Charles.  Both are great champions but are too small to compete against the rest on the list.  

After Ali and Louis,  Holmes and Lewis would be near the top as each would suffer fewer losses on the list.  Holmes-Lewis could go either way.  Slight edge to Holmes.  Forman could KO Lewis or be KO'd.  He would lose to Holmes.  

Dempsey, Frazier and Liston are towards the bottom.  Dempsey could catch either of them early.  If he doesn't get Frazier early he will lose late.  He could be caught by Liston as well.  Frazier avoided ''shop worn'' LIston with good reason.  Young, or even middle aged, Sonny would have KO'd Joe.

Evander, who could lose to any of the above mentioned 3, ranks higher than them in accomplishment and maybe even in the ring as well.  Evander is quite strong and could possibly out-work any of them.  

Johnson is also holding up the ''bottom 4''.  He is a bit overrated, partly for being the first Black champion,  partly for beating guys who knew nothing about combination punching.  As great as he was against those limited fighters,  he would have been closer to ''ordinary'' against the later day champions.  

The Top 12 goes something like this:

(A) Ali-Louis

( B) Holmes-Lewis

(C) Forman-Marciano-Holyfield-Tyson

(D) Johnson-Dempsey-Liston-Frazier

There is no possible way to be accurate in rating champions from different eras.  However, if all things were equal for each champion it becomes much more interesting.  This must be taken into consideration.   The rules and other intangibles must be the same.  

In other words,  Its easy to say that Tyson, at 216 would blow away Marciano at 188.  However, if both were fighting in the same era,  they would be a little closer to size.  Rocky would be around 198-202.  He walked around over 200 regularly anyway.  

Group A edges out B and B over C etc.  However, this is only in "number of" and "likelihood of loss".  A fighter in group B could lose to one in group C.  It becomes a little less likely that a fighter in group D would beat one in group B.