1. Muhammad Ali: Ali's list of opponents reads like a wall in the boxing hall of fame, KO's against Liston, Foreman and Frazier (three of histories greatest KO artists) and domination of the golden age of heavyweights plus his impact outside the ring as both a political leader and civil rights activist put Ali at the very top, the best heavyweight in history and quite possibly the most famous sports figure in the history of sports.
2. Joe Louis: An American Buck Sergeant against a Nazi Paratrooper on the eve of WWll might have been the biggest sporting event in the history of sports, not to mention the biggest boxing match in history. Joe's 25 title defenses and deadly punching power lands Joe Louis at number 2 all time. His political and historical impact outside of boxing cannot be over stated, Joe was one of histories first professional Black golfers and broke the color barrier on American golf courses before Jackie Robinson did in baseball.
3. Jack Johnson: The first Black heavyweight champion, Johnson was a one man civil rights movement back when the White establishment basically institutionalized racism in America. Jack's heavyweight reign actually changed the English Language and added the word "Blacklisted" to the vocabulary, it took 40 years before another Black man got a shot at the title (Joe Louis).
4. George Foreman: Two time champ, one of histories most deadly and feared punchers and also the oldest heavyweight champion in history, Big George rates as high as any, and higher than most.
5. Rocky Marciano: 49-0 Rock was a devastating power puncher who defined "heart", at a walk around weight of 170 lbs with a 68 inch reach fighting guys who topped 200 and and averaged over 80 inch reaches, Rock arguably rates higher then 5th. Marciano might just be the most underrated all time great on this list.
6. Larry Holmes: Best jab in heavyweight history, many feel Larry could have held his own with anyone in heavyweight history.
7. Jack Dempsey: One of histories most devastating punchers, he defined pressure and did participate in boxing's fist million dollar gate against Tunney, Dempsey rates high enough to warrant the 7th spot.
8. Sonny Liston: Quite possibly more intimidating than Big George, Sonny's jab broke jaws and KOed people. Liston was one of history's greatest KO punchers, and easily makes any top ten all time great list.
9. Joe Frazier: Heavyweight history's deadliest left hook, and another of Boxing's greatest KO punching pressure fighters, Joe was another of the greats that contributed to the golden age of heavyweights and was arguably Ali's toughest opponent.
10: Evander Holyfield: 3 time heavyweight champ, and history's most dominate cruiserweight, Holyfield defined heart and produced some of he era's classic slugfests against some true super heavyweights. Evander gave away close to 40 lbs and almost 6 inches in height to all time great talent like Lennox Lewis and Riddick Bowe he etched his place among history's elite. Like a true champion, he fought everyone who was anyone in his era and beat most.
11. Gene Tunney: Tunney got a check for 990,000$ from Tex Ricard for the Dempsey fight, and gave it back along with a check of his own for 10,000$ demanding a check for the whole million. A photo copy of that check still hangs in his son's garage, one half of boxing's first million dollar payday and a record of 65-1-1 put the "Fighting Marine" just outside history's top ten best, at number 11.
12. Lennox Lewis: In my opinion, Europe's best modern heavyweight, Lennox avenged his two defeats and ducked no one. A true champion in every sense of the word, he gets my 12th spot.
13. Floyd Patterson: History's first heavyweight champion to regain the championship a 2nd time, a gifted boxer with power and skill. Patterson gets my 13th spot.
14. Vitali Klitschko: Vitali's legacy suffered due to the lack of talent during his era, but his accomplishments outside the ring as a political leader and human rights activist in the Ukraine probably will elevate him higher as history unfolds.
15. Kenny Norton: Very underrated, Norton was another of the greats that dominated history's golden age of the heavyweights, his fights with Holmes and Ali are all time classics.
16. Wladimir Klitschko: Vitali's little brother suffered for the lack of talent during his era, Wlad still rates high historically for his skill level, but his chin will always be his biggest detriment.
17. Ezzard Charles: Most rate Charles higher than 17th as he is arguably one of history's very best light heavyweights and his success at heavyweight includes a win over Joe Louis, I probably do the Cincinnati Cobra" an injustice, like Bob Fitzsimmons, Roy Jones and even James Toney, they were heavyweight champions who really weren't true heavyweights.
18: Bob Fitzsimmons: First middleweight champion to win both light heavyweight and Heavyweight championships, back when they were true championships instead of alphabet soup sanctioned titles, one of boxing's earliest truly "elite" talents, I rank Fitzsimmons in there with history's very best.
19. Roy Jones Jr.: While the heavyweight title Jones won against John Ruiz was in fact a heavyweight championship, today's fragmented political structure makes a mockery of the title belts most fighters collect. Jone's talent level and accomplishments rival those of Fitzsimmons a century prior to Roy's career.
20: Ike Ibeabuchi, David Tua, Max Schmeling, Riddick Bowe, Michael Moorer, Ray Mercer, Tommy Morrison, James J. Jefferies, Young Stribling, Sam McVey, Harry Wills, Sam Langford, Jersey Joe Walcott, Jimmy Ellis and Joe Jeanette are all in my opinion superior to Mike Tyson and in truth I respect Tyson's punching power, but do not consider Mike worthy of any all time great list.
Romantic list
1?Jack Dempsey
2-Joe Louis
3-Muhammad Ali
4-Rocky Marciano
5-George Foreman
6-Lennox Lewis
7-Larry Holmes
8-Gene Tunney
9-Mike Tyson (yes,top ten)
10-Vitali Klitschko
11-Wladimir Klitschko
12-Evander Holyfield
13-Riddick Bowe
14-Jack Johnson
15-Sonny Liston
16-Joe Frazier
17- Ike Ibeabuchi
18- David Tua
19 - Max Baer
20-Max Schmelling
There are four ways to rate those HW champions in a Top 20 list:
1. Compare them in legacy and accomplishment(statistics) and who they beat(competition)
2. Compare them in skills and abilities at their peak of their physical gifts and talents
3. Compare them all against all in a tournament and calculate on who beats who.
4. Make a list according to your own decision(subjective view at them)
Now those guys rate totally different, it depends on those 4 points how you rate them. Gene Tunney for example would rate high according to the second point(he was great in skills at his prime and he's one of the most talented boxers ever. But when you rate him according to point 3, he would rate very low, since all boxers from the 60's up to today were much bigger, taller and stronger than him.
Here you can see how I would rate them point by point:
Compared by legacy:
1. Joe Louis
2. Muhammad Ali
3. Rocky Marciano
4. Lennox Lewis
5. George Foreman
6. Wladimir Klitschko
7. Larry Holmes
8. Vitali Klitschko
9. Evander Holyfield
10. Joe Frazier
Compared by skills:
1. Mike Tyson
2. Ezzard Charles
3. Muhammad Ali
4. Joe Louis
5. Gene Tunney
6. Sam Langford
7. Larry Holmes
8. Floyd Patterson
9. Riddick Bowe
10. Evander Holyfield
Compared in a tournament all against all:
1. Muhammad Ali
2. Joe Louis
3. Larry Holmes
4. Sonny Liston
5. George Foreman
6. Riddick Bowe
7. Lennox Lewis
8. Vitali Klitschko
9. Wladimir Klitschko
10. James J. Jeffries
My own subjective list:
1. Rocky Marciano
2. Muhammad Ali
3. Joe Louis
4. Mike Tyson
5. George Foreman
6. Sonny Liston
7. Jack Dempsey
8. Joe Frazier
9. Larry Holmes
10. James J. Jeffries
11. Gene Tunney
12. Ezzard Charles
13. Evander Holyfield
14. Lennox Lewis
15. Riddick Bowe
16. Sam Langford
17. Vitali Klitschko
18. Max Baer
19. Max Schmeling
20. Wladimir Klitschko
01. Muhammad Ali-------The GOAT
02. Joe Louis--------------- 12 years continuous reign, 25 title defenses
03. Rocky Marciano---------49-0, retired undefeated as heavyweight champion
04. George Foreman---------oldest to win the title, in his second coming after almost two decades
05. Larry Holmes--------------second longest continuous reign
06. Jack Johnson-------first black world heavyweight champion, proto-type of modern heavyweight
07. Gene Tunney-----also retired undefeated as heavyweight champion
08. Jack Dempsey-----first heavyweight champion with a million dollar purse
09. Joe Frazier---------- beat the GOAT once in three memorable biggest fights
10. Evander Holyfield-------won the heavyweight championship as many times he lost it.-
11. Lennox Lewis------------ the best of the truly big modern heavyweight champions
12. Mike Tyson----------------the most intimidating heavyweight champion in history
13. Sonny Liston--------------the most feared heavyweight champion before Tyson
14. Floyd Patterson----------first to win the heavyweight championship twice
15. Ezzard Charles----------proto-type of the modern heavyweight fighter, influenced Ali style
16. Riddick Bowe
17. Wladimir Klitschko
18. Max Baer
19. Max Schmelling
20. Jess Willard
I like Joe Louis, Jack Johnson, Dempsey, Ali, the Rock, Ezzard Charles, Holmes....top 6
Who is the better boxers out of these 20 boxers. I just typed on the internet 'the greatest heavyweight boxers' and it came up with the most frequently mentioned heavyweight boxers. Now i am not saying these are the best 20 heavyweights but they are up there...
This is the order i put them in...
1)Muhammad Ali
2)Mike Tyson
3)Rocky Marciano
4)George Foreman
5)Joe Frazier
6)Floyd Patterson
7)Joe louis
8)Jack Dempsey
9)Evander Holyfield
10)Lennox Lewis
11)Jack Johnson
12)Max Schmelling
13)Sonny Liston
14)Larry Holmes
15)Jersey Joe Walcott
16)Ezzard Charles
17)Gene Tunney
18)Wladmir Kilitschko
19)Jess Willard
20)Riddick Bowe
However, even know i'm quite a big boxing fan i only know quite a bit about Tyson, Ali, Foreman and a few others (as i'm more into the actual fighting part and only been studying boxing for a couple of years.) The others i do know a bit but not as much. So i may just be being a little biased and just putting them in order that i know best, as i don't really know much about the last 5 (15-20) rated boxers.
So anyway, what do you lot think these boxers should be rated from 1-20.
