Top 5 every division

First topic message reminder :

Now this may take a lot of effort for anyone who wishes to partake

In short there are now 17 recognized weight divisions with differing levels of history and some are considered more prestigious than others with the so called original 8 being the most obvious case of this. For many their knowledge of each division varies markably with Captain being well know for his knowledge of the Light Heavyweight division. In short I want to see what peoples top 5 rankings are of all 17 divisions with a little twist at the end, who are the greatest 5 who don't feature in the top 5 of any division.

I'll Give a few of mine just to kick things off

Heavyweight

1. Ali
2. Louis
3. Holmes
4. Dempsey
5. Lewis

Light Heavyweight

1. Charles
2. Tunney
3. Moore
4. Spinks
5. Foster

Middleweight

1. Monzon
2. Hagler
3. Greb
4. Robinson
5. Ketchel

Light Middleweight

1. McCallum
2. Hearns
3. Wright
4. Norris
5. Jackson

Welterweight

1. Robinson
2. Leonard
3. Armstrong
4. Ross
5. Gavilan

Light Welterweight

1. Pryor
2. Locche
3. Cervantez
4. Canzoneri
5. Berg

Lightweight

1. Duran
2. Leonard
3. Gans
4. Whitaker
5. Williams

Featherweight

1. Pep
2. Saddler
3. Arguello
4. Attell
5. Sanchez

My Top 5 not included

1. Fitzsimmons
2. Langford
3. Pacquiao
4. Burley
5. Griffith

Out of interest Jimmy, who are considering to be Foremans best wins because other than Frazier I can't think of another

imperialghosty wrote:Out of interest Jimmy, who are considering to be Foremans best wins because other than Frazier I can't think of another

Norton. Then probably Moorer, Cooney, Lyle in that order.

Think I worded that wrong, I don't consider any of Foremans wins to be among the greatest in the division

Scottrf wrote:

imperialghosty wrote:Out of interest Jimmy, who are considering to be Foremans best wins because other than Frazier I can't think of another

Norton. Then probably Moorer, Cooney, Lyle in that order.

Pretty much what Scott said Imperial, I may be inclined to say reclaiming the lineal HW title twenty years later in his forties is one of the top 10 great heavyweight wins, regardless what many will say about the opposition..

It's a great achievement no dount but a great win i'm not too sure

Ah sorry, I think he was referring to the achiements rather than opponents. Blasting out a red hot Frazier and regaining the Heavyweight title at such an age.

EDIT: Clearly that was what he meant, but I'll still post this anyway...

See your point Imperial

Foreman has the more shocking names on his resume with Frazier and Moorer (if only because he was 45), but during both reigns as champions, he took soft touches, was very inactive, and didn't hold the belts for very long.

I say Lewis and Foreman are pretty interchangeable but neither strong enough to be apart of the elite 5 IMO.

Other than Ali and Louis there are no real stand outs in the divsion so in that sense spots 3-5 are up for grabs

I have to say I agree with Colonial Lion on Lewis. I think if you are basing him being a top 5 heavyweight by virtue of him dominating his era or beating all his rivals then Colonial Lion has pretty much summed up perfectly why that isnt the case. Lewis outlasted his main rivals as much as anything.

However as Chris says, if you apply similar levels of scrutiny to the other heavyweight contenders for the spot then you can just as easily find various reasons to discount them also. Dempsey for instance I have long held as being an overrated champion in this context.

Like most others I have Ali and Louis a clear stretch ahead but after that I think the margins become fine. Largely for the same reasons as Colonial Lion I have Lewis missing out on a top 5 spot but being in the top 10 when all things are considered.

Like perhaps no other division, I think the "head to head" vs "list rankings" in the heavyweight division is at odds as there are many cases of 1 heavyweight being ranked higher than an other who I think would actually beat them head to head.

It's always tight at the top.

I could make a perfectly respectable argument for Jeffries to claim a top five spot, ( and several respected historians do just that, ) but nowadays he's even overlooked in the top tens of many.

These things are seldom clear cut, and never easy.