Top 20 Alltime Heavyweight list - Based on head to head !!

Based on how they'd get on with the top Heavies in history including ones that aren't on the list...

1. Muhammad Ali......
2. Lennox Lewis......
3. Mike Tyson.......
4. George Foreman......
5. Larry Holmes......
6. Joe Frazier....
7. Buster Douglas...
8. Sonny Liston......
9. Tim Witherspoon...
10. Riddick Bowe....
11. Evander Holyfield...
11. Joe Louis.........
12. Jimmy Young....
13. Ron Lyle....
14. Greg Page...
15. James Jeffries...
16. Tony Tubbs..
17. Vitali Klitscho....
18. Wladimir Klitscho......
19. John Tate.....
20. David Tua.....

I think Dempsey, Marciano types would struggle against the super heavyweight as they are pressure fighters who are easy to hit....Louis would too but is a dynamite puncher and more canny than those two.........

Johnson was a wonderful boxer but like Spinks and Tunney not sure how they outbox bigger, harder hitting, cute fighters like Dokes, Williams etc.............where as I can see Tua types blasting them away....

Just my take and I appreciate that I am somewhat underappreciative of the old timers...

But I've tried to be fair...

Not sure If I've left anybody out !!

Absolute joke leaving Johnson out...

Skills pay the bills my friend, skills pay the bills.

I tried to do this before in response to a series of article's Shah did. I think my top 10 was:

1. Ali
2. Foreman
3. Lewis
4. Tyson
5. Liston
6. Holmes
7. Vitali
8. Wlad
9. Louis
10. Frazier

Bowe is possibly one that could sneak in, but I tend to think he might have more bad nights than anyone else on the list from 7-10. I remember Louis at 9 proved to be slightly controversial.

Not when other fighters are just as skilled and twenty pounds heavier my friend....

You give me a guy Johnson could beat that Page, Wlad and the like couldn't beat easier....

Johnson is my number 3 but I wouldn't fancy him against the Witherspoon that beat Larry...

superflyweight wrote:I tried to do this before in response to a series of article's Shah did.  I think my top 10 was:

1. Ali
2. Foreman
3. Lewis
4. Tyson
5. Liston
6. Holmes
7. Vitali
8. Wlad
9. Louis
10. Frazier

Bowe is possibly one that could sneak in, but I tend to think he might have more bad nights than anyone else on the list from 7-10.  I remember Louis at 9 proved to be slightly controversial.

I see where you're coming from.........Good list....

Think Witherspoon, Tubbs, Young types may just have been a little cute for the Klitty's....But could be wrong...

Also think the disturbed Douglas in Tokyo is one of the greatest heavies of alltime....

But your list is easy to defend..

Can't seriously predict Wlad or Vitali to beat Dempsey surely?

Madness...

Were you drinking last night...

Besides it's how they'd get on with all the top heavies not just the ones on this list......

Dempsey would struggle to beat Quarry.

Dempsey would put the Poopie$ up Wlad and bust his rib cage.

Remember Del unsettling Vitali with the right downstairs. Well Dempsey hit twice as hard as Del...

Okay mate...

we'll agree to disagree..

I agree with your top three Truss.

7. Buster Douglas...

Gonna have a fairly hard time convincing me of that one. Vitali beats him, who you have far too low. Witherspoon as well....

Ranking on a head to head is clearly going to favour the modern 'super-heavyweights' and anyone who regularly fought south of 200lbs is going to struggle.

If you asked me to produce a similar list for pre-1980 fighters then I'd probably find a space for Tunney in the top half dozen or so. However, as soon as you throw in the modern giants - he struggles to make the top 20.

Coxy001 wrote:

7. Buster Douglas...

Gonna have a fairly hard time convincing me of that one. Vitali beats him, who you have far too low. Witherspoon as well....

Not even gonna try...

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:

Coxy001 wrote:

7. Buster Douglas...

Gonna have a fairly hard time convincing me of that one. Vitali beats him, who you have far too low. Witherspoon as well....

Not even gonna try...

Enamor me.

Tyson struggled with Buster and Evan Fields...but he did beat Tony Tubbs I guess!

How many Heavies would have beaten Douglas in Tokyo ??

He was punch perfect.....Brilliant jab and combo punching.....6ft 4...Great footwork...Long reach....

Might have made a mistake not putting him above Larry.....at their primes..

As I said in the thread.......It's at their best..

Is Douglas in my top 30 list.......Nope.

Yeah at their best.

At his best, Foreman rolled Frazier like a drunk. Who was unbeaten and had beaten Ali.

At his best, Tyson...who knows.

That's why Foreman is above Frazier and his ranked so highly.....

Welcome to the party.....Next time come sober.

I wasn't debating he was ranked highly, but he's below Tyson.

Interesting, to base it upon their best performance.

The Sonny Liston that destroyed Paterson twice would seem like the pinnacle but Liston is a complex character and there is a good chance he was already an old man by that stage. How to gauge his best? Ali is probably the obvious for the top as he has beat some of the fighters there that, if I didn't know better I'd say he'd never beat in Liston and Foreman.

Can't see Tyson being able to beat either Foreman or Liston, they are very big very scary dudes. Tyson would not have been able to intimidate either man and as both have great jabs with insane power I just can't see Tyson being big enough.

Lewis is an interesting one, technically very good but against Foreman I'm not sure.

Can't help but come back to a top three of Ali, Foreman and Liston.

huw wrote:Interesting, to base it upon their best performance.

The Sonny Liston that destroyed Paterson twice would seem like the pinnacle but Liston is a complex character and there is a good chance he was already an old man by that stage. How to gauge his best? Ali is probably the obvious for the top as he has beat some of the fighters there that, if I didn't know better I'd say he'd never beat in Liston and Foreman.

Can't see Tyson being able to beat either Foreman or Liston, they are very big very scary dudes. Tyson would not have been able to intimidate either man and as both have great jabs with insane power I just can't see Tyson being big enough.

Lewis is an interesting one, technically very good but against Foreman I'm not sure.

Can't help but come back to a top three of Ali, Foreman and Liston.

Tyson was a lot quicker than Foreman and Liston...........Foreman would push him back like Berbick did..

Both have a punchers chance..

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:
Tyson was a lot quicker than Foreman and Liston...........Foreman would push him back like Berbick did..

Both have a punchers chance..

He would have the speed, just wonder how he would have coped against the big jabs they both had.

A punchers chance is what people would have said for Audley against Wlad, feel that both Foreman and Liston would beat Tyson easier than they would lose to him. Wasn't it Dundee that told Tyson to avoid fighters like Foreman because they were all wrong for him (something about shorter come forward swarmers being perfect for big George). Tyson also said he felt that Liston would have intimidated him, that's an interesting one as that could have had a huge outcome on any fight.

Tyson for me was better defensively...lightning fast and I'm not sure they could deal with him....

But we all see different things and who's to say who is right..