Top 10 greatest heavyweight contenders

[Slugfester]

Norton is an interesting case. I expect any fine heavyweight with a heavy punch is going to KO him in AT matchups.

But a lot of black forefathers have made it to the list. Very little is known about them to the eye, but almost exclusively by way of the ear. It may be difficult to envision how they will adjust to Kenny's odd or unique style. Will they ever have seen anything like it? Norton could do much better than expected. Anyway, the old saying is that an eyewitness is the worst kind of witness. Many of these old timers and reporters were eyewitnesses all right. They were not eyewitnesses, however, who could go back a few decades later to check films to see if their original impressions were accurate.

Often, former impressions are proved wrong when I look back with a more objective eye at fights I was an eyewitness to. I did that with Ali/Foreman last night. I do that quite often. The point is, speculation becomes even less trustworthy when you have never (or barely) seen one or both the participants in action.

Interested to know what anyone else thinks of Norton's chances.

[QueensburyRules]

chisora would never have beaten joe bugner, bugner fought ali twice and he fought joe frazier. can i get an amen to that?

from wikipedia#
He was ranked among the world's top ten heavyweights in the 1970s, fighting such opponents as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Ron Lyle, Jimmy Ellis, Manuel Ramos, Chuck Wepner, Earnie Shavers, Henry Cooper, Brian London, Mac Foster, Rudie Lubbers, Eduardo Corletti, Jurgen Blin and George Johnson.

Bugner retired from boxing in 1976, but over the next two decades, he made sporadic comebacks with varying success. He moved to Australia in 1986, adopting the nickname "Aussie Joe", beating fighters such as Greg Page, David Bey, Anders Eklund and James Tillis before retiring again after a TKO loss to Frank Bruno in 1987.


you'd have to be as mad hat as queeny to argue against that

- - I coulda fought Ali and whooped him late in his career.

No, Bugs would not beat Chisora. Had his hands full enough of Sir 'enery!

[JAB5239]

- - I coulda fought Ali and whooped him late in his career.

No, Bugs would not beat Chisora. Had his hands full enough of Sir 'enery!

Who is Chisora's best win? I'd say Bugner's effort against Frazier is better than anything Chisora ever did.

[max baer]

- - I coulda fought Ali and whooped him late in his career.

No, Bugs would not beat Chisora. Had his hands full enough of Sir 'enery!

i don't know enough about chisora but bugner was such a boring defensive boxer but tactictally good.
i agree he doesn't belong in top 10 but he belongs in top 30. i'll have to research chisora because you say he is that good. wasn't there some half irish really tall guy that beat chisora and then beat him again i can't quite recall his name but you seem to rank him so highly. i think his dad is also a good talker!!!! what was that guy's name, sounded like a previous champion!!

[JAB5239]

i don't know enough about chisora but bugner was such a boring defensive boxer but tactictally good.
i agree he doesn't belong in top 10 but he belongs in top 30. i'll have to research chisora because you say he is that good. wasn't there some half irish really tall guy that beat chisora and then beat him again i can't quite recall his name but you seem to rank him so highly. i think his dad is also a good talker!!!! what was that guy's name, sounded like a previous champion!!

.......... you're killin me smalls!!

[Willie Pep 229]

Who is Chisora's best win? I'd say Bugner's effort against Frazier is better than anything Chisora ever did.

You asked for Chisora's best win.

Then you reference Bugner's lost to Frazier as his best effort.

Shouldn't Chisora's best losing effort carry the same weight?

He went 12 with Vitali and 12 with Fury.

[JAB5239]

You asked for Chisora's best win.

Then you reference Bugner's lost to Frazier as his best effort.

Shouldn't Chisora's best losing effort carry the same weight?

He went 12 with Vitali and 12 with Fury.

Bugner went 12 and 15 with Ali, 12 with Frazier in 12 with Lyle. He had a decent showing against Frazier and lost a SD to Lyle. I think that trumps anything Chisora has done.

Speaking of Lyle, he has an argument for top 10 inclusion I would think.

And for the record, I personally wouldn't include Bugner or Chisora in the top 10. There are way more fighters out there that I'm sure haven't even been mentioned yet before boiling this down to 10.

PS......Chisora went 12 with Fury in 2011 when he had only 14 fights. He was stopped two other times against him.

[JAB5239]

Zora Folley? Has some good wins, fought in a stacked era.

[Quercusalba]

Tex Cobb was a solid contender.

[Willie Pep 229]

Bugner went 12 and 15 with Ali, 12 with Frazier in 12 with Lyle. He had a decent showing against Frazier and lost a SD to Lyle. I think that trumps anything Chisora has done.

Speaking of Lyle, he has an argument for top 10 inclusion I would think.

And for the record, I personally wouldn't include Bugner or Chisora in the top 10. There are way more fighters out there that I'm sure haven't even been mentioned yet before boiling this down to 10.

PS......Chisora went 12 with Fury in 2011 when he had only 14 fights. He was stopped two other times against him.

What about Tommy Gibbons?

Went the distance with Greb and Dempsey and had wins and losses over a host of lesser contenders, Carpentier, Miske, Norfork, Livensky, Greb. (Often trilogies.)

56-4 (48 KOs) --> 106 total fights including NWS; stopped only once, in his last fight, in 12 rounds with Tunney.

Against Greb: One report states "...Greb threw a million punches but never hurt Gibbons as he seldom set."

DIGRESSION: It was in March of 1922 that the UD over Gibbons got everyone calling for a Dempsey-Greb go for the end of 1922. (Greb's Pittsburgh promoter couldn't come close to meeting Kearns' 300K guarantee, offering only 100K and a %.)

BACK TO TOPIC: Gibbons stopped Willie Mehan in one round; owned Greb's favorite opponent Chuck Wiggens. (Multiple wins)

He even had a 10 round win over Greb. (But Greb won the trilogy, and more importantly the big one.)

In the public opinion poll of 1922, the one that the pro-Wills posters, on this forum, like to point too, to justify Wills as a worthy challenger for Dempsey. In that poll Tommy Gibbons comes in second with both Wills and Gibbons receiving over 100k votes (I think. The poll should be posted somewhere in this forum.)

He was seen as a worthy contender right up to his last fight with Tunney. (It was in stopping, the already finished Gibbons that Tunney got his shot at Dempsey.)

Fought black fighters like Kid Norfork and stopped him in six.

I think Gibbons is overlooked. Though he wasn't overlooked by his contemporaries. The public opinion polls shows that; his third fight with Greb was a 'big fight.'