My Top Ten Greatest Heavyweight Champs Of All Time!

[butterfly1964]

jeffries? are you serious? he was trash. he is trash because he was small, slow and overrated because he was white and he was supposed to be the great white hope. johnson exposed him. and even though they say jeffries was old, jeffries said himself he couldn't beat johnson in his prime. the first real great heavyweight was jack johnson, all others were bums my grandma could beat. get over it!

[fistlegend]

1)ali
2)louis
3)maricano
4)tyson
5)foreman
6)frazier
7)liston
8)holmes
9)max baer
10)lewis

[habZ]

1. Ali
2. Louis
3. Dempsey
4. Jack Johnson
5. Foreman
6. Marciano
7. Frazier
8. Liston
9. Tyson
10. Holmes

[BSD]

I have two lists. One is the KO ratio of ten champions. The other is the total time as undisputed champion for those same ten. By undisputed, I mean the universal champion or holding at least 3 out of 4 of the world title belts. To be on the list a champion had to be undisputed for a total of at least 2 years. Holmes, Foreman, and Liston don't make the cut.


KO ratio
1. Marciano 88%
2. Tyson 79%
3. Louis 76%
4. Frazier 73%
5. Lennox Lewis 73%
6. Jack Dempsey 65%
7. Floyd Patterson 63%
8. Ali 61%
9. Holyfield 52%
10. Jack Johnson 44%

Time as champ
1. Louis 11y 9m
2. Dempsey 7y 2m
3. Johnson 6y 4m
4. Patterson 4y 10m
5. Ali 3y 10m
6. Marciano 3y 7m
7. Frazier 2y 11m
8. Tyson 2y 6m
9. Lewis 2y 3m
10. Holyfield 2y 1m

For determining the ten greatest in order, I think duration as undisputed champ is the most important. But you can combine it with KO ratio or several other factors to make up your own mind.

[KidBlackie]

[[[I have two lists. One is the KO ratio of ten champions. The other is the total time as undisputed champion for those same ten.]]]
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Interesting concept, but you forgot Jeffries, 5 yr 338 days/68% and Willard 4 yrs 90 days/57%. Seeing as it's almost impossible in the modern era to unify a title, I conclude being undisputed is not a good criteria for overall judgement. KO% is a good way though it tends to penalize the stylists a bit. The reason is that a guy like Louis or Tyson rarely if ever win controversially like an Ali did, though even Ali's KOs sometimes were controversial. However you have to normalize for the era. For example, Jeffries and Dempsey fought in the NC era and had one of the highest KO% of their eras. Modern fights are stopped earlier and KO% have risen because of it.

The number of title fights is a better indicator of excellence, though again, the modern era has many more title fights because of the split belts and modern rules.

[KidBlackie]

jeffries? are you serious? he was trash. he is trash because he was small, slow and overrated because he was white and he was supposed to be the great white hope. johnson exposed him. and even though they say jeffries was old, jeffries said himself he couldn't beat johnson in his prime. the first real great heavyweight was jack johnson, all others were bums my grandma could beat. get over it!

Kid, empty trash cans always make the most noise. Just have your granny give you a kick to verify this.

In Jeff's 3rd pro fight he knocked out Hank Griffin and later won a lopsided 4 rd decision over him when Jeff held the belt. Johnson was 0-1-2 against Griffin. In Jeff's 8th pro fight he drew against Choynski in a 20 rd brawl. Past prime Choynski knocked Jack Johnson cold for 5 mins. Mexican Pete Everett could only last 3 rds against Jeffries, but he made the 20 rd limit against Johnson.

Facts are that Jeff was a natural talent from his first fight on. Johnson had a lot of setbacks and had to learn to fight defensively to protect a soft chin. When you look at the overlap in their careers and common fighters, Jeff dominates and it ain't even close. If it wasn't for Jeff being lured out of retirement for huge money and the White Hope Hype penned by Jack London, Johnson would be nothing but a footnote in history. His title reign was the weakest in history next to Tommy Burns. This was hammered home when an inexperienced raw cowboy name Willard knocked him dead for another 5 min.

[butterfly1964]

Kid, empty trash cans always make the most noise. Just have your granny give you a kick to verify this.

In Jeff's 3rd pro fight he knocked out Hank Griffin and later won a lopsided 4 rd decision over him when Jeff held the belt. Johnson was 0-1-2 against Griffin. In Jeff's 8th pro fight he drew against Choynski in a 20 rd brawl. Past prime Choynski knocked Jack Johnson cold for 5 mins. Mexican Pete Everett could only last 3 rds against Jeffries, but he made the 20 rd limit against Johnson.

Facts are that Jeff was a natural talent from his first fight on. Johnson had a lot of setbacks and had to learn to fight defensively to protect a soft chin. When you look at the overlap in their careers and common fighters, Jeff dominates and it ain't even close. If it wasn't for Jeff being lured out of retirement for huge money and the White Hope Hype penned by Jack London, Johnson would be nothing but a footnote in history. His title reign was the weakest in history next to Tommy Burns. This was hammered home when an inexperienced raw cowboy name Willard knocked him dead for another 5 min.

no way was jeffries better than johnson. johnson took a dive in that fight because some whites said they would kill his wife if they didn't.

[Da Iceman]

the only reason jeff was good was cuz he hit hard. johnson would outbox him any day in his life

[JMCbulls]

the original post is same with mine, but i would put dempsey ahead of holyfield

[Da Iceman]

1.Joe Louis
2.Muhammad Ali
3.Rocky Marciano
4.George Foreman
5.Joe Frazier
6.Larry Holmes
7.Sonny Liston
8.Lennox Lewis
9.Evander Holyfield
10.Jack Johnson