Top 10 Heavyweight contenders

[sonnyboyx2]

who would you have in your Top 10 heavyweight contenders of all time:

[DarkTerror88]

Bonavena, Quarry, Lyle and Shavers for sure.
Young, Folley, Machen, and Williams too.

[Sugarj]

Good thread:

Jimmy Young
Earnie Shavers
Jerry Quarry
Ron Lyle
Gerry Cooney
Oscar Bonavena
Joe Bugner
Cleveland Williams
Rex Layne
George Chuvalo

Hell theres loads!

[NChristo]

Elmer Ray
Jerry Quarry
George Chuvalo
Sam Langford
Cleveland Williams
Sam McVey
Tim Witherspoon
Harry Wills
Ike Ibeabuchi
Joe Jeanette

[K-DOGG]

Well, if this is the greatest contenders overall, I'd have to include some that never got a shot.

Peter Jackson.....could have fought Sullivan.

Sam Langford....could have fought Johnson.

Sam McVey...could have fought Johnson.

George Godfrey (Black Shadow of Leiperville)....could have fought Dempsey.

Harry Wills.....could have fought Dempsey.

Now, let's see. Fighters that got a shot; but weren't quite good enough....hmmm

Okay....in no particular order at this time. Jes as they come to mind.


1. Lamon Brewster......HOLD IT! Even though he held the WBO title, he never had the "official" World Heavyweight Championship. Ergo....he's a contender. ...Oh, and yeah, I know...he didn't really fight anybody; but who's fault was that? While crude, he was tough and would alway have been fun to watch before the detached retina....IMO.

2. Andrew Golota.....Say what you will, he was always dangerous.

3. Frank Bruno......AAHAA! Told ya, never had the official Title; but he gave several champions and belt holders a good scrap.

4. Tim Witherspoon.....how fair would I be if I didn't site the greatest underachiever the heavyweight ranks has ever known?

5. Earnie Shavers....Deadly until he's in the grave.....'cause if he hits you, you're the deadest S.O.B. in the cemetary.

6. Ken Norton......anyone who saw the three Ali fights, the Holmes fight, and a couple of others knows why he belongs under consideration. didn't look so good against Shavers, though.....oh, WBC belt he held doesn't count as a championship cause he didn't beat the champion.

7. Ron Lyle.....Big, Skilled, and mean.

8. Jerry Quarry....Probably would have been Champ if he hadn't come along in the wrong era, one chock full of talent. Oh.....it has been argured that George Foreman ducked Quarry for an "easier" and more "lucrative" bout with "old" Muhammad Ali".....talk about a miscalculation. Although hed did get 5 million dollars.

9.Oscar Bonavena....stubborn and tough as nails.

10.Zora Folley.....helluva fighter; but hella-old by the time Ali whooped him.


....that's enough for now; but they're are definetly more to sift through from the other decades prior. Names like Jake Kilrain, Nino Valdes, Rex Layne, Roland LaStarza, Eddie Machen, Bob Satterfield, and soooo many other fun names.
8.

[Joeyzagz]

1. Harry Wills
2. Sam Langford
3. David Tua
4. Andrew Golota
5. Earnie Shavers
6. Jerry Quarry
7. George Chuvalo
8. Ray Mercer
9. Buddy Baer
10. Razor Ruddock

[K-DOGG]

Okay....after reviewing the best contenders from the 1900's to the 2000's...here's my top ten:

1. Sam Langford
2. Ken Norton
3. Eddie Machen
4. Michael Dokes
5. Jerry Quarry
6. Harry Wills
7. Tim Witherspoon
8. Ray Mercer
9. Rex Layne
10. Ike Ibeabuchi....on potential alone.

[GJC]

I'm sure you lot just leave Joe Baksi off to annoy me!

[GJC]

Few other names who got missed but IMO warrant mentioning as having had a good shot at certain points in their careers would be Jimmy Bivins, Joe Choynski, Young Stribling and Harry Greb. Did I mention Baksi?

[Panthershock]

gotta throw in the big 4 black fighters from the 1910's who never got a shot
Sam Langford
Harry Wills
Joe Jeannette
Sam McVea

Now 10 more modern fighters
Eddie Machen
Zora Folley
Cleveland Williams
Jerry Quarry
Earnie Shavers
Ron Lyle
Jimmy Young
Oscar Bonavena
Ray Mercer
Andrew Golota

No Norton/Witherspoon/Bruno cause they all held WBA/WBC/IBF at one point.