Top 5 all time greatest heveyweights.

[Shrimper]

I know that this topic has been extensively debated and appreciate its difficult to compare boxers from different eras, however should someone like Tyson Fury be considered top 5?
Joe Lewis is often regarded as the second best heavyweight in history but does anyone really think he would have beaten Lennox Lewis, Tyson Fury or Deontay Wilder (taken into account weight and reach advantage).
Rocky Marciano is also often considered top 10 but with a reach of 170cm and weight of under 200lb surely no one would suggest that he would beat someone like Fury.
Therefore what makes a top 5 all time great is it legacy or how they would compare against boxers from other eras?
If the later what would your top 5 be?

[YGriffith]

If it's legacy then it should be the best boxer of each era, no second fiddles, then compare their legacies and there you go.

If it's who will beat who, no one prior to mike tyson will make the top 50 list much less the top 5.

[hugh grant]

Ali has best resume so if he loses h2h against lennox he s still greater. If fury beats usyk and josh, he's ahead of Louis maybe?

[buddyr]

Fury fans are funny. They claim Wilder is trash, but want to say Fury is top 5 all time for beating a guy they consider to be garbage. Make that make sense to me because I don't understand it. As for ranking today's fighters in any weight classes, they just don't fight enough to compare to previous eras. Now I'm not saying every fighter from the past is better than all of the fighters today, but how can you compare an era in which you had to have at least 30-50 fights before contending for a title to a 6 belt era(wba and wbc bs) in which guys fight 2 or 3 times a year? Most guys will finish their career with 50 fights or less and 2 or 3 big fights on their resume. SRL his first 4 years as a pro had already fought Hearns and Duran TWICE. Boots and Ortiz have been pros for 6 years and neither have fought another top 10 fighter yet!!!!!

[Shrimper]

Before I get slated Joe Louis not Joe Lewis.....

[removed]

Fury will never be rated as an ATG due to his lack of resume, but most real boxing fans know that he's h2h one of the greatest of all time. Anyone who claims that midgets like Louis and Marciano would beat him are idiots.

[Adonis600]

What makes a top 5 boxer or an ATG is their legacy, resume and skillset.

[mrbig1]

What makes a top 5 boxer or an ATG is their legacy, resume and skillset.

Thank you! My dad and I would go back and forth on who was the greatest Louis or Ali. By resume Louis had 25 defenses of his title. champion for 12 years. At the time Liston was the greatest fighter since Joe Louis in the minds of many boxing people. Foreman was thought to be unbeatable. Frazier and Norton both beat Ali. Foreman killed them both in a total of 4 rounds. So, there was no way Ali could KO them both. Holmes and Johnson had great skill but fought in a very weak era. Rocky would be on my list. 49-0 with 43 KOs. Lewis and Corbett round out my top 5. Let the name calling begin. P.S. I'm high as **** but I do my best writing when I'm tore up. Peace.

[Shrimper]

OK put prime Louis in a ring with Fury who would win? Put prime Marciano in a ring with Klitschko who would win?
I know ATG is normally measured by resume but should it be? Should we instead try to compare how a Joe Louis would fare in a fight with a modern heavyweight?
An all time great surely is the best ever, if we are in agreement that Louis would not beat any of the current heavyweights surely he can't be considered an ATG!

[soul_survivor]

Ali, Foreman, Louis, Lewis, Holyfield and probably the top 5 names. There's a few others who can get in there but Ali is always in.

No, Tyson Fury isn't in the top 20 let alone top 5...unless you started watching boxing two years ago.