Greatest Heavyweights since Ali

[Axl Rose]

Holmes desverves to be on top of that list. He is maybe the best heavyweight of all time, even if you don't like it

[Elroy1]

Don't let George's great story fool you.. He always came up short vs top tier guys,,, he just happened to luck out vs moorer, who isn't on my list either..
Dude lost to Holyfield, Morrison, was getting thoroughly outboxed by moorer till the ko..
I don't think the version of foreman in his 40s beats an early-mid 80s Witherspoon, nor do I think he beats mercer in the mid 90s..

Foreman has the world title run, so he wins in the resume department, but I think overall mercer and especially Witherspoon would be too much for George in a fight..


I'm basing my list on pure talent, skills, h2h and not so much on resume.. Buster Douglas won the lineal title from Tyson but I'm not going to rank him higher than tua, a guy who never won a belt but was a better fighter than buster..

Bowe has much better wins than wlad or vitali, and he was more skilled.. For a big guy, he had a beautiful inside game, something which neither klitchko possesses. Plus his wins over Holyfield, especially the first one, are far superior to any klitchko win...

Witherspoon was incredibly talented that got derailed by drugs and don king.. I would take Witherspoon over guys like tua, Rahman, Ruiz, Byrd, spinks

Mercer was one of the best fighters never to win a world title..(I'm not including WBO, at the time the wbo was not a major organization yet) mercer had some ups and downs in his career but when he was in his game, he could beat anyone

The WBO title Mercer won was a legit title, a major one, no matter what your prejudices are.

I actually kind of sympathise with this viewpoint really.

Ray's best win was Morrison by KO who outboxed Foreman easily.

And his best performance was against Lennox in a very hard fought and even fight. An opponent who Foreman openly ducked and would have been nothing but target practice for and probably stopped him.

So yeah, not such an inappropriate position.

[ROSS CALIFORNIA]

Tyson in his prime was an animal. It would have been very tough to beat a 21 year old Tyson. That said, he ruined his placement in history among the top HW champions. He never really proved him self at his best. I don't take into account any fight after Spinks, because he was just not the same after then.

Wlad is an outstanding fighter, but he doesn't have the chin to be No. 1

I think Holmes was the most talented fighter since Ali.

Holyfield had the biggest heart, but he was too small.

Lewis had his flaws too, but I with his size, power, and defensive skills, he is the best since Ali.

All that said, Tyson could have knocked any of them out, but he is unproven.

[LacedUp]

Don't let George's great story fool you.. He always came up short vs top tier guys,,, he just happened to luck out vs moorer, who isn't on my list either..
Dude lost to Holyfield, Morrison, was getting thoroughly outboxed by moorer till the ko..
I don't think the version of foreman in his 40s beats an early-mid 80s Witherspoon, nor do I think he beats mercer in the mid 90s..

Foreman has the world title run, so he wins in the resume department, but I think overall mercer and especially Witherspoon would be too much for George in a fight..

I don't really do that anyway, but if you want to discredit Foreman (at 38+) for losing to overall really solid guys like Morrison and Holyfield, then I think you should be equally or even harder on Witherspoon for losing to guys like Pinklon Thomas, who was a decent fighter and gave Tyson a good fight in his day, and guys like Bonecrusher smith and of course larry holmes.

I think the heavyweight title that can be traced back to John L Sullivan, means more than one or two paper titles against limited opposition.

Maybe we are judging differently, because I'm basing my criteria on what they accomplished in the ring.

[LacedUp]

The WBO title Mercer won was a legit title, a major one, no matter what your prejudices are.

No it wasn't and nobody thought it was, so stop right there with the Klitschko bias - I know which angle you're coming from.

[Elroy1]

No it wasn't and nobody thought it was, so stop right there with the Klitschko bias - I know which angle you're coming from.

WTF?

Nobody even mentioned Wladimir. Your bloody delusional!

It's simply that Mercer hit hard and had a very strong chin.

Foreman almost lost to Lyle, a poor mans Mercer!

[LacedUp]

WTF?

Nobody even mentioned Wladimir. Your bloody delusional!

It's simply that Mercer hit hard and had a very strong chin.

Foreman almost lost to Lyle, a poor mans Mercer!

Don't even try and deny it, it stinks from miles away. You have an agenda and it has to do with Wlad - either because Wlad also won the same meaningless belt or because he beat a faded old and fat Mercer.

The WBO was not a legit title before the mid 2000s probably.

[Elroy1]

Don't even try and deny it, it stinks from miles away. You have an agenda and it has to do with Wlad - either because Wlad also won the same meaningless belt or because he beat a faded old and fat Mercer.

The WBO was not a legit title before the mid 2000s probably.

Ok, the WBO title was long before it held the same prestige but it was still one of the big 4 regardless. That the Morrisons and Mercers who held it didn't get the fights made with the Lennox's and Holyfields at the time is the only reason it was viewed lesser. Not their fault.

And I generally don't give as much credit to Wladimir for that win obviously.

This has nothing to do with it. I just credited the mans reasoning.

I think Mercer would have beaten Foreman.

[LacedUp]

Ok, the WBO title was long before it held the same prestige but it was still one of the big 4 regardless. That the Morrisons and Mercers who held it didn't get the fights made with the Lennox's and Holyfields at the time is the only reason it was viewed lesser. Not their fault.

And I generally don't give as much credit to Wladimir for that win obviously.

This has nothing to do with it. I just credited the mans reasoning.

I think Mercer would have beaten Foreman.

The WBO belt was not considered a world title by anyone in the 90s. Especially in the heavyweight division where it was given up by everyone who fought for it because it was meaningless.

It wasn't part of the 'big 4' because at the time there were only 3.

[PainfromUkraine]

Great thread mate, a very solid list with good explanations as to your choices of positioning. Hard to disagree with most of it but I personally might have switched a few around, but on the whole very good list.