Greatest Heavyweights Of All Time

[Rick Taylor]

Oliver MCCall was a solid HW & Rahman 2 time champion. Lewis never got massacred he got one punch ko’d. Took Mccall lightly & never bothered to train for Rahman & he paid for it. His biggest weakness was arrogance. Rahman & McCall were tough HWs. Not elite but good. Avenged both losses & look at his resume of Voluntary defences. It is unmatched! Most were HW champions at one point. Holyfield would probably be my second pick. Wladimir was dominant but his era was nowhere near as deep as the 90s.

mccall is just a strong journeyman. and lewis was only willing to rematch him when he knew mcall was weak.
coward move by lewis.

rahman is a bum.

lewis era was one of the weakest in heavyweight history and he still struggled.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

He never ducked anyone & he probably would have beat most if not all of them but from his first meaningful fight in 1999 to 2012 here are some of the guys he never fought who were all active... Holyfield, Golota, Tua, McCline, Maskaev, Toney, Rahman, Grant, McCall, Oquendo, John Ruiz, Botha, Tyson, Mercer, Brewster, Ibragimov, Liahkovich, Austin, Williamson, Tony Thompson, Chagaev, Chambers, Haye, Stiverne, Povetkin, Valuev... those are the names who were active at different periods from 99-2012. Again he may have beaten all of them but we will never know because he didn’t fight them. I threw Williamson in there because he had fought Wlad & dropped him but fight was stopped because of a cut on Wlad’s face. He beat a few decent HWs too. There was just too many notable names that were there at different stages of his career.

All of those guys where either shot or just sh**. Especially the likes of Tyson and Holyfield.

Vitali wasn’t really “the champion” until he beat Sanders in 2004. By that point a lot of the guys you listed weren’t realistic options. His WBO reign was only like 9 months and he wasn’t a big name that could attract the likes of Tyson, Holyfield etc at that point.

And man... you are really scraping the barrel with some of those names, DaVarryl Williamson, Ray Austin, Oquendo, Liakovich. That’s like saying Fury hasn’t fought Gerald Takam, Martin or Molina.

[786]

Fury has some very impressive accolades tbf. 2 time lineal champion for example, only Ali, Patterson, Foreman, Holyfield and Lewis have also done that. He’s the only man to accomplish that feat whilst remaining undefeated too.

He’s also the first HW to dethrone two champions with 10+ defences to my knowledge.

He’s also the one of only two HW’s along with Riddick Bowe to have won all four (WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO) major titles.

Only thing he really lacks is title defences.

Maybe not as high as 7 but Fury’s certainly in the top 15 IMO.

Fury has achieved a lot but he has two great wins, a decent one and nothing else. He's done well to get in position to fight for the titles and win them, when you list those accolades in that way, a casual would think, wow this guy is great. Reality is, it's all from two wins where he was able to position himself to get those titles. Hasn't defended them, nor has he fought other top 10 opposition outside of Chisora.

If he beats AJ, then sure he can slot in top 15 - 20, that's 3 great wins with nothing else. If he goes on a dominant run after beating AJ with good quality title defenses then we can argue that he belongs in the top 10.

How is he two time lineal though? He won it against Klit, then was gone for a couple of years and when he returned he was claiming that he's still the lineal champ. Some believe AJ should've been considered lineal (after beating Klit) because of Fury's ban but Fury claimed it when he returned - he's now recognized as the lineal but he never lost it and regained it so how does it work that he's two time lineal champ?

I personally believe he should've lost that claim after refusing to rematch Klit and then testing positive which led to him being away for 2 years. The lineal should be vacant and winner of AJ-Fury should be considered the lineal champ, then you may be able to spin it that he's two time lineal champ.

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

Fury has achieved a lot but he has two great wins, a decent one and nothing else. He's done well to get in position to fight for the titles and win them, when you list those accolades in that way, a casual would think, wow this guy is great. Reality is, it's all from two wins where he was able to position himself to get those titles. Hasn't defended them, nor has he fought other top 10 opposition outside of Chisora.

If he beats AJ, then sure he can slot in top 15 - 20, that's 3 great wins with nothing else. If he goes on a dominant run after beating AJ with good quality title defenses then we can argue that he belongs in the top 10.

How is he two time lineal though? He won it against Klit, then was gone for a couple of years and when he returned he was claiming that he's still the lineal champ. Some believe AJ should've been considered lineal (after beating Klit) because of Fury's ban but Fury claimed it when he returned - he's now recognized as the lineal but he never lost it and regained it so how does it work that he's two time lineal champ?

I personally believe he should've lost that claim after refusing to rematch Klit and then testing positive which led to him being away for 2 years. The lineal should be vacant and winner of AJ-Fury should be considered the lineal champ, then you may be able to spin it that he's two time lineal champ.

There’s nothing casual about it all. I’m a historian and Fury’s accolades are historically impressive. A casual wouldn’t appreciate the significance of them tbh.

As for the Lineal... Won it against Wlad. Then retired, the lineal title was declared vacant by Ring, TBRB etc. Then reclaimed and reestablished the lineage against Wilder as both were ranked as the 1 and 2 in the division by both Ring, TBRB etc.

Aside from AJ there’s no one else we care about Fury beating. He schooled Wlad and ran through Wilder. Who else is there? Povetkin? Ortiz? Those guys don’t really add anything to Fury’s legacy they’d just be a title defence.

I’ll put it to you this way: what other HW’s in history have better title wins than:

Wladimir Klitschko. 9 year reign, 18 defences, 11 years undefeated.

Deontay Wilder. 43 fights undefeated, 5 year reign, 10 defences.

He was in the away corner both times too!

There’ll be a few HW’s you can think of with two better wins but there won’t be many...

[786]

There’s nothing casual about it all. I’m a historian and Fury’s accolades are historically impressive. A casual wouldn’t appreciate the significance of them tbh.

As for the Lineal... Won it against Wlad. Then retired, the lineal title was declared vacant by Ring, TBRB etc. Then reclaimed and reestablished the lineage against Wilder as both were ranked as the 1 and 2 in the division by both Ring, TBRB etc.

Aside from AJ there’s no one else we care about Fury beating. He schooled Wlad and ran through Wilder. Who else is there? Povetkin? Ortiz? Those guys don’t really add anything to Fury’s legacy they’d just be a title defence.

I’ll put it to you this way: what other HW’s in history have better title wins than:

Wladimir Klitschko. 9 year reign, 18 defences, 11 years undefeated.

Deontay Wilder. 43 fights undefeated, 5 year reign, 10 defences.

He was in the away corner both times too!

There’ll be a few HW’s you can think of with two better wins but there won’t be many...

Just want to clarify I wasn't calling you casual, I was saying that if a casual read your breakdown of Fury's achievements they look better than they actually are. Still great achievements but just based off two good wins and 'two-time lineal' doesn't sound so great since he lost it the first time due to popping dirty. It's like rewarding him for a failed drug test.

Wilder and Klit are great wins, Klit had a great reign whereas Wilder was largely protected and the quality of his defenses are questionable. Still a good win for Fury but not an 'all-time great' win as some believe.

While you can say there are few heavyweights that have beaten opponents with as much defenses as Wilder, it's very easy to find heavyweights with wins over better quality fighters than Wilder and you wouldn't have to go that far back to do so.

Also, you can say AJ is the only person left for Fury to beat but that's not how I see it. I'd like to see him consistently defend his titles against solid opposition. He's never really had a significant title reign in the way Wlad, Lennox or even AJ had.

[QueensburyRules]

My era started in the late 80s. Tyson started collecting belts when I was 14 that is when I started watching boxing. I won’t include guys like Ali because I wasn’t watching then. Lennox Lewis is the best HW of my era.

- -None, ie zer0 defenses of his unified title same as Fury.

Wlad and AJ defended and both record setters in different ways.

No matter to this untutored crowd.

[QueensburyRules]

There’s nothing casual about it all. I’m a historian and Fury’s accolades are historically impressive. A casual wouldn’t appreciate the significance of them tbh.

- -U history of goat herding and love life ain't boxing.

Got any pics?

[RJJ-94-02=GOAT]

Just want to clarify I wasn't calling you casual, I was saying that if a casual read your breakdown of Fury's achievements they look better than they actually are. Still great achievements but just based off two good wins and 'two-time lineal' doesn't sound so great since he lost it the first time due to popping dirty. It's like rewarding him for a failed drug test.

Wilder and Klit are great wins, Klit had a great reign whereas Wilder was largely protected and the quality of his defenses are questionable. Still a good win for Fury but not an 'all-time great' win as some believe.

While you can say there are few heavyweights that have beaten opponents with as much defenses as Wilder, it's very easy to find heavyweights with wins over better quality fighters than Wilder and you wouldn't have to go that far back to do so.

Also, you can say AJ is the only person left for Fury to beat but that's not how I see it. I'd like to see him consistently defend his titles against solid opposition. He's never really had a significant title reign in the way Wlad, Lennox or even AJ had.

I’d like to see him make a few defences too man, it’s the only thing he’s missing for me, providing he beats AJ, which I expect he will- if the fight ever actually happens.

As much as Wilder is technically flawed, he was still a longstanding champion with 10 defences. (Tied 5th all time) I completely get what you’re saying about quality of opposition as aside from Ortiz, Fury and maybe the first Stiverne win, there isn’t all that much quality. However, in terms of legitimate contenders this is a weak era IMO.

As great as Wlad was did he beat a better champion than Wilder? Did Vitali? I’d argue no. I think you’d have to go back to Lennox to find somebody with a better win than Fury has.

[joe strong]

All of those guys where either shot or just sh**. Especially the likes of Tyson and Holyfield.

Vitali wasn’t really “the champion” until he beat Sanders in 2004. By that point a lot of the guys you listed weren’t realistic options. His WBO reign was only like 9 months and he wasn’t a big name that could attract the likes of Tyson, Holyfield etc at that point.

And man... you are really scraping the barrel with some of those names, DaVarryl Williamson, Ray Austin, Oquendo, Liakovich. That’s like saying Fury hasn’t fought Gerald Takam, Martin or Molina.

Lol! Yeah a few were washed like Tyson & Holyfield. I just threw some of them guys in because well they were all ranked at the time. Liahkovich was a world champion. Oquendo was a 2 time title challenger & should have got the nod against Byrd. Someone who Vitali Klitschko lost to in 2000. Austin actually fought his way to a title shot & still scored a few upset wins & drew with some decent fighters. Some of the names you are laughing at were better than Kevin Johnson, Sosnowski, Danny Williams, a shot out of his weight Adamek, etc... 2004-2012 who did he beat? Arreola? Chisora... i never said he ducked anyone but who did he really beat in his career other than mostly C+ Level guys. What is his best win? Chisora? Arreola? Peter? Who did he beat to deserve to be in the HOF? He never cleaned out the division & he never beat some of the guys that were active & contenders.

[786]

I’d like to see him make a few defences too man, it’s the only thing he’s missing for me, providing he beats AJ, which I expect he will- if the fight ever actually happens.

As much as Wilder is technically flawed, he was still a longstanding champion with 10 defences. (Tied 5th all time) I completely get what you’re saying about quality of opposition as aside from Ortiz, Fury and maybe the first Stiverne win, there isn’t all that much quality. However, in terms of legitimate contenders this is a weak era IMO.

As great as Wlad was did he beat a better champion than Wilder? Did Vitali? I’d argue no. I think you’d have to go back to Lennox to find somebody with a better win than Fury has.

Better champion? No. Better win? Probably not. I guess you could argue that fighters like Povetkin, Haye even old Mercer are better quality fighters than Wilder but I don't think they would've beaten him (Pov might've though) but yeah Lennox, Holyfield, Tyson, Bowe, Holmes all have better wins on their records than Fury's over Wilder.

You've proven to me that a good argument can be made for Fury being in the top 15, I believe it's a little premature but he's still active and is on course to finishing his career as a top 10 ATG provided he beats AJ and has a few defenses against solid opposition leaving no doubts that he's the man of this era. It's possible and I believe likely but I'd prefer to wait for it to happen before crowning him.