Ten Greatest Heavyweights of the last 30 years!!!

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Been thinking about this and here is my list........1981 onwards..Subjective......

1. Evander Holyfield
2. Mike Tyson
2. Lennox Lewis
4. Larry Holmes (1981 onwards)
5. Riddick Bowe
6. Vladimir Klitscho
7. Vitali Klitscho
8. Tim Witherspoon
9. Mike Weaver
10. Michael Moorer

88Chris05 wrote:

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Jose napoles won his last fights before Stracey didn't he...

He'd also taken an absolute thrashing off Monzon about a year before, too. Anyway, I count Stracey's win over Napoles as one of the best by a British fighter, and am not as quick to degrade it as some others are.

It only comes behind Turpin Robinson for me. And just ahead of Curry Honeyghan as the best british wins.

I think you got to look at what Holyfield did after Lewis to some extent aswell though. He struggled big time with Ruiz and after that pretty much everyone else.

Sugests to me that while Holyfield wasnt shot, he wasnt at his best either. Difficult to assess exactly where between "shot" and "prime" he was though.

Think that using fights that come after is a bit revisionist, for instance Chavez beat Taylor having given him an almighty beating despite being behind, regardless of your views on the stoppage it's clear that Taylor was never the same after that fight so does it detract from Chavez's win?

Leave Holmes out as he should be 1 without the arbitrary cut-off.

1. Tyson
2. Lewis
3. Holyfield
4. Wlad
5. Vitali
6. Bowe
7. Witherspoon

Errr....
Moorer ?
Tucker ?
Tubbs ?

Imperial Ghosty wrote:Think that using fights that come after is a bit revisionist, for instance Chavez beat Taylor having given him an almighty beating despite being behind, regardless of your views on the stoppage it's clear that Taylor was never the same after that fight so does it detract from Chavez's win?

Not really, but every case is different. I dont think there is a set rule, it a question of judgement.

Glen Johnson and Antonio Tarver knocked out Roy Jones. But I think it subsequently became pretty obvious that the Jones they knocked out was past it, as evidenced by his results and performances after. After the Jones v Tarver I fight, many thought it was just a bad day at the office for Jones and a possible hangover from dropping down two divisions. But with the benefit of hindsight it seems pretty obvious he was just in the final days of his top level career and that time had been called.

Holyfield never really managed to do much after Lewis. He didnt spectacularly fall from grace immediately as say the likes of Jones, Taylor, Charles etc did but the fact that he struggled badly with Ruiz less than a year after losing to Lewis indicates to me that he wasnt at his best. After that the slide becomes quite dramatic.

Certain fighters like Taylor may just become old over night after a fight and lose the motivation. Unless you think Holyfield simply grew old overnight in a similar way after Lewis then I think its reasonable to look at the performances after. At the age he was and the wars he had been in its not unreasonable to think he was past his best anyhow, but his decline from there on in also seems to support this.

As Chris said, his form going in was good so obviously there was no suggestion he was shot. But similarly I dont think it can be denied that the timing f the fight favoured Lewis heavily in terms of respective peaks.

I just think it's too easy to slightly discredit a victory based on subsequent events and in the case of Jones do feel it's used an excuse for eventually losing when if we're honest his level of opposition stepped up a notch or two.

No Audley on anyone's lists?!?!?!?!