TalkSport's 20 Greatest Heavyweights of All Time (By Which They Actually Mean the Last 50 Years)

On the back of the big fight at the weekend, TalkSport have boldly declared their list of the 20 greatest Heavyweights in history, with the added caveat that they don't go any further back than the 1970s. So all the great champions right up to Liston are out of luck.

Quite why they didn't just call it their list of the Twenty Greatest Heavyweights of the Last Fifty Years is beyond me, but there you go.....

From Tyson Fury to Deontay Wilder, Mike Tyson and Anthony Joshua - Boxing's greatest heavyweights of all time ranked

1) Muhammad Ali 2) Larry Holmes 3) George Foreman 4) Lennox Lewis 5) Joe Frazier 6) Tyson Fury 7) Evander Holyfield 8) Mike Tyson 9) Vitali Klitschko 10) Wladimir Klitschko 11) Riddick Bowe 12) Ken Norton 13) Anthony Joshua 14) Tim Witherspoon 15) Michael Spinks 16) Jimmy Young 17) Deontay Wilder 18) Chris Byrd 19) Michael Moorer 20) Earnie Shavers

Any thoughts on this?

A headscratcher, although Im not really one for ranking fighters across eras.

I dont think it makes sense comparing active fighters to retired ones either.

Fury over Holyfield as of today is a bit of a reach, but I just saw him at #4 in ESPN's P4P rankings. One higher than the other HW champ who is, like, a two division champ. And four spots higher than the only undisputed champion currently in the sport, so the love in clearly is in full effect.

What a silly list. I appreciate Fury is flavour of the month but there's no way he should be above; Holyfield, Tyson, Bowe, Wlad or Vitali.

Tyson Fury doesn't even have much of an amateur pedigree to his resume - it is thin (35 fights) and nothing significant. If Fury retires after one more fight it is difficult to place him on any list of all time great heavyweights. He will be remembered for his victory over Wladimir and the trilogy with Wilder but that's it. He will have only defended a world title once (maybe twice depending on what he does for the one contractually obliged additional fight he has).

Like a list you see in pop magazines these days..

1.New Kids on the Block
2. The Beatles..

Ernie Shavers above Gene Tunney...

1. Ali
2. Louis
3. Johnson
4. Foreman
5. Holmes
6. Dempsey
7. Marciano
8. Frazier
9. Tyson
10. Jeffries
11. Lewis
12. Holy
13. Liston
14. Tunney
15. Wlad
16. Fury
17. Patterson
18. Vitali
19. Norton
20. Corbett

Keep these threads coming...Getting interesting on here again.

It's the top twenty from Ali beating Liston onwards.

Not sure how Michael Spinks is above Jimmy Young..

One defeat and gift against an old Larry...A disinterested Cooney and a bed wetting against Tyson..

Witherspoon pushed a decent Larry..Beat Tubbs..Bonecrusher and an unbeaten Bruno..

Belongs above Joshua.

Weaver above Wilder....Unbeaten Tate...A top ranked Williams and Coetzee...Should have decisioned Dokes too..

Apologies for misreading the thread.

I'd like Lennox Lewis a bit higher but I can't decide what position to place him. Probably # 2, and I would have the Klitschko brothers above Mike Tyson.

Lennox did have a few difficult fights it's true,  I am thinking Ray Mercer particularly which I only really feel that he won by the very thinnest of margins,and Matkovic who he was completely baffled by as he was unable to control the fight at all, although a comfortable win it wasn't a confident win and he certainly looked ordinary against him.
However his displays against Michael Grant ,David Tua and Vitali were real virtuoso displays of  his ability to adapt ,more ofter than not,and he did seem to improve with age,being a good learner of Steward's mass of knowledge.
If we are looking at a mix of metrics to assess this then  fine,we can add in to the mix the thorny issue of Heavies Were Smaller Back Then, as well as the corny issue of Legacy but we stick to the same old guys.
Big George knows a thing or two we all agree on that,and he always put Lewis at the top of the tree.
Personally, and I know its not a popular opinion, but I am happy to end the Ali/Louis hegemony and give Lewis the top position.
I would give LL a great chance against any Heavy in history and that's what I think it boils down to.
I would actually demote Louis out of the top four, but that's a can of worms and I am not going to go there on this thread!

If Lewis and Ali had ever fought I would be hard pressed to pick a winner. I'm pretty sure if big hitters like Foreman Frazier Shavers and Norton couldn't stop Ali, and not many put him down, then Lennox would have to out box him. Much as I like Lennox I'm not sure he could.

I would favour Lewis much more to get the decision over 15 rounds if it were the post 1971 Ali. Like you, I give Ali a shoe- in  against everybody if it is his 63-66 era. Having said that it's not like he was never tagged as Enery's Hammer showed ..
I like the idea of Peak Ali against Peak Lewis, would be a pretty cagey affair which could allow for either fighter being able to capitalise after finding the right punch, Ali would probably be most peoples tip if only for his powers of recovery and as you say his ability to stay on his feet.
On Lewis'  side, it's easy for me to imagine him not wanting to engage and fighting his 'safety first ' mode which I guess we saw against Holy in the first fight,for example. Whilst Ali famously won a round without throwing a punch, it's to be expected that he would have wanted to engage at some point and his in-fighting ability I think would be found wanting against Lewis. I would have to admit that I would sit on the fence so much for my tip here that I would get the proverbial splinters where the sun don't shine!