Hot on the heels of the BoxRec greatest-ever fighters list comes a top-10 heavyweight chart from the same source – The pound-for-pound list drew plenty of attention, debate, criticism and some praise. As was proven once again, it is almost impossible – in fact, totally impossible – to compile a list of this kind that will please everyone.
So to the BoxRec top-10 greatest-ever heavyweights:
1: Muhammad Ali
2: Joe Louis
3: Evander Holyfield
4: Floyd Patterson
5: Rocky Marciano
6: Larry Holmes
7: Gene Tunney
8: Jack Johnson
9: Wladimir Klitschko
10: Joe Frazier
Many Mike Tyson fans have expressed their outrage over the fact that “Iron Mike,” the youngest ever heavyweight king, has not been included on the list. A stronger argument could, in my opinion, be made for George Foreman being placed somewhere in the top-10. And what about Lennox Lewis? Jack Dempsey?
Again, it’s a thankless task compiling these lists, simply because so many passionate fight fans will feel aggrieved if their hero is not included. Tyson’s absence is no biggie from this side of the corner; Tyson being good for a while but losing his biggest fights and failing to overcome real adversity (never once getting up from a knockdown to a win a fight for example – something each and every fighter in the BoxRec top-10 managed to do).
The order the fighters have been placed in might need some shuffling in the opinion of some (Holyfield at NO.3??) and again, Foreman and Dempsey should be in there. But not a bad list at all. Even though the Tyson-fanatics say otherwise.
Ali is rightly placed at the top of the list, and no, not just because the man himself said he was The Greatest. Ali’s almost insanely impressive quality of opposition makes him worthy, as does his longevity, the sheer impact he made on the sport and the toughness, bravery and enormous courage Ali displayed in the ring. And if all that was not enough, factor in how we didn’t even see Ali IN HIS PRIME – these years, 1968 and ’69 taken away from him due to his being refused a license to box due to his refusal to serve in Vietnam – and it’s clear, the man really, truly was the best of the best.