1. Muhammad Ali
2. George Foreman
3. Archie Moore
4. Joe Frazier
5. Evander Holyfield
6. Sonny Liston
7. Larry Holmes
8. Lennox Lewis
9. Joe Louis
10. Ken Norton
If you're talking about Quality of Opposition, Here is my list.
1. Muhammad ALI: ALI stands head and shoulders above the entire division's history. Four of his opponents (Foreman, Frazier, Liston, Holmes) appear in my Top 12 and would likely appear on most Top 10 lists.
2. Evander Holyfield: Holyfield is the only fighter of his generation who faced Every major fighter during his career. While clearly behind ALI, he still stands clearly above the rest. The rest in his generation, Tyson, Bowe, Lewis, all missed at least one on the list.
3. George Foreman: BIG George is clearly third and could argue second. He faced everyone except Larry Holmes, with whom he failed to make a deal, and Mike Tyson, who ducked him.. He also missed Earnie Shavers. One of these three would put him above Holyfield.
4. Larry Holmes: He missed the Super 70s but took on the "Fifth wheel", Ken Norton, in a fight he wasn't expected to win. Holmes didn't face the competition of those above but he did clean out his division of relatively tough fighters.
5. Lennox Lewis: Lennox makes this list for a few reasons. Just as Foreman must be considered for facing most that ALI faced, so must Lennox, in relation to Holyfield. He best Tyson, Holyfield and others. One other thing that places Lennox firmly on this list. He beat a Klitschko, something not many can claim.
6. Wladimir Klitschko: Surprise! But he's here. You could argue that he faced weak competition, which is true. However, no one has dominate the way he has since his last loss, about ten years ago. You can't ask much more than that. Others might rank higher on "greats" list but they didn't dominate as Wladimir did.
7, Mike Tyson: He faced most of the best of his generation. The problem is that most of them kicked his azz.
8. Joe Louis: The Brown Bomber cleaned out his division, creating a record 25 defenses. Still, his competition was not as stiff as those above.
9 Vitali Klitschko: He beat up everybody.
10. Jack Johnson/Jim Jeffries: Tie; Politics and economics kept Johnson from defending against the best black fighters. However, he beat them all before winning the title. Jeffries ruled for a short time but ruled thoroughly.
1. Muhammad Ali---Foreman, Frazier, Liston, Norton, Holmes, Young, Patterson, Quarry, Lyle, Shavers, Bonavena, Chuvalo, Foster, Leon Spinks
2. Lennox Lewis----Holyfield, Tyson, Klitschko, Tua, McCall, Rahman, Ruddock, Weaver, Bruno
3. Larry Holmes----Ali, Norton, Holyfield, Witherspoon, Snipes, Tillis, Ray Mercer, Shavers, Weaver, Michael Spinks, Cooney
4. Joe Louis---Schmeling, Braddock, Baer brothers, Charles, Walcott, Conn, Marciano
5. Mike Tyson---Berbick, Thomas, Tucker, Holmes, Smith, Bruno,Douglas, Ruddock, Holyfield, Lewis, Golota
6. George Foreman---Frazier, Norton, Ali, Lyle, Young, Moorer, Holyfield, Morrison
7. Rocky Marciano---Charles, Walcott, Louis, Moore
8. Joe Frazier---Ali, Foreman, Quarry, Ellis, Bonavena, Chuvalo, Mathis, Doug Jones, Bob Foster
9 Evander Holyfield---Lewis, Bowe, Tyson, Holmes, Moorer, Cooper
10. Mike Weaver---Holmes, Lewis, Dokes, Coetzee, Bobbick brothers, Tillis, Smith, Ruddock, Thomas, Williams, Cooper
Wow! I just wanna say how impressed i am by all these HARDCORE boxing fans! Fantastic!
Thumbs up guys,u fans are what make boxing endure!
List
