Which fight signified when were these great heavyweights at their absolute best? Muhammad Ali Joe Louis Larry Holmes Mike Tyson George Foreman Jack Dempsey Lennox Lewis Evander Holyfield Rocky Marciano Joe Frazier Riddick Bowe My picks Ali - Williams Louis - Schmeling 2 Holmes - Cooney Tyson - Berbick Foreman - Frazier 1 Dempsey - Willard Lewis - Ruddock Holyfield - Tyson 1 Marciano - Walcott 1 Frazier - Ali 1 Bowe - Holyfield 1
I'm saying Tyson looked his best against Marvis Frazier. I know it wasn't his greatest opponent, but i thought he looked his best that night.
Lewis was better fighter IMHO late in the 90s even though the Ruddock fight might be the best single performance. For Tyson it could just as well be the Holmes or Spinks fights
Roy's best performance might be Sosa. Even though the fight was stopped a BIT too early, Roy was well on his way to brutally stopping Sosa, and the offensive display he put on Merqui was just AWESOME.
I would say Roy against Toney...you just have to factor in the calibre of opponent, they dont have to be all time greats but they at least have to be dangerous...the Sosa one was a good performance but it was stopped much too early
Let's try to keep it to my list of heavyweights...and try to offer choices for everyone on the list. We can do one for the lighter weights in another thread. Incidentally I have to say for Roy Jones...it would be Toney. He looked DAMNED good against Richard Hall too.
I wasn't trying to take a shot at Paz. :kick::: I don't hate him like cdogg does (although i do enjoy his bashing), i just think it was a great Jones performance. I know that Paz was no match for Jones, especially @ 168 but i believe i look at the thread a different way. To me a great fighter at their best really has little to do with the opponent. I view it more in the way if you were to just pop in a tape of a fighter that nobody has seen before. Basically a showcase of what a guy can do. If somebody had never seen Roy fight (or Pazienza for that matter) it's the matchup I would probably show them.
Just watched Lewis v Morrison, his most complete performance IMO - the jab destroyed Morrison's face and Lewis's rarely seen left hook looked great
Marciano vs Walcott II Dempsey vs Willard Lewis vs Grant Holyfield vs Tyson I, or versus Lewis I Roy Jones vs Griffin II or Hill Louis vs Baer I Holmes vs Norton Frazier vs Ali I Ali vs Frazier I Bowe vs Holyfield I
Holyfield was clearly not all there that night, but he overcame a horrid start where he could have been stopped to win the 7th 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th and make the fight a lot closer than it seemed at first instances. Most guys would have been out of there by the 5th. It was a horrid performance by Lewis, but that should not take away from the nous and balls Holyfield showed to hang in there and claw something out of the fight for himself. People put it down as a bad performance for Evander, but I don't.
What made Holyfield great? Heart and balls and effort and overcoming the size advantage of bigger men. He couldnt have been at his greatest vs Tyson because he didn't need any of that as much....for Mike Tyson was nowhere near his greatest. Same as Ali vs Williams. It was easy to beat up a one-kidney guy who was missing 3 feet of guts. But when Frazier put his head on Alis chest...then we saw the greatness, from both of them.
