I'm watching the espn countdown of this on Classic. I'm sort of a boxing historian(at least i think i know a lot) and i disagree with a lot of the choices, especially the rankings. anyway, I'm gonna come up with my own top 20. I know we have some boxing fans here so please chime in. I'm gonna go as far back as Joe Louis cause I haven't read or seen a lot about the greats before that. I know a decent amount about the heavyweights from era but that's about it.

I thought they rated Pep too high and Frazier too low. I don't remember watching beyond that.

I'm not much of a boxing historian, but I did just read 'The Sweet Science' by AJ Liebling and from what I read of his, he thought Joe Lewis was the best fighter ever. Since he knew more about boxing than probably anyone alive, I'll take his word for it.

Mike tyson in his prime was just downright scary.

I would probably shit my pants if he came within a 20-foot radius of me, even today. Fuck that, especially today.

And would have been dominated by a decent heavyweight like Foreman, Frazier, Ali, etc..

my father boxed for a long time.

i tell him my favorite boxer is marciano. and he watches boxing today. and he says nobody would ever beat ali in his prime. i trust his opinion.

Hagler, Hearns and Leonard have all got to be up there.

What do you guys think about Lennox? Personally, I reckon he got lucky with his era. He had McCall, Tucker, Bruno and a rapidly declining Tyson and Holyfield to deal with.

I vote Holyfield before L. Lewis.

I love Jack Dempsey just because of the story about him sending guys who tried to mug him to the hospital when he was in his 70s.

I'm a big fan of Lewis, he doesnt get that much credit because he wasnt the most exciting fighter to watch but technically sound he was awesome

Well, he did make Riddick Bowe piss his pants...

Bob Probert and Nolan Ryan

I disagree with this statement. Tyson's speed and power is unmatched. Remember Tyson in his prime was weighing 220 himself. Tyson fought guys that were consistently larger than him.

What is the definition of a decent heavyweight? Tyson beat up some good fighters in his prime like Trevor Berbick, Larry Holmes, Carl "The Truth" Williams. Tyrell Biggs & Tony Tucker were both undefeated until they fought Tyson. These guys aren't great fighters but Tyson wasn't dodging bullets either. Tyson was fighting guys who were good at that time.

But all you had to do to beat Tyson in his prime was get out of like the 3rd round. Not to mention, when it came to boxing intelligence, he was never that smart. He fought like a street fighter. Foreman, Frazier, and Ali would have destroyed him, as well as quite a few others.

Tyson deserves top 10 rank I believe, but that's about it.

Here's my top 20. I'm basing this on books, clips i've seen, and fights i've watched.

1) Joe Louis
2) Sugar Ray Robinson
3) Willie Pep
4) Muhammad Ali
5) Henry Armstrong
6) Rocky Marciano
7) Aaron Pryor
8 ) Marvin Hagler
9) Sugar Ray Leaonard
10) Roy Jones Jr
11) Pernell Whitaker
12) Evander Holyfield
13) Bernard Hopkins
14) Roberto Duran
15) Lennox Lewis
16) Thomas Hearns
17) Mike Tyson
18 ) Joe Frazier
19) Larry Holmes
20) George Foreman

honorable mentions: Julio Ceasar Chavez, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Alexis Arguello, Floyd Patterson, Felix Trinidad

We need another big name American heavyweight like the middle east needs a hug.

put on some weight and start training

I'm fuckin working on it Club. I got my first spar in two weeks at a local gym.

the people Tyson got involved with are the ones who fucked his career over... of course, he is responsible for that..... but in his prime he was untouchable... and you can say he was a street fighter, but he was the best street fighter ever... Tyson made the average fan take notice in a way no one had since maybe Ali... that has to count for something


what # did that show put him at?... #17 is much too low, imo

I'm in the majority when i think that Tyson's opponents were kinda weak. He did demolish guys for years but nobody in the heavyweight division from 86-90 were any good. Trevor Berbick, Frank Bruno, Bonecrusher Smith, all bad figfhters that just happened to be champions cause everybody else sucked. I think Tyson would hold his own against good heavyweight champions but against great ones i feel he'd lose. He had amazing skills when he was on top but mentally he wasn't very good and the Douglas fight along with others after that proved it.