On their very best night who wins the all time heavyweight prizefighter competition?

[erics44]

Vitali Klitschko the best Heavyweight ever along with Lennox Lewis ? LOL sorry that made me laugh hysterically. Based on what exactly ? outside of the Lennox Lewis fight his career has been very average. I mean his best win is probably against Corrie Sanders.

just based on what i see

you dont have to have the same opinion

IMO having Ali as the best heavyweight of all time is stupid talk

ok maybe he is greatest in what he represented and how he moved the sport forward and what he achieved outside the ring, i wouldnt disagree with that, but in the ring? Naaaaaaaaaaaaa

I can understand saying Ali is not the best HW of all time P4P but hard to argue him not being top 2 or 3....

6'3" gave him enough size to compete in any era...In fact he is larger then most heavyweights in eras prior.....He could take abuse beyond what most men could dream of...Down yes but never knocked out cold...Including against argueably the hardest p4p puncher ever in Foreman....First three time HW champion...He fought in an era where HW boxing was at its best and everyone had a different style but were the cream of the crop at that style.....His speed was amazing, he had credible power and was a master at making adjustments in the ring.......

Liston, Quarry, Foreman, Frazier, Patterson, Chuvalo, Moore, Williams, Cooper, Terrell, Foster, Norton, Lyle....I mean those alone are a gauntlet that no other HW can claim even close to in talent as in terms of opposition....Shit the contenders were better then most of the champions we have had in HW history....

Maybe not #1 maybe so but dismissed with a "Naaaaaa"....I mean really this is Ali I don't understand how a case even has to be made for his status

i dont doubt ali is in the top 5 but people seem to place him unconditionally at number one and scoff at the fact that it might not be the case

My overall view of that era is that it was no better or richer in tallent than any other its just there was no real standout heavyweight so the fights were close and Ali was around and his mouth did all the talking

some of the guys you mentioned in your list would be beaten by the klits in exactly the same way as most of the contenders do today

cooper lost loads of fights

ali defended against london who wouldnt be top 20 in britain today

I was just giving names off the top of my head some like ones you mentioned are not ATG material but were damn though....Today how often do we see any fighter let alone a HW (As if there was enough HW talent to provide a quality list) fight so many big names?..........The fact that 85% of the guys of that era were so good and fact many such as Quarry, Shavers etc would have held a world title in most other eras even if briefly shows the quality of comp IMO...

I do agree 100% on the fact many people place Ali as #1 just because of the name...Many of those people are not true boxing entusiast and go by reputation alone...Personally many times I have stated on forums and in articles that Jack Johnson has a strong case for being the #1 considering how far past his time he was and fact he had size, power and speed to be able and compete in any era....I mean if you look at some old footage of him he was doing Ali type moves 50+ years before Ali ever laced gloves.....I just disagreed with the "Naaa" part because it came across as if Ali was a guy who was overrated in a Sven Ottke sort of way

you might be right, these fighters like Shavers or Quarry may well have been champs in any other era

im inclined to think their stock is much bigger than their tallent because of the era they fought in and the fact they fought ali and everything that was going on outside the ring