Who are the ten best heavyweights of all-time?
This question has resulted in a long running debate amongst fans and boxing historians alike for some time. Ranking different athletes from different eras is always a difficult endeavor. Was Babe Ruth really a better hitter than Ted Williams? Is Joe Montana the greatest quarterback in NFL history? Could Kobe Bryant hold Michael Jordan's jock strap? Was Muhammad Ali truly The Greatest?I will try to address that last question in the article.......
I conducted a survey with 80 long-time boxing fans (myself included). My question was simple. I had each person in the survey provide me with a chronological list of who he considered to be the ten best heavyweights in boxing history. Ties were not allowed, just a straight-forward list from one to ten. I then used a weighted-points system to assign points to fighters _base_d on where they appeared on each individual's list. First place votes received 25 points. Second place votes were worth 15 points, third place votes were worth 12, and fourth and fifth place votes were worth 10 and 8 points respectively. After that, the point differential was constant, with sixth place votes getting 5 points, seventh place votes getting 4, eighth place getting 3, ninth place 2, and tenth place 1.
Survey Results:
After all of the lists were tabulated with the aforementioned points system, a total of twenty-two different boxers had received mention. Below is a list of the results. (First place votes are indicated in parenthesis).
1.1675 Muhammad Ali (52)
2. 1375 Joe Louis (23)
3. 638 Rocky Marciano (1)
4. 580 Larry Holmes
5. 488 Lennox Lewis (1)
6. 462 Jack Johnson (1)
7. 318 [tie] George Foreman
7. 318 [tie] Jack Dempsey (2)
9. 233 Mike Tyson
10. 221 Joe Frazier
11. 217 Sonny Liston
12. 106 Evander Holyfield
13. 79 Jim Jeffries
14. 23 Gene Tunney
15. 21 Sam Langford
16. 15 Jersey Joe Walcott
17. 14 John L. Sullivan
18. 8 Ezzard Charles
19. 4 Harry Wills
20. 2 [tie] Wladimi Klitschko
20. 2 [tie] Riddick Bowe
22. 1 Floyd Patterson http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=20560&more=1Wow Wladimir ist von den Boxexperten sogar als Nr. 20 gewählt worden, Respekt in dieser Liste der ganz großen Namen.
