how do you all rank the best heavyweights of the 80's/90's?

Question

..and how do they compare to the all-time greats? personally, my top in-their-primes ten looks like: tyson, holyfield, holmes, lewis, bowe, m. spinks, page, cooney, dokes, moorer(, etc.) i know most of you like to dump on iron mike but, really, who did the others fight that made them stack up any better against the all-time greats? regardless of actual encounters between any of the above(with the only exceptions being bowe-holyfield 1,2,3 which took place at just the right times in their respective careers, and lived up to the hype) what should have been another golden age of boxing, to me, kinda turned out somewhat underwhelming.....let the comments fly!~

yo, brad, i, too, respect your boxing knowledge and i agree w/you that tyson is the biggest "what if?" (MUCH AS IT PAINS ME!). to my knowledge, no other fighter had such lofty potential, so early in his career, and was deemed both a legend and a virtual shoo-in to the hall of fame. so why the tyson love-fest? simple, bec he was a throwback to a more romantic, no-frills time in boxing and he just knocked people out! no jivin, no jazz, just exciting fights and some tcb! after ALI, that's exactly what boxing needed. what a shame he lost it, bec he had the world in his hands and couldn't keep it. i pity him and feel bad for him, as well as the sport....and i'm sorry dude, but, i hardly consider holyfield worthy of comparison to an immortal like ALI. holy was good, and i respect him, but he wasn't no ALI, he was one of the 2-3 best of a generation of fighters who really pale in comparison to the giants of the 60's and 70's when ALI dominated! does that help?

a great big shout-out and a hearty welcome back to smitty..thx for showing some of our readers the errors of their ways!

...unfortunately, smitty, i have to pick my fellow marvel namesake (the xman) as the best answer!

Answer 1

# 1 - Mike Tyson, hands down. Mike, would most likely still be kicking *** if he could keep is head on straight.

Holmes, Holyfield toss-up for # 2

Answer 2

The 80's and the 90's were two separate eras. The 80's was always recognized as one of the worst eras, if not the worst era in the history of the sport. But those guys were a lot better than the garbage today.
The 90's saw another mini Golden Era, with terrific and great fighters competing at the same time; guys like Holyfield (the Ali of his generation), Tyson, Bowe, Lewis, Moorer and Foreman, whose presence in the 90's is a testament to the greatest era in the history of the sport - late 60's, early 70's - in that, twenty years later, it was still a factor.
I repect your boxing accumen, but have no idea why you hold Tyson in such high esteem. He's the Darryl Strawberry of the sport. When the history of sport is written, Tyson will be an asterisk or footnote; the biggest waste of talent and the greatest 'what if' in the history of boxing.

*additional*

No, I said that Evander is the Ali of his generation. And he certainly is that. Only 4 time champ in heavyweight history, and this past Friday, he surprised the fukc out of me and captured a legit (USBA) regional title, with his surprise win, at age 44, over Fres Oquendo.
And, can you think of another fighter in heavyweight history, other than Evander and Ali, that went through so many wars, consistently, against such a high level of competition?
Holyfield certainly belongs in the same category as the greats of the late 60's and early 70's. He would've beaten most of them.

Can you imagine what a war a prime Holyfield vs a prime (second time around) Ali would've been?

Answer 3

I would say the first 4 you mentioned are definitely the top 4 but i am struggling to put them in order.
Im gonna go with
1, Holyfield
2, Tyson
3, Lewis
4, Holmes
It was tough to pick an order as Lewis beat Evander twice (i know the first fight was called a draw but come on) late in his career but i tried to pick it as if it was a 4 man tournament in their primes, I think Tyson would KO Lewis and Holyfield would outpoint Holmes in the Title Eliminators and then Holyfield would outpoint Iron Mike for the Title.

Answer 4

I'd rank Holyfield as #1 since he's fought the best of the best and won the belt 3 times in those two decades.
#2 Tyson was dominant in the 80's. He was really good and fast at his prime.
#3 Lewis. Beat Holyfield in late 90's.

Answer 5

Brad, you stand corrected the '80's were a good era (Tyson and Holmes ruled then).

My list from the '80's and '90's:
Holmes
Tyson
Holyfield
Lewis
Bowe
Foreman

Answer 6

In order and this might ruffle some feathers:
1) Larry Holmes
2) Evander Holyfield
3) George Foreman
4) Lennox Lewis
5) Mike Tyson
6) Riddick Bowe
Out of this list the fighters who I think would have been competitive in the '60's and '70's would be : All of them, provided they came to fight, in condition. (Foreman was already of that '60's - "70's era, you combine this with his second coming and that's why I have him ranked 3rd)

Answer 7

of course tyson ruled the 80's, the holyfeild

Answer 8

....like this

Klitshko>Holyfield>tyson..............:)

Answer 9

i only have two words for you: hulk hogan.