World heavyweight boxing champions, who are the greatest?

[EveningStar]

Who are the greatest world heavyweight boxing champions?

1. Muhammad Ali (fine all around, revolutionary defensive heavyweight fighter, smart, courageous)
2. Rocky Marciano (The Brockton Blockbuster - powerful, smart, courageous - would have been number 1 but for his lack of size)
3. Jack Johnson (The Galveston Giant - breakthrough style, smart, great defense, possibly the first of the “modern style” heavyweight champions)
4. Joe Louis (The Brown Bomber - great, great puncher, fine boxer, one of the two quintessential heavyweight champions)
5. Larry Holmes (good all around)
6. George Foreman (devastating puncher, amazing guy)
7. Jack Dempsey (The Manassa Mauler - great, aggressive, courageous, one of the two quintessential heavyweight champions)
8. Gene Tunney (very smart, great defensive fighter, good puncher)
9. Ezzard Charles (The Cincinnati Cobra - remarkable and frequently overlooked fighter who almost beat Marciano - twice!)
10. Joe Frazier (great puncher, courageous)
Honorable mention. Jersey Joe Walcott (crafty, durable)

Those are my picks. What are yours?

[Jack Black]

Great topic. Hard to argue with the list. Tyson should have been on it. Sad that he never reached his potential.

Who are the next 10. I have trouble judging from the distant past. Jack Johnson was a giant in his era, Joe Lewis, Rocky.

Who are the contenders now. Lennox has made a believer out of me, almost. Holyfield was lucky he never fought really top guys, the one fellow he did fight a few times won against him, forget his name. (His pregnant wife had a parachutist land on her, stopped the bout for 10 minutes, she left ringside in an ambulance, he went from winning to losing, remember)... was it Buster Douglas?

Current crowd of Heavyweights? Klitsko looked good but that soft skin is gonna make it hard to win. Brother probably has it to. Trainers can teach their fighters to cut, using head buts like Holyfield was so good at.

Rahman?

No disagreement on number 1, but I don't know the others as well. Why was he greater than Joe Lewis? Or Jack Johnson.

[EveningStar]

The fighters I picked are from what I would call the "modern" era. I left out Sullivan from the bare knuckle era and Corbett, Fitzsimmons, and Jeffries from the early Queensbury era.

[Tijeras_Slim]

I always liked Leon Spinks, probably because I had a cat named Leon who was also missing a lot of teeth.

[Always Right]

No Buster Douglas?

[EveningStar]

:)