BoxRec

I will name a few fighters and would be interested in what you think the best 5 wins were against. Feel free to add others of all weights

Mike Tyson
Lennox Lewis
Vitali Klitschko
Vladimir Klitschko
Larry Holmes
Riddick Bowe
Evander Holyfield

Tyson:
Spinks KO 1- mega fight, Tyson had the belts but Spinks was linear champ, this settled all that
Holmes TKO4 - mostly for name recognition, Holmes still dangerous but well past his best
Tucker UD12 - deals Tucker his first loss to collect the last of the three world titles
Berbick TKO2- anybody reading this forum knows the historical significance of this fight
Smith UD12 - unification fight

Lewis:
Holyfield UD12 - unification fight to become the undisputed champ
Tyson KO8 - biggest fight of career
Klitschko TKO6 - in his final fight, no longer motivated enough to bother getting in shape, still found a way to defeat his top challenger and go out as champ
Rahman KO4- avenges a previous defeat
Brouno tko 7 - I don't care what the official scorecards say, Lewis was well behind in this one and came up with a dramatic, come from behind ko.

Vitali:
Peter tko8- late 30's boxer coming back from a few years retired usually does not end well, Vitali defied that logic and won a major belt in the process
Sanders tko8- with Lewis gone and Sanders destruction of younger brother this was a battle for the top spot in the division won decisively by Vitali
Hide ko2- wins first world title
Adamek tko10- dominates and ruins the former cruiserweight champ and heavyweight contender
Gomez tko 9 - see name directly above
Overall a very, unimpressive top five for Vitali

Wlad:
Chagaev tko9 - dominates the previously undefeated Chagaev in a fight for a plethora of belts including a certain magazine belt and recognition as THE champion of the division in front of 50,000+
Peter UD12(first fight)- at the time Peter was a KO artist on the rise and Wlad was seen as lacking confidence and proven to be china-chinned. Wlad gets off the canvas three times to win a clear decision
Byrd UD12(first fight)- wins his first world title defeating a prime version of Byrd
Povetkin UD 12 - certainly not his best performance and a long overdue fight but still a big win over a dangerous challenger
Haye UD12- would be higher if Haye had actually tried to win the fight

Bowe:
Holyfield UD 12, tko 8- fist time he becomes the undisputed champ, second win gives him the edge in the trilogy
the best of the rest for Bowe are.....................significantly less than wins over Evander
Tubbs UD 10
Thomas tko 8
Hide ko6- first person to win all four recognized "world titles"

Holmes:
Norton SD 15: begins his long reign as champ
Shavers UD 12- unequivocally proves that he is a truly a top heavyweight
Cooney tko13- not for Cooney's skill, I rate it top 5 because how big the fight was and what it was about(good or bad)
Witherspoon SD15 - oh yes, count it
Mercer UD12- in his early 40's and still able to beat the Mercers of the world has to rate high

Evander:
Tyson TKO 11- no more needs said
Bowe MD 12 - um, again no explanation needed
Moorer tko 8 - avenges previous defeat and unifies
Douglas ko3 - becomes undisputed champ
Qawi SD15- wins first belt at cruiser on way to becoming undsiputed

Evander has the best highlight win list imo, could be longer

Great Topic.
I'm doing this as a combination of how they perfromed for that particular fight and how good the opponent was at the time of t hhe fight:
Tyson-Thomas, Tucker, Berbick,Spinks,Bruno

Lewis-Ruddock, Tua,Tyson,Bruno, Rahman

V. Klitschko- Really nobody to speak of.

W. Klitschko- I guess you can give credi for Byrd. Nothing else worth mentioning.

Bowe-Obviously the two wins over Holyfield. Then Tubbs. Actually Ferguson was still fighting a decent level when Bowe stopped him. Several decent but nothing to write home about wins- A slipping Thomas, Seldon, Coetzer or Hide.

Holmes- Norton, first Shavers fight, Cooney, considering his age, the Mercer fight. After that a ot of cloese calls. Going with Berbick.

Holyfield- Same as Perseus. (Tyson, Bowe, Moorer, Douglas, and Qawi.) Thomas, Dokes, Tillis, would not be far behind.

I think this gives a much better idea of how good someone is rather than WBS titles and the number of WBS title defenses.

Ambling Alp II wrote:V. Klitschko- Really nobody to speak of.

W. Klitschko- I guess you can give credi for Byrd. Nothing else worth mentioning.

But the Klitschkos are the greatest heavyweights of all time!??!

It really does show their records don't stand up to scrutiny. No wonder their greatness is always justified in numbers, ratios, years, heights, reaches, KOs - every stat under the sun; just never actual opponent names.

Bowe's win over Jorge Luis Gonzalez belongs in his top 5, surely? Bowe totally dismantled his old amateur conqueror and looked brilliant doing it. That was a big fight and people forget how avoided Gonzalez was. In fact, JLG slapped Shannon Briggs in the face - and Briggs did nothing!

Lennox Lewis - Ruddock, Tucker, Golota, Holyfield, Tua.

Lennox Lewis....admittedly slighty different, so some notes added.

TKO 7 Gary Mason....Lewis very much the 'away' fighter at the Wembley Arena against the unbeaten and dangerous Gary Mason. A serious examination of nerve/desire versus a strong, pumped-up, popular and heavy-fisted domestic rival. Lewis leaves Mason bloodied, bruised and easily passes a true acid test against a guy who held world title aspirations of his own.

TKO2 Donnovan Ruddock...another case of Lewis having to take the hard 'outsiders' route to get anywhere near a fight for the world title, taking on Ruddock in a Commonwealth title defence. Lewis deals with Ruddock supremely well and wrecks a renowned puncher and dangerman.

Won 12 rounds points Holyfield - the 'farce' of the first drawn fight is put to bed. Holyfield well beaten in Vegas and Lewis looks supreme.

Won TKO 6 v Vitali K - badly roughed-up by a future champion of some note and in trouble against that rare thing - an opponent who can match him for height, size and sheer physical size - Lennox responds and finds a way to win.

Won M/D 10 rounds Ray Mercer - a post-Rahman Lewis is forced to prove himself all over again like a contender against a brutish puncher and at the MSG. He takes everything Mercer can land and wins a close one.

Controversial wrote:I will name a few fighters and would be interested in what you think the best 5 wins were against. Feel free to add others of all weights

Mike Tyson
Lennox Lewis
Vitali Klitschko
Vladimir Klitschko
Larry Holmes
Riddick Bowe
Evander Holyfield

Tyson- Thomas, Spinks, Ruddock x2 & Biggs
Lewis- Holyfield x2, Ruddock, Rahman & Vitali
Vitali- Man, I'd have to dig on his record for something of note. I'll just say Sanders & chisora.
Wlad- Haye, Povetkin, Pulev, Byrd x2
Holmes- Norton, Shavers x2, Witherspoon & Mercer
Bowe- Holyfield x2, Tubbs, Seldon
Holyfield- Tyson, Qawi, Bowe, Foreman & Moorer (unlike the Klitschko's almost impossible to narrow his down to 5. You could take his next 10 and better their entire resumes.)

Out the list you've got to hand it to Holyfield for having the toughest five.

He is the clear #1 of these guys in that department. You could also add Ray Mercer to the list that he beat.
I didn't list it for Lewis because I felt Mercer should have got the decision against him.

It's interesting the different way we can look at this question. Is it the best 5 defeated opponents or the best 5 performances? Using Lewis as an example:

Performances - Ruddock, Morrison, Golota, Rahman II, Tyson
Opponents - Ruddock, Mercer, Holyfield, Tyson, Vitali

Agreed. There is a difference. I just sort of combined the two.