BoxRec

i thought id make this post so u can argue who belongs 3-20 in this list because all of the rest after holmes and tyson are so even. this is tough. after holmes and tyson u got about 12 guys that could fit in the 3rd spot. it seemed like the 80s heavyweights were so even in skill and they would just out at it for ALPHabet titles with the champ losing it in his first defense and then that champ losing his first defense.

top 20 80's heavyweight rankings (not counting holyfield)

- this is about how they did in 80s not careers.

1. Mike Tyson- no one dominated and manhandled the heavyweight division this easily since joe louis. tyson dominated all the 80s heavyweights top contenders.
2. Larry holmes- long reign went well into 80s where he continued to take out the challengers and outbox them for 15 rounds. he had a lot of trouble in some fights especially as he started to age.

3. Michael Spinks - got to give him the 3rd spot. first man to beat holmes, and even though it was old holmes, holmes still hadnt lost yet and was beating the contenders. spinks proved it was no fluke and won the rematch, then took on big gerry cooney coming out of retireman and look marelous in knocking out cooney in 5 rounds.

4. Tim Witherspoon- why?? because (excluding tyson/holmes) he was the only heavyweight to win the title twice winning the WBC then losing it, and then winning the WBA. after great decision ovver snipes, he gaves holmes one of his toughest fights when he lost a close decision to the still tough holmes. after a KO over tillis, he beat greg page for vacant WBC title only to lose it after getting outboxed by thomas. a win over bonecrusher led to his dreadfully boring majorty decsion win over tony tubbs to win the WBA belt. he then knocked out frank bruno in 11 rounds in a sensational battle. in one of the biggest heavyweight upsets of the 80s, bonecrusher smith at 33 knocked him out in one round.

5.Pinklon Thomas- best jab besides holmes in the 80s. knocked out tillis then drew iwth more experienced coatzee, and upset witherspoon in his best win to win title. defended it over former WBA champ mike weaver with a sensational knockout in 8. suffered first loss when berbick outboxed and outphysicaled him. suffered first demoralizing loss when tyson outclassed him and knocked him out in 6. pinklon was never the same after that fight.

6. Tony Tucker- he would have been higher if he fought more of the contenders. i give this man lot of credit for giving tyson his closest fight out of all his title fights in the 80s. tucker unlike bonecrusher wasnt too afraid, and since he was champ too, he fought hard staggering tyson in the 1st with an uppercut. tyson managed to outpoint him easily and land the harder punches but tucker showed he wanst afraid to mix. he decisioned james broad to earn a title fight aginst douglas for the vacant IBF title. douglas seemed to outbox tucker but the fight was even after 10 rounds, when douglas quit and was stopped. tucker restores his image with a fine preformance in losing to tyson. 35-1 in the 80s and IBf champ.

IM TOO TIRED TO GIVE THE REST BIOS. I WILL GIVE THEM NEXT WEEK WHEN I GET BACK.

7. Trevor Berbick
8. Mike Weaver
9. Tony tubbs
10. Bonecrusher Smith
11. Gerry Cooney
12. Greg Page
13. Gerrie Coatzee
14. Michael Dokes
15. John Tate
16. Razor Ruddock
17. Renaldo Snipes
18. Frank Bruno
19. Carl Williams
20. Buster Douglas

Tyson over Holmes?

You have Marciano over Louis, and Frazier over Ali, too?

Agree with tantum on the 1 and 2 spots...

Spinks is a difficult one to judge. A great fighter but at HW I'm not sure. I think 4, 5 and 6 are about right. The rest seems more down to eprsonal preference.

Spinks doesn't belong this high at #3 IMO. The Holmes and Cooney wins were against past it fighters. The Holmes wins were obviously significant historically althouth no way would he have challenged any of the top young guns of the day. Especially the better fighters with good movement

BB, everyone and his mom knows Spinks lost the rematch. Other then beating a faded and inactive Cooney, he did jack at HW. Def. not the #3 spot.

Holmes above Tyson-I won't even explain that one.

1) Larry Holmes

2) Mike Tyson

3) Evander Holyfield (beat Dokes, Thomas, and a couple of other in the late 80s)

4) Tim Witherspoon

5) Mike Weaver

6) Trevor Berbick

7) Pinklon Thomas

8) Tony Tubbs

9) Gerrie Coatzee

10) Greg Page

For the fighters listed (why is Spinks in with 5 heavyweight fights, but not Holyfield with 6 or 7in the eighties? If we're sticking to what they did in the eighties, why is Tate on the list at all?) my very arbitrary and subjest to change list would be:

1. Holmes
2. Tyson
3. Witherspoon
4. Tony Tucker
5. Pinklon Thomas
6. Weaver
7. Dokes
8. Michael Spinks
9. Tubbs
10. Ruddock
11. Buster Douglas
12. Carl Williams
13. Berbick
14. Bonecrusher Smith
15. Greg Page
16. Frank Bruno
17. John Tate
18. Gerrie Coatzee
19. Gerry Cooney
20. Renaldo Snipes

For 80's heavyweights I would but Tyson above Holmes, Tyson beat Holmes, reigned (during the 80's) for as long and probably beat as good if not better fighters.

Holmes' finest hour came in 1979.

I would have it somewhere like this.

1) Tyson
2) Holmes
3) Witherspoon
4) Tucker
5) Spinks
6) Thomas
7) Smith
8) Dokes
9) Berbick
10) Weaver.

With all due respect, I wouldn't say Holmes' finest hour was '79--he still had a lot of good fights left in him over the first half of the 80's, beating Berbick, Snipes, Witherspoon, Williams--even KOing Smith (which Tyson did not do). It was Holmes' decade for the first half, and Tyson's for the last third (after beating Tucker).
As for Tyson fighting better quality opposition, I just don't see it: they fought quite a few of the same guys (with Holmes taking them on when they were younger). IMO, Tyson only had one real quality oppoent in the 80s who Holmes never faced: Toney Tucker. Most of the other fighters of any note who Tyson faced in the 80s had either lost to Holmes, or lost to someone who lost to Holmes.

yeah but dan, all those fighters tyson beat, some of them gave holmes very close battles and also were never knocked out before. tyson just annihlated them. and tyson fought the best contenders always. never ducked anyone. holmes never unified the title and fought some bums when he could have fought legit contenders.

tyson couldnt knockout bonecrusher cause bonecrusher held him for 12 rounds. and im pretty sure bonecrusher had holmes in a lot of trouble at onep oint before holmes ended up stopping him in the 12th.

BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:yeah but dan, all those fighters tyson beat, some of them gave holmes very close battles and also were never knocked out before. tyson just annihlated them. and tyson fought the best contenders always. never ducked anyone. holmes never unified the title and fought some bums when he could have fought legit contenders.

tyson couldnt knockout bonecrusher cause bonecrusher held him for 12 rounds. and im pretty sure bonecrusher had holmes in a lot of trouble at onep oint before holmes ended up stopping him in the 12th.

Tyson never fought Weaver or Witherspoon (not saying he ducked them but they were better contenders then a Tyrell Biggs)

Holmes dominated Berbick. He TKO'd Smith when he was past his prime. Other then Spinks (who clearly lost to an old Holmes in the rematch) that's their only common opponents.

Holmes didn't unify-the friggin' IBF was created in the early 80s when Holmes was champion . Larry was sick of the santioning bodies and so dropped the WBC and picked up the IBF, thinking the champ made the belt. In retrospect that was a bad move b/c it enabled there to be 3 main belts that could be divided at any one time, but it was a political move on Holmes's part. He was THE man in the division until the Spinks fight. Unified belts or not.

RE: Common Opponents: Holmes & Tyson:

The aforementioned Berbick, Bonecrusher, and Spinks.

Add Marvis Frazier and Carl Williams. If you want to count Holmes' comeback, add Holyfield, Ribalta, and Ferguson.

sweetsci wrote:RE: Common Opponents: Holmes & Tyson:

The aforementioned Berbick, Bonecrusher, and Spinks.

Add Marvis Frazier and Carl Williams. If you want to count Holmes' comeback, add Holyfield, Ribalta, and Ferguson.

Forgot about Frazier . . .both sparked him in a round.

Williams-I think the Tyson stoppage was incredibly premature, so I don't really consider that fight when going over Tyson's career. I don't think Williams would have won (he maybe wouldn't have gone 2 round) but that stoppage was BS.

what a left hook tyson nailed williams with thoough

stujones wrote:For 80's heavyweights I would but Tyson above Holmes, Tyson beat Holmes, reigned (during the 80's) for as long and probably beat as good if not better fighters.

Holmes' finest hour came in 1979.

I would have it somewhere like this.

1) Tyson
2) Holmes
3) Witherspoon
4) Tucker
5) Spinks
6) Thomas
7) Smith
8) Dokes
9) Berbick
10) Weaver.

Tucker shouldn't be above Dokes.He probably had three fights of meaning, Broad, Douglas, and Tyson. Before that, he was just a talented prospect.Dokes came inot the decade a contender, fought Ocasio, Cobb, Weaver, Gardner, and Ball.