BoxRec

Welcome to my third all-time heavyweight tournament. In the first tournament I ran, the fighters were my all-time top 6 as well as two greats from the 90s: Ali, Louis, Holmes, Foreman, Marciano, Frazier, Lewis and Tyson. Louis and Ali ended up with the same number of victories, but Louis won the tournament due to more KO victories.

The second tournament was on a world cup format, with Ali beating Holmes by split decision in the final, after Joe Louis was stopped by Liston in the quarter finals.

Now I am starting a new tournament of sorts. The fighters competing are the top 12 from a list collated from over 20 boxrec forum users' lists:

1. Ali
2. Louis
3. Holmes
4. Johnson
5. Foreman
6. Marciano
7. Dempsey
8. Frazier
9. Lewis
10. Liston
11. Holyfield
12. Tyson

Basically, what will happen is each fighter will have 3 fights against all of the other 11 fighters. There is no points system for rating fighters, the winner of the tournament will be the one with the best record after their 33 fights. If records are equal, the fighter with the more KOs is placed higher. Fighters are considered to be in their respective primes, and in peak physical condition for all fights, so there is no time frame. Unlike my world cup tournament, there is no wear and tear effect between fights. Fights are all 12 rounds.

Round 1 fights:
Ali vs Tyson
Louis vs Holyfield
Holmes vs Liston
Johnson vs Lewis
Foreman vs Frazier
Marciano vs Dempsey

My votes:
Ali UD12, Ali DQ3, Ali TKO10
Louis UD12, Louis TKO10, Louis SD12
Liston UD12, Holmes UD12, Holmes KO6
Johnson SD12, Lewis UD12, Lewis TKO8
Foreman TKO2, Foreman TKO5, Foreman TKO4
Dempsey TKO8, Marciano UD12, Marciano TKO6

Judging by the fact that this is the third tourney I've done - I love these topics. There are always some far-out opinions, but in general the results are pretty good, as the collective knowledge of forum users is generally good.

I think only Ali & Louis could realistically find a way to beat all of the top guys, but it's hard to say this or that couldn't happen. Almost everyone would pick Foreman to steamroll Marciano, for example, but if the reverse happened, would it be any bigger an upset than, say, Douglas-Tyson? In truth, no.

With all the past computer tournaments, 'expert' pick tournaments at Heavyweight, am surprised that this thread actually has posts in it. I guess the almighty "what if?" carries more weight than anything in boxing.

Btw, excellent remark Goodnight. Totally agree.