By Dennis Broadhurst: This article was requested in one or two comments so here it is. Again these are fighters who in there prime are ranked in the positions I give.
20) At number twenty comes James J. Jeffries AKA The Boilermaker. Jeffries was a superb fighter, he could take a solid punch and also a lot of punishment. In fights he would take opponents best punches until his face was deeply cut and then launch his power punches which often knocked his opponents out cold.
19 ) Ingemar Johansson comes in at 19. He was a good fighter who had a great punch in ” The Hammer of Thor”. He knocked out Floyd Patterson to win the title only to be knocked out by him to lose it again. Johansson, like Patterson could dish in out but not take it too well.
18) Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey share this spot so there will be no number 17 .Gene Tunney was an expert of the game, he had a good jab and could also stand toe to toe. He would prefer to make a fight into a game of chess and this was good to take advantage of his opponents often primitive, swarming styles. He beat Dempsey twice.
Dempsey however was the opposite of Tunney, he was a knockout puncher and a great swarmer who had an iron chin. He fell short against Tunney because his style was easy to read and of course the is the case of the Long Count….
16) This spot goes to Vitali Klitschko, he is the one of the Klitschkos who would fare the best against the best fighters in history as he has an iron chin. Vitali is 6ft8 and always comes into a fight in good shape. He has an iron chin and a solid punch but because of his sometimes boring style he is sometimes looked down on. Whereas I think Wladimir would lose to men such as Dempsey because of his chin, Vitali can take a solid punch and so I think would win. He also has underrated ring movement and is actually a very smart fighter.
15) Ezzard Charles comes in at 15. He was arguably the greatest light heavyweight of all time and came up in the heavyweight ranks well. He beat Joe Louis to win the title in 1950 and also put up two good fights against Marciano when he was past his best.
14) At fourteen comes Jersey Joe Walcott. Despite winning the title late on in his career and losing lots of his early career fights he gets this position. Walcott fought some of the best in Marciano, Charles and Louis.
13) At 13 comes “The Jaw Breaker” Kenny Norton. Norton had trouble with power punchers such as Foreman, Shavers and Cooney but was a good fighter against fast and faster moving fighters such as Ali who he beat once and lost to twice and also gave Larry Holmes a good fight. He beat Duane Bobick and Jerry Quarry in good fights.
12) At twelve comes Evander Holyfield. Despite in a comment saying that I would put Holyfield 11th I have changed my mind. Holyfield, the one that fought Tyson was a great boxer, he could take a punch and throw one but he was also very dirty and used headbutts a lot. Holyfield lost to Lewis and also many average fighters in his later career.
11) At 11 comes Lennox Lewis. Lewis was a good fighter and moved well but was knocked out by two average fighters. He was sometimes predictable in his simple jab, right hand style. Some have criticized Lewis for being boring but he only did what he had to to win fights. Despite this Lewis beat a lot of good fighters of his time in Tyson (late on in his career), Biggs, Ruddock, Bruno, Klitschko, Morrison and Holyfield.
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