By Geoffrey Ciani: Who were the Top 5 heavyweight champions during the 1990s?
In the 1900s there were 11 men who held claim to at least a portion of the heavyweight championship between January 1st, 1990 and December 31st, 1999. For the purposes of this video, we are specifically comparing heavyweight championship reigns and championship bouts that happened during this particular stretch.
The 1990s heavyweight championship journey is another wild one, much the same as it was in the 1980s, and also like the 1990s, there was a quasi-poetic championship journey where the decade began with one undisputed world heavyweight champion, and the decade likewise ended with an undisputed world heavyweight champion.
Iron Mike Tyson began the decade as undisputed heavyweight champion where he was widely viewed as the “Baddest Man on the Planet”, but his championship reign came to a shocking and abrupt halt when he was stopped by James Buster Douglas in Tokyo, which was February 1990 – the very first heavyweight championship contest in the decade. And in the last heavyweight championship contest of the decade, Lennox Lewis defeated Evander Holyfield by 12 round unanimous decision in their rematch, which earned Lennox the undisputed world heavyweight championship. Lennox Lewis was the last undisputed champion in heavyweight boxing history, and amazingly, the 1990s had 5 undisputed world heavyweight champions. Imagine that! In addition to Tyson, Douglas, and Lewis, Holyfield and Riddick Bowe also held the distinction of being undisputed heavyweight world champion in the 90s.
So who were the Top 5 heavyweight champions during the 1990s?
This edition of Rummy’s Corner will attempt to answer that question while also providing a quick overview of the heavyweight championship landscape during the 1990s, and a quick recap comparing the 1990s championship reigns of Iron Mike Tyson, James Buster Douglas, Evander ‘Real Deal’ Holyfield, Riddick ‘Big Daddy’ Bowe, Lennox Lewis, Oliver McCall, Michael Moorer, George Foreman, Frank Bruno, Shannon Briggs, and Bruce Seldon.. Please watch and enjoy the video for one man’s opinion. This is Rummy’s Corner (produced and narrated by Geoffrey Ciani).