Who’s your top 10 heavyweight boxers of all time?

The early 50s to the early 60s was not a good era for Heavyweights. Ezzard Charles, Jersey Joe Walcott, Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson and Ingemar Johansen were on the small side-5’-11” to 6’-1” and 185 to 195 lbs. They would be modern-day Cruiserweights in today’s boxing world. I believe Floyd Patterson was the last sub 200lb Heavyweight champion. I remember Liston destroying Patterson.

I rank Marciano as high as I do out of sheer respect for the fact that he’s the only heavyweight champion who beat everyone who stood across the ring from him, regardless of their quality in the grand scheme of things.

There are a lot of people on this list who would crush Marciano, but I said up front that I don’t base by rankings on head to head.

Marciano against peak Sonny Liston, for example, would be very ugly.

Patterson is actually my favorite heavyweight champion, and he would have been hellacious at cruiserweight. The funny thing about Patterson, he was a MUCH better fighter at age 37, when he retired, than he was in his 20s as champion.

Ali
Louis
Marciano
Dempsey
Foreman
Frazier
Holmes
Lewis
Holyfield
10th can be about five different guys depending on what you consider noteworthy accomplishments

I don't have Liston, Johnson, or Tyson in my top 10.

Holyfield is No. 11 on my list.

Floyd Patterson dropped by my Army clerical/supply company in at Chu Lai on a goodwill tour. He was bigger than I expected.

He also had some of the fastest hands and various punching combos that I’ve seen in the Heavyweight Division. He continued to spar into his 50s. I believe he co-wrote a bio called Victory Over Myself.

1. Jake Paul
2. Muhammad Ali
3. Everyone else

That's a good list.

Ali is clear cut #1 imo.
Joe Louis is clear cut #2.

After that it gets dicey.

Hard to rank Jack Johnson but I'll put him #3 since he's widely viewed as that. Similar to ranking Kareem top 3-4 all time. I haven't watched his fights, but I trust that he was that great.

4. Joe Frazier. Definitely have him higher than most. I think he's the most underrated heavyweight of all time.
5. Foreman
6. Larry Holmes
7. Marciano
8. Holyfield
9. Sonny Liston
10. Tyson Fury

Edit: Usyk should probably be over Fury.

Ali
Louis
Johnson
Frazier
Liston
Tyson
Foreman
Marciano
Dempsey
Holyfield

not necessarily in that order

Again, I have the utmost respect for Marciano because he did something nobody else has ever done. That's why I rank him as high as I do (fifth) on my all-time list.

But I can think of about 15 fighters who would defeat him head-to-head, and although he would literally die trying because he was that tough, some of them would leave him unconscious and twitching on the canvas in a pool of his own blood.

Again, Marciano vs. somebody like George Foreman or Sonny Liston would not be very pretty, and he's not getting past prime Ali or Louis, a nearly 40, considerably faded Louis messed his face up badly before his legs gave out, allowing Rocky to catch him.