Ranking the 80s Heavyweights..

1. Mike Tyson...........Cleaned it up....Undisputed.

2. Larry Holmes.......If Norton...Shavers and Weaver was the 80s...He'd be number 1.

3. Tim Witherspoon...Page...Tubbs....Smith and Bruno and a great performance against Larry.

4. Mike Weaver.....Big John Tate.....Carl Williams.....Robbed off Dokes.....Decked Larry.......Prime Coetzee....

5, Trevor Berbick...Record belies talent......Page...Thomas....Tate...and a decent David Bey.

5. Evander Holyfield....Good wins over Stewart and Rodrigues and some oldies..

6. Tony Tubbs.......Unlucky against Tim.......Greg Page and Bonecrusher.....

7. Pinklon Thomas...3rd most talented.....Great win against Tim...Weaver....But lousy against Coetzee and Berbick..

8. Michael Dokes.....Caught Weaver cold...Lucky rematch and awful against Coetzee and Cobb....Good effort against Holy.

9. Michael Spinks....Right time with Larry and Cooney was an alcoholic.....

10. Renaldo Snipes.....Beat an unbeaten Coetzee...Beat Berbick...Nearly beat Larry and became a journeyman.

11. Carl Williams...Great win against Cooper....Beat some retreads......Should have achieved more..

11. James Smith....Lottery win against Bruno....Beat Tim who admitted throwing the fight..Caught Weaver cold and lost to everyone else.

13. Gerrie Coetzee.....Draw with Thomas....Beat a coked up Dokes and not much else...

14. Gerry Cooney....Beat some faded top heavies and won some rounds against Larry...Would probably clean up today.

15. Tony Tucker......Outboxed by Douglas until he quit...and standard wins against Journeymen.

16. Buster Douglas....McCall before he became champ..Mike Williams but lost to fighters like Ferguson..Better days to come.

17. Tex Cobb.....Yep.........Good win over Shavers and Bernardo Mercado who was semi respected back then...Draw and split with Dokes.

18. John Tate......Started the decade as WBA.......But boy did he disappoint..

19. Frank Bruno.......Cleaned up in Europe....But lost all his big fights..

20  Riddick Bowe......13-0 and looking good...

My list...Not the right list....I might have missed out some names or maybe not..

I think Witherspoon lies about his diving against Bonecrusher. Sure he was out of shape and disillusioned but the Spoon saying he wanted to be out of contract with Don King yet still wanted to fight Tyson makes no sense.

The Spoon was underprepared and Bonecrusher jumped on him early knowing it was his only chance as Witherspoon was a far better boxer who outclassed him first time. Legit win.

No issue with your list though but I always defend Bonecrusher’s finest hour as genuine.

Mochyn du wrote:I think Witherspoon lies about his diving against Bonecrusher.  Sure he was out of shape and disillusioned but the Spoon saying he wanted to be out of contract with Don King yet still wanted to fight Tyson makes no sense.  

The Spoon was underprepared and Bonecrusher jumped on him early knowing it was his only chance as Witherspoon was a far better boxer who outclassed him first time. Legit win.

No issue with your list though but I always defend Bonecrusher’s finest hour as genuine.

Witherspoon never had an issue with his other losses......It was though a perfect storm for Tim......It was supposed to be a Tubbs rematch and Tubbs was a slick boxer.....Tubbs had an injury (Many believe he was struggling with Coke) and a straight come forward right hand happy fighter replaced him...

Witherspoon was arguing with King fight week wanting to pull out........He'd only got $100k from his $1.5 m purse for Frank and he'd educated Bonecrusher previously..

He says he threw the fight maybe he didn't........But I don't see his need to lie as most people think he got caught cold anyway.

Shame because Tyson v Tim in 1987 would have been interesting.

*Snipes beat Coetzee after Weaver....Should have beaten Biggs too in a lot of minds..

George Foreman ? In 1988, he won nine times, including a seventh-round knockout of former Light Heavyweight and Cruiserweight Champion Dwight Muhammad Qawi.

Derek Smalls wrote:George Foreman ? In 1988, he won nine times, including a seventh-round knockout of former Light Heavyweight and Cruiserweight Champion Dwight Muhammad Qawi.

A fat ex cruiser that quit in his last fight against Holyfield ????....

Must admit Francesco Damiani was unlucky to miss out.........The second guy to beat Biggs and inaugural WBO champ...Probably should be above Frank.

George could have slapped Tubbs Pinklon Thomas and Michael Dokes upside their head in the same day ,grilled ‘em and krapped ‘em out the next.

Is that the Foreman that was beating ordinary Alex Stewart by majority decision while Tubbs was outboxing Bowe and being robbed ??

Styles make fights bro, for example, Tony Tucker, your number fifteen, went the distance with Mike. a pretty good result but does that make him deserving of better status than those who were turned into paste by Mike? Clearly not.

Derek Smalls wrote:Styles make fights bro, for example, Tony Tucker, your number fifteen, went the distance with Mike. a pretty good result but does that make him deserving of better status than those who were turned into paste by Mike? Clearly not.

Thomas and Tubbs went in to beat Tyson........Tubbs had a good first round and got caught........Thomas acquitted himself well 1-5....

Apart from an uppercut in the first Tucker pretty much did a Bonecrusher....

But if styles make fights then an awkward side to side lumberer like Stewart losing a close decision to Foreman makes Tubbs a well schooled side to sider a good bet against big George...

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:

Mochyn du wrote:I think Witherspoon lies about his diving against Bonecrusher.  Sure he was out of shape and disillusioned but the Spoon saying he wanted to be out of contract with Don King yet still wanted to fight Tyson makes no sense.  

The Spoon was underprepared and Bonecrusher jumped on him early knowing it was his only chance as Witherspoon was a far better boxer who outclassed him first time. Legit win.

No issue with your list though but I always defend Bonecrusher’s finest hour as genuine.

Witherspoon never had an issue with his other losses......It was though a perfect storm for Tim......It was supposed to be a Tubbs rematch and Tubbs was a slick boxer.....Tubbs had an injury (Many believe he was struggling with Coke) and a straight come forward right hand happy fighter replaced him...

Witherspoon was arguing with King fight week wanting to pull out........He'd only got $100k from his $1.5 m purse for Frank and he'd educated Bonecrusher previously..

He says he threw the fight maybe he didn't........But I don't see his need to lie as most people think he got caught cold anyway.

Shame because Tyson v Tim in 1987 would have been interesting.

*Snipes beat Coetzee after Weaver....Should have beaten Biggs too in a lot of minds..

Yeah but I think you have to take into account the nature of defeat and that Witherspoon would have been embarrassed by it. I get he was underpaid after the Bruno fight by King and this led to his disillusionment and lack of preparation but why would he scupper a mega fight with Tyson? His explanation some years later was that if he was free of King's clutches then he'd be free to do his own thing in boxing, or words to that effect. But with Tyson being the only show in town during that era, what exactly were the big opportunities out there for Witherspoon other than a Tyson fight?

No doubt Bonecrusher didn't beat the best version of Witherspoon that night but I think it's churlish to write it off as a dive on Witherspoon's part just because he says so. I see the fight as a lower standard version of the Hagler/Hearns fight a few years earlier where Hagler had to get the job done early against an arguably better boxer. Also, I have a particular affection for the Bonecrusher/Witherspoon 2 fight because I was the only in my group of family and friends that called it for Bonecrusher before the fight

Fine effort, Truss. Always enjoyable reading your views on the Eighties Heavies.

I'd put Coetzee above Snipes, mind you. Renaldo may have got the decision but it was iffy to say the least, for me. I appreciate it was scored on the old rounds system as per non-title fights in NY back then, as opposed to ten point must, but even on a rounds basis I can't see that fight for Snipes and when you consider he was floored twice, which Coetzee effectively got no credit for, I'd say he was a very lucky lad to get the nod there. Outside of their fight I'd take Coetzee's career over Snipes', albeit the manner of the Bruno loss was humiliating.

Only a minor quibble but Coetzee might just nick a top ten spot based on that. But it's close.

I might be biased because I've watched a lot of him, but Williams sticks out like a sore thumb on there as an underachiever and someone who should / could have been a lot higher up the list. I've scored the Holmes fight twice, and on both occasions I've had Williams winning it. Clearly out-jabbed the legendary jabber while still a 16-fight novice, albeit I can concede that Holmes had lost half a step by then.

Swatted Cooper with a lot more ease and less drama than the likes of Holyfield and Moorer, easily beat an admittedly lacklustre Berbick etc. Great hand speed for a Heavy, lovely, quick jab which he could easily change levels with, looked the part when he let his hands go in combinations, good size and height for his day - he just didn't have the defence or ring smarts to see out fights which he otherwise could have won. Had a bit of a Hearns-Barkley (I) moment against Weaver when he was hammering him and just got careless and clocked out of nowhere when pressing for the finish, and even against Morrison as late as '93 he seemed to have weathered the storm and was in the ascendancy before his lackadaisical demeanour got him in trouble again.

So much more talented than the likes of Smith, Dokes and Weaver, yet they bagged a title at some point whereas he didn't. Funny old time for the Heavyweights, wasn't it? A little similar to the mid-90s, which is often seen as the second-best generation ever for the Heavyweights with an insane amount of talent around; and yet, there was a point mid-way through the decade where the the WBC, WBA and IBF were held by Bruno, Seldon and Botha respectively.

Problem with iffy decisions is most fighters have them......Wouldn't have Spinks top 10 if Larry got the 2nd fight when he won at least 9 rounds..

As for Snipes v Coetzee...........Consensus had Snipes beating an unbeaten Biggs in the Garden on the Smith v Witherspoon 2 card.....

An unbeaten Olympic champ would have been a great scalp and probably pushes him above Gerrie to use your criteria..........But you are probably right to suggest I should give Coetzee more respect..Getting slaughtered off Bruno a year and a bit after Page maybe clouds my opinion..

But I have used Dokes 2 a little to promote Weaver to 4..........So I admit to being a hypocrite when it comes to fighters I like..

As for Williams he was a little unlucky......Many People thought he beat Larry in 85 you're right.....and if we follow trajectory....He beats Spinks....Tanstad.....Holmes again probably and Tucker....before losing to Tyson in the HBO final.....and that's a two year reign with decent names.

Top 20-30 alltime maybe if history was different........But that's for the birds.....