Who are the Top Ten British All Time Great Heavyweights?

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1937867-the-top-10-british-heavyweights-of-all-time

Ello folks, the link above is a run down of the Bleacher Report of the ten best Heavies from Britain.
It was interesting for me to see a wildcard, Jack Peterson, a fighter I had shamefully never really known about.
I would expect observers to take issue with David Haye’s placement as so high or even the fact that he was included at all.

So, as a blatant attempt at smoking out the fans of the olden times I would like to ask if there have been any clear oversights.

As for me, I do appreciate Joe Bugner as a very gifted fighter indeed, sadly unappreciated here for well documented reasons, but with a great track record including two against Ali and one twelve rounder with Frazier in which he gave a great account of himself, I think there is an argument to place him at number three, an easy enough task as I struggle with the assessment of Henry Cooper as being above him in this list.

Tommy Farr I believe would have been a champion in a weaker era for sure, and his performance against Joe Louis is one that I find very stirring.

It’s always hard to place like -like ,the old-timers vs the new-timers, however, it has been argued persuasively here in 606 many times that Fitz was a special fighter whose achievements haven’t diminished with time, so I have no argument with his slot at second.

Tommy Farr. ??......Lost to Braddock in Braddock's last fight......Only decent win was Baer and Baer beat him in the return.....

Louis got tired of hitting him and let him go the distance..

1. Lewis
2. Fitz
3. AJ
4. Fury
5. Cooper
6. Bugner
7. Bruno
8. Akinwande
9. Haye
10. "No idea"..

Shame to bring it back to Fury and Joshua in a sense, but does Joshua have a better track record? ( not to mention you often called him a Bruno impersonator..?)
There’s not much between them. Right now I would say AJ still has plenty in the tank and ,well, Fury hasn’t.
I like Akinwande  who should have been scored a knockdown against Lewis, such a shame he seemed so frit. To shoehorn in a Bugner mention, he himself was criticised for defensive tactics but he could administer a hammer blow when he felt irked enough to. He was ranked in the top ten by Ring for a very good stretch of time-not something that Cooper could have boasted, I don’t think.I guess he stands high because of his longevity and certainly cleaned up on a Commonwealth and European level.
Bugner was like Lewis in that he chose the sport out of practicality not because he was a natural scrapper. He was perhaps something of an overachiever but Ali certainly rated him very highly indeed and went on record several times to say just that.

Fury's defeat to Usyk puts him lower for me......Wilder and 40 year old Wlad vs a crappy reign against stiffs with 3 defeats(Parker win looks a bit better)..

The crappy reign just takes it...

Top 2 and the rest.

Actually think that Bruno’s resume is excellent. He lost to two future top ten all time greats -after giving them both trouble to a greater or lesser extent.The Smith and Witherspoon losses were still great performances for a very young fighter and Truss would be the first to defend their quality.

I would wager that  Bonecrusher Smith, (L)Witherspoon, (L)Coetzee, (W),Carl Williams (W), Lennox Lewis )L), McCall (W),Tyson (L) is a better resume than Joshua’s who was and is a protected fighter. The win against Wlad has so many caveats it’s not that credible, and Ruiz versus any of the above fighters ? Seeing as any fighter with tactics worth their salt (and here is where Eighties fighters excel in comparison) would know how to handle the fat boy -shut him out as AJ did in the rematch. Sure , Bruno took losses, but that was how it used to occur; take your licks, and keep on going, instead of fighting once a year in hype fights. We’ll see if he (AJ) is “back to his best/better than ever”, when he fights a live fighter.

In retrospect it’s sad to see that he (Joshua) went down the Ngannou route. A public relations exercise and nothing more. If we are to re-assess Fury it’s fair also to reassess Joshua. So I put Frank Bruno above these two.

Can't say I agree with Bruno being above Joshua and Fury. Fury for all intents and purposes was "the man" and whilst Joshua is over hyped, I'd still say his win against and old and no longer champion Wlad beats anything on Bruno's resume. I always felt Bruno was great against stiffs and has beens. Coetze was passed it and Carl "The Truth" Williams was a lie (that's Mike Tyson's favourite line). From what I remember of McCall he looked badly out of shape and just seemed to show up for the pay cheque. A bit like Douglas against Holyfield.

Derek Smalls wrote:Actually think that Bruno’s resume is excellent. He lost to two future top ten all time greats -after giving them both trouble to a greater or lesser extent.The Smith and Witherspoon losses were still great performances for a very young fighter and Truss would be the first to defend their quality.

I would wager that  Bonecrusher Smith, (L)Witherspoon, (L)Coetzee, (W),Carl Williams (W), Lennox Lewis )L), McCall (W),Tyson (L) is a better resume than Joshua’s who was and is a protected fighter. The win against Wlad has so many caveats it’s not that credible, and Ruiz versus any of the above fighters ? Seeing as any fighter with tactics worth their salt (and here is where Eighties fighters excel in comparison) would know how to handle the fat boy -shut him out as AJ did in the rematch. Sure , Bruno took losses, but that was how it used to occur; take your licks, and keep on going, instead of fighting once a year in hype fights. We’ll see if he (AJ) is “back to his best/better than ever”, when he fights a live fighter.

In retrospect it’s sad to see that he (Joshua) went down the Ngannou route. A public relations exercise and nothing more. If we are to re-assess Fury it’s fair also to reassess Joshua. So I put Frank Bruno above these two.

Witherspoon came in with a lager-belly against Bruno....All Bruno's wins were against shot fighters....McCall had mental problems.

Bruno didn't have a world class win...

Yet Witherspoon ranks as your third favourite eighties heavy? And Bruno fought well against him until the inevitable freeze so I think my point still stands.
I am not convinced that he would beat Fury or Josh but let’s face it they have both been obviously flawed fighters and were exposed as such fairly late in both of their careers because of the weakness of the era and the modern way of fighting once a year against weak opposition.

Derek Smalls wrote:Yet Witherspoon ranks as your third favourite eighties heavy? And Bruno fought well against him until the inevitable freeze so I think my point still stands.
I am not convinced that he would beat Fury or Josh but let’s face it they have both been obviously flawed fighters and were exposed as such fairly late in both of their careers because of the weakness of the era and the modern way of fighting once a year against weak opposition.

Witherspoon looking pregnant isn't my 3rd best Heavy.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:

Derek Smalls wrote:Yet Witherspoon ranks as your third favourite eighties heavy? And Bruno fought well against him until the inevitable freeze so I think my point still stands.
I am not convinced that he would beat Fury or Josh but let’s face it they have both been obviously flawed fighters and were exposed as such fairly late in both of their careers because of the weakness of the era and the modern way of fighting once a year against weak opposition.

Witherspoon looking pregnant isn't my 3rd best Heavy.

I saw Witherspoon / Holmes the other day and don't see Bruno troubling that version of Witherspoon to be honest. I had Holmes just edging it but the Spoon was a stylistic nightmare for Holmes in that fight being able to parry and slip the Holmes jab so effectively and landed the harder, cleaner shots. It's a shame the Spoon didn't keep himself in that sort of shape throughout his career as he could have been a far better champion.

Agree with the first comment though. This one fight a year lark is bad for fans. Usyk, whilst being great due to also dominating at cruiser is a very lucky man given that boxing politics have been so kind to him. Fighting once a year and being able to hold all belts is wrong. I'm glad the IBF have had enough.