Who is the greatest heavyweight of all time? Which of the imposing Klitschko brothers ranks higher: Wladimir or Vitali? Which Tyson – Mike or Fury – emerges on top of the mountain? And where on earth is Apollo Creed? Ranking boxing’s best big men is no easy task, so to make it more manageable talkSPORT has stuck to the last 50 years and – with apologies to the legendary Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson and anyone else called Jack – listed the best 20 heavyweights of you might call the modern era. Though one or two still have the time to move up this list..
. An absolutely ordinary heavyweight with one neat trick: ‘The Acorn’ could punch as hard as any man born . Two-time world title challenger Earnie Shavers scored an astonishing 68 knockouts (46 in the first three rounds) and every opponent – from Muhammad Ali to Larry Holmes – was shaken by his nuclear right hand.
A top light-heavyweight who upset Evander Holyfield in 1994 to become the first southpaw heavyweight champion. Unfortunately, best known for losing the title to an ancient George Foreman , which is a shame as Michael Moorer was a surly, enigmatic but undeniably skilful fighter. A middleweight at the 1992 Olympics , even Chris Byrd knew he wasn’t really a heavyweight.
Which makes the slick southpaw’s achievements in mixing it with far bigger guys – beating David Tua and even Vitali Klitschko (admittedly via injury) while winning two world title belts – very impressive. It's been a dramatic fall f.