All-Time Heavyweight Champion Tournament – 2010
(Round 1 Match-ups)
The rules: Each fight is scheduled for 15 rounds using the 10-point must system under the unified rules. Only the referee can stop the fight. There is no standing 8-count. Three judges will score the fight. If the fight is stopped due to an accidental headbutt, the bout will go to the scorecards after 4 rounds. A fighter cannot be saved by the bell in any round, including the 15th and final round.
Joe Louis vs. Shannon Briggs
Muhammad Ali vs. Trevor Berbick
Jack Johnson vs. Ingemar Johansson
George Foreman vs. Tommy Burns
Rocky Marciano vs. Leon Spinks
Jack Dempsey vs. Tommy Morrison
Mike Tyson vs. Jess Willard
Larry Holmes vs. John Tate
Gene Tunney vs. Mike Weaver
Sonny Liston vs. Primo Carnera
Joe Frazier vs. Gerrie Coetzee
Evander Holyfield vs. Sultan Ibragimov
James Jeffries vs. Oleg Maskaev
James Corbett vs. John Ruiz
Riddick Bowe vs. Bruce Seldon
Lennox Lewis vs. Tony Tubbs
Vitali Klitschko vs. Hasim Rahman
Wlad Klitschko vs. Frank Bruno
Ezzard Charles vs. Buster Douglas
Jersey Joe Walcott vs. Nikolay Valuev
Max Schmeling vs. Ruslan Chagaev
Ken Norton vs. Lamon Brewster
Bob Fitzsimmons vs. Michael Dokes
John L. Sullivan vs. Sam Peter
Max Baer vs. Chris Byrd
Oliver McCall vs. Michael Spinks
Jack Sharkey vs. Greg Page
Michael Moorer vs. Tony Tucker
Floyd Patterson vs. Bonecrusher Smith
James Braddock vs. Pinklon Thomas
Ernie Terrell vs. Tim Witherspoon
Jimmy Ellis vs. Ray Mercer
CLICK HERE FOR CURRENT UPDATED TOURNAMENT RESULTS
More info! How was the seeding arrived at? Is this a single eliminator? Round robin? Point system? Intriguing but want more.
The tournament is single elimination – right up until the semi-finals. The semi-finals and the finals will be decided by the best out of 3 fights.
The seeding for the tournament has been taken from a variety of expert and historian top-20 lists. There are no bye rounds.
Okay! I’m a tad peeved at your matching up George Foreman and Tommy Burns. I think you should have thrown all the names in a hat and drawn that way. This looks like another attempt to save guys like Ali and Holmes for the later rounds instead of getting eliminated early. Another thing. Why isn’t Sam Langford included? He had about as much claim to the world title as some of those pathetic 1980s heavyweights.
The better fighters have been seeded higher. The term “Better” being based upon the combination of skills and accomplishments during their careers. This almost ensures the best will meet the best as the tournament progresses. Tommy should do just fine as long as he doesn’t walk into any big shots. I’m sure he’ll give George a fight to remember.
Sam Langford didn’t meet the legal qualifications as a “champion” or holder of a world title. Had he done so, we would have been robbed of Shannon Brigg’s appearance in the tournament. The inclusion of such contemporary greats as – Shannon Briggs, John Ruiz, Sultan Ibragimov, Bruce Seldon and Sam Peter should make this the most colorful, computerized event of all time!
Don’t underestimate Burns against Foreman. Remember this is 6-rounds-George in a 15 round fight. If Tommy, an under appreciated talent with a ton of guts, can last into the second half unscathed, the Hell he’ll provide Foreman will make Peralta look like Paradise.
I hope you are leaving in conditioning. That’s a fighter’s profile as well as anything else. Also hope you are omitting injuries. Broken hands, etc. do not an all-time tournament make!
I still say the name in the hat would have been more fun. I would have added top contenders who were never champs like Earl Walls, Ron Lyle, Larry Gains, Harry Wills, Sam Langford, George Chuvalo, Fred Fulton, Joe Baksi, Archie Moore, Luis Firpo, Gunboat Smith, etc. In fact, if you don’t add these guys, why not hold a second tournament of top contenders?
1st Round Predictions:
One in ten will end in an upset. A one-punch kayo, or an early round knockdown, with a piling on of additional damage leading to a referee stops contest.
Which leads to refs. Random selection will be in effect?
Also- a DQ loss is probable. Holyfield’s head butting, etc. Big Fun!
Good comments from Don and Cap. The Best Heavyweight to never win a title tournament concept is definitely very interesting. That would include a lot of interesting characters!
With the Heavyweight Tournament, conditioning will be used. Computer selected strategies, however, will not. The fighters will fight as they did in real life without worry of a fighter like Marciano or Foreman “sticking and moving” their way through a round.
No worries about that happening!
There are plenty of potential upset match-ups in the first round. The first one that caught my attention was Max Baer vs. Chris Byrd.
The tournament will be available as a single file PDF file download that will be updated – right through to the end of the tournament.
Hey…thanks for that. Great content. I’ll be checking back tomorrow for more news. Great!