From Andrew Eisele,
Your Guide to Boxing.
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May 17 2008

The heavyweight division has always been and will always be the glamour division of the sport ... but it's kind of a mess at the present time. Lennox Lewis was the (more-or-less) undisputed champ ... but now he's retired. Then Vitali Klitschko seemed to be on his way to becoming the (more-or-less) undisputed champ ... but then he retired too ... at least for a while. Plus all the top pound-for-pound fighters in the sport are campaigning in lower weight categories. Nevertheless, the big money and the majority of the media attention continues to focus on the big boys. Accordingly, it seems appropriate to have an in-depth look at who's who in today's heavyweight division and rank them accordingly. Plenty of magazines and web sites will give their top ten. However, if you really love boxing, then ten is definitely not enough. So here they are -- the top fifty heavyweight fighters in the world today. Let the debates begin!

1. Wladimir Klitschko Next: July 12 vs. Tony Thompson
2. Samuel Peter
3. Ruslan Chagaev Next: May 31 vs. Nikolay Valuev
4. Nicolay Valuev Next: May 31 vs. Ruslan Chagaev
5. Vitali Klitschko Next: TBA vs. Samuel Peter
6. Alexander Povetkin
7. Oleg Maskaev
8. Sultan Ibragimov
9. David Tua Next: July 12 vs. TBA
10. Sergei Liakhovich
11. John Ruiz
12. Jameel McCline
13. Evander Holyfield
14. Lamon Brewster
15. Tony Thompson Next: July 12 vs. Wladimir Klitschko
16. Alexander Dimitrenko
17. Hasim Rahman
18. Eddie Chambers Next: June 20 vs. Raphael Butler
19. Andrew Golota
20. Shannon Briggs
21. James Toney
22. Juan Carlos Gomez
23. Chris Arreola Next: June 20 vs. TBA
24. Vladimir Virchis
25. Calvin Brock
26. Tye Fields Next: June 28 vs. Monte Barrett
27. Fres Oquendo
28. Brian Minto
29. Oliver McCall
30. Sinan Samil Sam Next: May 30 vs. Matt Skelton
31. Luan Krasniqi
32. Kirk Johnson
33. Kevin Johnson
34. Odlanier Solis
35. Kali Meehan
36. Ray Austin
37. Malik Scott
38. Matt Skelton Next: May 30 vs. Sinan Samil Sam
39. Paolo Vidoz
40. Monte Barrett Next: June 28 vs. Tye Fields
41. Taras Bidenko
42. Michael Moorer
43. Joe Mesi
44. Jean Francois Bergeron
45. DaVarryl Williamson
46. Michael Sprott
47. Roman Greenberg Next: July 12 vs. TBA
48. Shane Cameron
49. Dominick Guinn
50. Audley Harrison

Dropped from the Top 50: Chris Byrd, Corrie Sanders, Lawrence Clay-Bey, Owen Beck, Michael Grant, Vassiliy Jirov, Danny Williams, Kevin McBride, Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe.

We're sure your list would look quite different. Tell us and your fellow fight fans where you agree and where you disagree on the boxing bulletin board.

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