Checked it out he was def 37. As we know, he was well done as one of the GOAT by that point (although he still defeated fellow old guys Jimmy Bivins and Lee Savold during his 10-ish fight comeback). As for the guy who said "Joe Louis was always lying about his age," um, wtf are you talking about? Any grounds to say that other than "watch coming to america with eddie murphy" because obviously then, you are joking, no? I've read books about him. If what you're implying is that a poor black family from Alabama that moved to Detroit might adjust their age to better suit their situation, then yes, but from what I've read I would say with some confidence at least that he was born in 1914.
Holmes had his promoter, Don King, getting guys ranked who had no business being in top 10. Ossie Ocascio could not fight or take punch, Evangilista, Cobb, a very padded record. Marcaino had to fight way up through tough division, then had Walcott, Charles, and Moore, all in prime, not old as people say. Moore had light heavy title for several years after Marciano bout, Walcott had not slowed a bit, and Charles was in prime, although people who want to detract from Marciano keep lying about him being old. Rex Layne was better than almost anyone Holmes ever fought, especially Cooney. Norton is prabably only one with chance to beat him.
Holmes>Rock with or without the 0. I thought Holmes beat Spinks (1st time was close, 2nd time for sure). Holmes should have fought an exhibition fight or an old name instead of someone as talented and as hungry as Spinks to tie and beat the record. I rank Spinks only behind Moore and Charles (who I kidda consider a heavy because he had such a great run at that weight) as the best LHW ever. Larry was definitely on the downside of his career and slowed a half a step Rock fought a lot of the same fighters over and over again. I heard that some of these fights were exhibition fights. Plus he as some great names but they all were well past their prime. Finally, he had only 5-6 defenses of his title v around 20 for holmes. holmes: Greater h2h (would be a great fight but holme's jab would have been the difference) Greater Skill set (the Rock had dynamite in both hands and great stamina, But Holme's skill ranks only behind Ali and Louis) Greater Record (because of longevity, and fought top challengers in their prime even though the rock had some great names) Holmes underrated Rock overrated slightly
Moore was the Bhop of his generation and fought on for ever (past or around 60 I think) Louis and Walcott had their last fight against the Rock and were fighting for Money. All the gentlemen above were about 7 years or more older than the rock and had fought several wars with each other Charles, had fought four wars with Walcott, and Moore 2 or three times, I think he fought Bivens and Maxim at least once (maybe 2 times). Charles was only a little older than Rocky but he fought on much farther than he should have (think RJJ v Joe C . . . roughly the same age but the decline was much more for Jones). Charles decline started with his back to back loses to Walcott. I know Layne was a solid fighter but I really do not know much about him. I know he fought most of the top guys back then but I do not know his win/ lose v them.