Where do you rank Holmes?

I have Holmes around number 5.

 

I dunno. 14 inches is mighty impressive. He's got to be near the top.

 

That might be a different Holmes.

Anyway I have Lawrence at #3

 

Larry Holmes defended the title 20 times which is more than Dempsey, Charles, & Frazier combined. Dempsey declared he would never fight a black man. Holmes never had the luxury of side stepping competition. Therefore, he should rank above at least some of those listed.

 

That's where I see him as well. You could make a case for prime Homes, give ANY of the greats a real tough go ... Without question the best jab in the business !

 

Ask Mr. Owl...

• 
  [yt]Jhjb4P_jnKk[/yt]

 

Unless your Ipayforleavingnot I would expect most Eastsiders have Holmes in their top 5 and the rest in the next 5 down. As with several of you I have him at the #5. Survey results of boxing scribes and trainers in the past mirror Holmes placing strongly in the top 10.

 

I love Sugar, but based on the stated criteria, I have no idea how Charles is ranked so highly.

 

My former trainer was stablemates with Charles in the 40's and rated him up there also as a heavy but you two are a rarity. I can't see him matching say Holyfield or Lewis at that weight.

 

I have Holmes floating around #3 to #9 heavyweight. Ali and Louis #1 and #2, then a mix of Sullivan, Jeffries, Johnson, Dempsey, (sometimes) Tunney, Marciano, and Holmes. If you asked me right at this moment I'd say '#8', but I may have him '#3' next week.

 

I believe Holmes had a lot of talent but unfortunately did not fight the best men of his era and never rematched a tough fight or unified the title...there were opportunities to fight Tate,Dokes,Weaver,Coetzee,Page,Thomas to unify and he did not, also Williams,Witherspoon and Weaver were tough fights that he did not rematch

A lot of Larry's title opponents had 10 fights 10-2-2, 13 fights, 14-0-1, 14-1, 19-8, 15-16 fights so his title record was padded and he was protected by the split title

For avoidance's he ducked more black fighters than Dempsey and never unified

I still think Holmes was the best of his era but that would be speculation because his best wins were Cooney (who never went past 8 rounds ) and Shavers who had already lost to many...M.Spinks was a step up but he lost that one and Tyson Ko'd Holmes but he was already past his best but still lively

I still put Holmes in the lower half of the top 10

 

Oh, the boxer not the movie star.... #4-6 depending on the day.

 

You make a good point about Larry's title opponents having few bouts, and while he holds the record as heavy champ for most defenses against undefeated contenders (8 as number 9 against Marvis was non-title) four of them had under 17 bouts. Then again Jeffries only had 15 bouts going into his title win against Corbett. I can't hold the Spinks loss against him as he was already past it in his win over Williams but like you said he still makes the top ten.