Imo prime Holyfield > Lewis. He never fought Bowe or Foreman either. Honestly his best wins are over an old Holyfield, a shot Morrison, a shot, depressed, on cocaine Tyson, a highway mugging from a past prime Mercer, and a lucky TKO against Vitali That honor imo either goes to Dempsey or Sullivan. Which one fought Lennox Lewis? Which one fought Byrd? Also the fact that they never fought each other was bull**** Not only questionable substances, but the questionable substance of weight classes. Someone like Henry Armstrong or Sam Langford has done the same thing but better. Pacman's just looks fancy because we have double the weight classes nowadays, so really he's putting on the same weight as the old guys did, but he gets double the weight classes. All the other stuff you said was aight
I think Holyfield over Lewis is reasonable, but I think Lewis was better overall. Sullivan was more dominant at his peak, but I rate Jeffries's opposition higher. Dempsey failing to fight Wills and Greg puts Jeffries above him IMO. Wlad beat Byrd, Vitali lost against him. Looking good in a competitive losing effort to a massively out of shape Lewis just isn't that impressive. Wlad has much better wins, amount them Haye, Byrd and Povetkin IMO. I basically agree on Pac-man. A very good fighter, but the extra weight divisions, and multiple belts per division flatter him. Armstrong for sure should be ranked much higher.
Jack Shakey beat (albeit past prime) Wills, who was beaten by past prime Dempsey. Sam Langford himself said that Dempsey would beat Wills.
I think Dempsey probably would've beaten Wills and Greb, but he didn't, and I think for sure it detracts from his reign.
James Toney said Jeff Lacy would destroy Calzaghe, but that does not make it so. I don’t think boxers are any better at picking winners than media and fans. I do think Dempsey would win, but it tarnishes his legacy to avoid his best potential opponent...and Wills (and others) not getting deserved shots sucks! He at least deserved a chance...
While that's absolutely valid, I think that Greb wasn't necessary, since he was a half blind middleweight, so that would have looked terrible to the public, and Wills was black, which Dempsey's manager forbid him to fight, most likely for extra publicity
I think this is too far, but the point stands. I still think Wills wouldn't have been too much of a problem for Dempsey
And I agree, but the #1 contender deserves a shot. I don’t hold Dempsey totally responsible as it was a different era, with different expectations. But in retrospect it hinders his legacy.