On the surface that certainly looks like a great case. Only problem is Ali, Louis and Marciano didn’t duck mandatories and there doesn’t seem to be any Foreman’s, Frazier’s, Liston’s or Walcott’s on Holmes’ record. But other than that sure…. GOAT.
Few men have survived the ol Shavers Power Shot to the noggin, much less go on to win the fight afterwards. That alone qualifies Holmes for the GOAT equation.
An all-time great for sure, but doesn’t have the wins over other prime ATGs to warrant GOAT status in my opinion. A truly dominant champion and talented boxer with great heart.
James "Quick" Tillis is right in the equation too - This content is protected He took a little micro nap on his face for a bit then woke up. Imagine getting hit with that
Dear god no. He didn't fight most of the best fighters of the eighties, and only beat one. Dokes, Witherspoon, Tubbs, Page, Thomas, Tucker, Spinks, Tyson... Managed one win against them. One. In fairness, some of those fights were not on the table. Others he openly ducked. Second tier great. That is all.
Holmes did manage to take on a lot of younger guys with unbeaten records. He fought more undefeated contenders than most heavyweight champions did
Automatic lock for top 10 with a small case for top 5. I can’t see a strong enough argument for top 3 though. You’d really have to cut corners to get him in there I think
He also went life and death with the rather mediocre opposition he faced like the 19-8 Weaver, who looked like he was on the verge of an upset. Dropped by Renaldo Snipes who never amounted to much, and absolutely flattened by Shavers, who didn't floor even an older and sick Ali. People like to envision Holmes as Ali 2.0 but he simply wasn't as good as Ali. He had an excellent jab but the aforementioned men above, all got around it to have varying degrees of success. He also couldn't effortlessly outbox opponents ala pre-Exile (or even post-exile) Ali and was forced to stand in the trenches, and wear his man out. Top 10 HW for sure, but I find him very overrated tbh.
In terms of the quality of competition on his resume Larry can be pulled back a bit - and some other ATGs are certainly open to the same assessment and conclusion. However, longevity and holding on to the title for an extended period, struggles therein notwithstanding, are no mean feats though there are perhaps willful omissions on Larry's slate. Add to that Larry's post title achievements. I probably rate Holmes that much more highly in respect of H2H - assessing him on his obvious and self-contained abilities and calculating that would present as a very difficult opponents for a lot of other ATGs. I don't think he's the GOAT at all but I would run with his longevity and his H2H prospects to run with an argument that he was.
A great fighter,definitely! I have Larry at number 3 in the all time great heavyweight list second only to Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis. And the second best during my lifetime as a boxing fan based on the criteria of achievement and longevity.