Larry Holmes (1978-1985) vs. Wladimir Klitschko (2006-2014) the ultimate poll

It’s give and take. Wlad unified the tittles and beat the vast majority of qualified challengers but also had some losses to lesser men. Larry Holmes never unified and avoided some challengers but also stayed undefeated until age 35 and it took an ATG ( albeit a light heavy ) to dethrone him. I can see arguments bolstering both men

 

If you're talking strictly during this period i'd give the edge to Wladimir but if you're taking into account all of Wladimir's world title fights including his losses to Sanders, Brewster, then overall i'd give the edge to Holmes. They are 2 very bad losses for Wladimir and Holmes never lost in his prime so it's pretty significant losses to me that hurt Wladimir's legacy considerably.

 

Maybe I'm biased cos he's one of my favourites but it's Holmes.

 

Despite Holmes avoiding certain fighters and both fighters having fairly mediocre opponents in many instances, i give Holmes a slight edge.

The best fighters Holmes beat were Witherspoon, Norton, Cooney, Shavers, Weaver and Williams.

The best fighters Wlad beat were Byrd, Povetkin, Haye, Brewster, Peter and Chagev. However, Brewster was past it and the Povetkin win is dubious at best.

That being said, i do think the worst opponents Wlad fought weren't as bad as Leon Spinks or Cobb. Wlad also beat some quality southpaws, something that is missing from Holmes's resume.

Overall though, i am willing to give an edge to Holmes just because i think his two best wins over Witherspoon and Norton are better than Wlad's two best wins over Byrd and Povetkin. Not better by a massive margin but better nonetheless.

 

Ray Austin is a guy who lost to Harold Scorniers, a very early Wilder victim.

Brewster was half blind and medically unfit to box.
When they were both prime Wlad was destroyed.

Byrd is one of the weakest examples of a title transfer of all time.
His legs were gone , totally shot. Arguably lost all 3 of his previous fights. Only got the w's cos of Don King.

 

Look at performances. Larry produced a backfoot masterclass against Shavers.
Wlad looked like a dogs dinner against Peter who was a lesser version of Shavers

 

Peter would knock Shavers’ block off.

 

Peter couldn't beat an overweight Eddie Chambers.
Shavers destroys him like Robert helenius did

 

That’s if he can find the target.

Peter was slow as molasses and about as accurate as a Scud missile.

I didn’t rate Peter’s engine either. Made even Shavers look bionic.

 

It should pretty obviously be Wlad bc he unified.

 

Wins every second against a guy who might’ve been better than anyone Holmes beat=dubious at best

 

How does that stack up to Shavers losing to 21-24 Bob Stallings? & nearly being KO’d in the process?

 

Is bob stallings better then ken Norton?

 

i was referring to the excessive level of clinching and pushing Wlad did vs Povetkin. Wlad should have been disqualified.

The whole excuse of Wlad fans is "Povetkin was coming head first, therefore it was appropriate of Wlad to clinch over 150 times". No it was not. Povetkin was not doing anything wrong. He was a short fighter trying to cut the distance vs a much taller foe. It was Wlad's job to use his jab, reach, right hand, uppercuts etc. to keep the shorter man at bay. Instead, Wlad resorted to blatantly illegal tactics. But since he was fighting in his adopted hometown, he got away with it.