Who is greater P4P Larry Holmes or Oscar De La Hoya?

Right. So the list should either include Sturm or include Tito and Mosley.

The Sturm fight was the least of a robbery of the three.

 

In terms of career achievements, they're both almost equal, but in terms of marketing and image, Oscar De La Hoya is one of the best. A well-prepared Larry Holmes could have unified the heavyweight division and beaten many decent heavyweights, even some of the best in the division. So, I'm going with the coin choice.

 

Doing some research into this I think there's an argument for Holmes being number 1 after Leonard retired in 82 until Hagler beats Duran in 83 after which he's probably 2 until 85 when he loses to Spinks. Could be wrong though. Arguello might have an argument for 1 in that time frame though.

 

Holmes jab was so great he could compete well past his prime.

 

Per Gemini, KO Magazine kept Leonard at number 1 even when he was inactive and had detached his retina, and had Holmes peaking at 2 in 1982.

 

Well, he fought Witherspoon and Williams, he just didn’t rematch them - calling that a miss seems harsh.

Then the others you mention like Coetzee, Dokes, Tate and Page all failed to defend their titles long enough for any unification to take place. Blaming their failures on Holmes and saying that he missed them seems a bit ridiculous. They missed him because they weren’t good enough to retain their titles for more than one defence.

 

He doesn’t get credit for those fights because they didn’t happen.

 

Have to go with is Oscar. I know he doesn’t have that many fights but he beat some top dogs in their primes.

 

Ring apparently didn't start have a P4P ranking until 88 and KO Magazine wasn't considered as accurate. So there's def an argument for him being number 1 in 82 if you wanna be fair. I believe Ring also had him as fighter of the year in 82 so if they had an actual ranking they probably would have had him number 1. Though obviously don't think that changes Oscar being better overall.

 

Fighter or the year for beating Cooney. I’d put that win next to Oscar’s win over Oba Carr.

 

He doesn’t credit but nor should he get criticism for it.

 

Weren't a lot of options at the time. Leonard was retired, Hagler hadn't established himself yet, Arguello had 3 wins but lost to Pryor, Sanchez had that win against Nelson but then died. Holmes had two solid wins and the fight against Cooney which was heavily hyped which we knows always inflates ratings.

 

No, he deserves criticism for some of them.

 

It was the fight to take at the time, but Cooney ended up being more David Price than Lennox Lewis.