How many spots did George Foreman and Larry Holmes move up with their comebacks

Larry Holmes comeback never proved anything except that he aged better then most people, he was already considered to be the Greatest Heavyweight of the 80's by most and only below Ali and Louis in Heavyweight ATG...

Foreman would of been considerably lesser then Frazier pre comeback only beating Frazier because of the favorable style and being dominated by Ali in their fight. The comeback makes him a Top 100 ATG, even if many think it's overrated...

 

Well, I'd say that his comeback did more for his rating than Holmes' did... I also think that you're misrepresenting some of those fights that you mentioned. Holyfield was an all time great in his prime, and a man that many were picking to beat Tyson in 1991. Foreman became the first heavyweight to take him the distance and even rocked him a few times.. He was legitimately outboxed by Schultz, but should have gotten the nod in the Briggs fight... Frankly, if you give him the Briggs win, and doc him for the Schultz fight, he probably comes out better.... In either case, he was between 44-48 years of age for those fights.... Morrison changed his style to fight Foreman and ran for dear life to get a points win..... Fine... Whatever... And the fact that you're down playing Foreman's KO over a 35-0 lineal titelist, who was 25 years old, to become the oldest man to win the crown in history, is just plain laughable...

 

BOTTOM LINE - Foreman made history with his comeback... Holmes' return to the ring, was just a failed cheap carbon copy attempt to do the same thing...

 

I actually think that Holmes' comeback, if anything, may hae actually hurt him in the minds of many more than helped him. I think in particular of his loss to Tyson. I think many people would pick prime Tyson over prime holmes based on that loss. I think this may have dropped him down a couple of places on some people's lists.

 

You have some good points, but Holmes' 1991 comeback was considered a separate affair from his brief " last hurrah" against Tyson in 1988... The Tyson fight was supposed to be the last and final appearance of Holmes, and probably the TRUE verification for Tyson as the MAN, given that Spinks had aguably lost the rematch against Holmes, and ducked all worthy comers ever since...

Nobody expected Holmes to launch a truly ORGANIZED comeback afterwards.... Against Tyson, he was fresh out of retirement with no real effort to train, nor tun-up fights inbetween. His early 90s, effort involved REAL training, and several bouts with journeyman and trialhorses, before facing a real contender in Mercer.... THEN he faced the CHAMP.... Things might have panned out differently had he done the same thing in 1988...

In any event, Foreman proved more.. For one thing, he set the trend of launching a comeback in the fashion that he did.... He compiled a 24-0 record, then fought the champ to a competitive loss... He lingered around for a few more years, before getting another shot, and legitimately KO'd an undefeated lineal champion to be the oldest man ever to become the man....... Holmes' effort was nothing more than an attempt to duplicate what Foreman had done, and even though he made a good run at it, never came close....

 

Foreman.

Very definitely.

Holmes , slightly.

 

Definitely going with the majority here: Foreman's layoff was longer, he won in a more spectacular fashion, and he managed to regain the title, so he gained much more from his comeback.

For Larry, virtually the only bout in his comeback that really improved/solidified his status was the way he handled Mercer. Aside from that he had some good efforts against Holyfield and the limited McCall that showed that he could still compete with 90s era champs and contenders, but not win the big one.

Without his comeback, Foreman might not make the top 10 heavyweight list, with it he often ranks anywhere from 5-9 or so. With or without his comeback, Holmes would be in the top 10.