He is top five, there is a strong argument for at least number three, I feel Louis would beat him but I have never been confidant of Ali beating him at any stage of his career.
I have Holmes at three behind Louis and Ali, the guy was a great fighter with very few real weaknesses. Lewis comes in at 4 followed by Foreman, Frazier and Marciano. Dempsey is one guy who I feel is majorly overrated by some.
Unifying the title was irrelevant in his day. No one ever viewed any other fighter as a champion. He reigned during the absolute height of the Don King alaphabet manipulation era. Failing to meet the best is wrong as well. There were no standouts that defined themselves as greats ... one kept losing to the next. He beat every man or beat the man who beat the man. Only from 83 forward is this even an issue as through Witherspoon it was never even a question. Name the fighter he ducked who was a standout. Yes he had some 10 - 0 guys , out of twenty defenses. How many had half as many defenses ? At least all were big, young, strong and talented. Holmes was a great champion definetly in top five.
Absolutely. Ali and Louis are always going to be the concensus top 2 by such a big margin for me that I genuinely don't know who to put at #3. I usually have Holmes, but I don't like him up in that company mixing it with Ali and Louis, nor do I feel I can justify many others to be there.
Bingo!! I love Larry Holmes as a fighter, and I find his many tirades humorous. Although Holmes was a great fighter, his all-time ranking suffers due to the reasons that you pointed out above. You must fight and beat the most viable opponents around during your era to be rated high on an all-time greats list. Holmes didn't just duck one or two guys, he ducked many guys -- and failed to rematch fights that many people thought he lost. A lot of people carp on Holmes' 20 title defenses and how he fought "everybody", but that is not true. He made a lot of defenses, but he did not fight "everybody" that was somebody.
I put more stock in Marciano's 6 title defenses than I do with most of Holmes 20 title defense. Sure there is Shavers, Norton? And perhaps Cooney, but after that the talent drops to green fighters like Bay and Witherspoon. Sure Tim went on to be a good fighter later on, but if people was accusing Marciano on picking on the old folks homes, they have as much right to accuse Holmes on picking on the grade school yard.
I have him as my #3, behind just Ali and Louis, but I do accept he can be quite a diverse figure. No-one can deny he's a top ten talent, it's just where you place him.