I rate holmes at #5 as a heavyweight. he dominated his own era. yes, holmes missed out on dokes, thomas, coetzee, page, tate but he would and should be considred above them anyway. he knocked out weaver who beat dokes and coetzee. holmes knocked out bey who beat page. holmes victims like berbick and weaver beat tate. berbick also beat thomas. So holmes was the best of his era, an era litered with belts and good fighters who could match each other whilst being inferior to Holmes. Larry was the consistant heavyweight of his time, he may not have cleaned out the division but he was the best.
I notice you changed it from "surely he's top 50". I actually do have him in my top 50 but it's very arguable, because his resume is not really top 50 material. I have him there on dominance and how I perceive him h2h, with something extra for longevity after his reign. He's a really arguable case. I think it'd be reasonable to have him shuffled all over the place, depending on how you rate. I consider him about as good H2H as they get though. I have a very high opinion of his abilities in the ring. But, it's true there were guys he could have fought that would've very much strengthened his case on this, because he'd have almost certainly beaten them all...
