Larry Holmes undefeated

I think that his legacy was pretty much assured after 1982. He was never quite the same after that.

 

Just can imagine that 50-0 record would NOT help Holmes legacy. He would have better resume than Marciano, better record and was a better boxer. Top 3 HW lock.

 

Do you mean before M. Spinks (48-0), or do you mean at 49-0 or even 50-0 (getting one or even two wins over Spinks)?

I think if he would have gotten the win over M. Spinks in their first fight he would have retired at 49-0 and probably would have not come back for sometime... maybe not at all.

I thought the first fight was close and could have been a draw or a close win either way. I thought Holmes won the rematch.

So, Holmes at 49-0 overall and 22-0 in HW World Title Fights... where does he rate? On my list nothing changes... I already had him at #2 behind Ali.

 

Not sure on that, I dont think any of Holme's victims in his 48-0 run match Charles, Old Louis, Moore, and Walcott. Holmes may have the better numbers in terms of title defenses, but Marciano beat the better fighters imo.

 

Marciano would still be in the top 5 imo had he lost a fight or 2.

Marciano still clean out his era, Something Holmes failed to do imo.

Hench the reason I put Marciano over Holmes, hell I put Marciano over guys like Bowe, Foreman, and even Tyson because of the fact Rocky clean out his era.

Only few greats did what the Rock did.

Joe Louis Clean out his era.
Ali in his 3 reins clean out his.
Marciano in the 50's clean out his.
Jack Johnson clean out his, pre title run.
Liston clean out his pre title run
Lewis clean out his era


All these guys right here, should be heads and shoulders imo for pretty much making sure no one had the right to even be rank in the same divsion as them lol.

Dempsey still had the Wills thing over his head.
Patterson duck a whole slew of top contenders.
Tyson did ok in the mid late 80's but failed when Douglas and a few others imo.
Jeff has Jack Johnson over his head imo.
Sullivan, Corbett, Fitz had Peter Jackson.
Gene Tunney pretty much beat Dempsey and Heenly and got out when the divsion was getting good.

And of couse Holmes has his guys like Thomas and Page ete.

 

And why number 2?

He didnt clean out his era in the mode of Ali, Louis or Marciano.
I think these 3 guys should be over Holmes.

 

If Holmes beat Spinks and retired 49-0, five of his wins would have came against the top 5 in the world when he beat them.

Michael Spinks LHW Champion
Leon Spinks
Ken Norton
Gerry Cooney
David Bey

This would certainly be impressive, but for perspective here are six other great undefeated Heavyweight Champion streaks:

Mike Tyson had 4 career top 5 wins at 37-0
George Foreman had 2 career top 5 wins at 40-0
Joe Frazier had 3 top 5 career wins at 29-0
Muhammad Ali had 9 career top 5 wins at 31-0
Rocky Marciano had 9 career top 5 wins at 49-0
Ezzard Charles had 7 career top 5 wins at 16-0..starting from his official heavyweight jump at the end of 1948.

Holmes legacy is built on the sheer number of his title defenses, but his record against the very best of his era would still come up waaaay short of what Rocky, Charles, and Ali did while Tyson and Fraizer would be close to matching him in far less fights. He certainly faced more overall quality than Foreman however.