Who was Holmes' best opponent? Holmes seemed to have had the opportunity to have fought several big "unification" fights but let them slip away.....and then complained bitterly that he was not being properly appreciated. Sometimes you just have to create your own legacy by beating the best matchups. Is Cooney his greatest win?
His best win was against Michael Spinksyep)...oh wait...I mean Shavers. Earnie had Larry seriously hurt and Larry showed the heart of a champion. If you are asking who his best opponent was though...Norton hands down.
Norton was probably his best win he showed a lot of heart against the one of the few who gave him all he could handle, also probably his most exciting(he probably hadnt quite reached his prime yet). Shavers win was great as well as Cooney.. Might have been at his peak when he dominated and destroyed a still useful Leon Spinks.
Probably Cooney, his win over Norton while carrying an injured arm is noteworthy,as are his two, "get up and fightbacks", against Shavers and Snipes. I still don't know how he got up from Earnie's bomb. Holmes is easily in my top 10, around 5 or 6.
To Holmes, I know he holds the Mercer win near and dear to his heart because that's the first time he felt like he had the crowd on his side 100% (he mentions this in a "Beyond the Ring" special). If you watch the fight you see the "fun" he had. He schooled and clowned with Mercer (still got hit on occasion, but still), he'd get into the corner in his own kind of rope-a-dope and goad Mercer into coming over, he'd talk to the cameraman on apron, he'd yell "HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" and the crowd answered back. He looked like a vet with a million tricks up his sleeve and ready to throw anything at the iron chinned Mercer. In all of Holmes fights I've never seen him so loose and ready at the same time. To me, I'd lean on the Cooney fight as his greatest win...one of those moments where he transcended the actual fight at hand to fight a greater force in the public opinion and the heavy handed racism that oozed out from the hidden gaps and cracks. Now, if we were talking favorite fight...Cobb. That's my favorite one to watch. Duo explained it a few times before and his shutout of Cobb is a perfect example of his style. You get to see all the angles as Cobb charges forward only to meet one of Holmes punches. I give Cobb major points because that's heart you rarely see in the heavyweight boxing scene. I wish we had a guy like Cobb right now just to keep the flashy "kept" fighters on their toes.
That was a vicious right hand Snipes caught him with though. Holmes' recuperative powers were second only to Ali's.