Question to those who followed boxing in the early 80s

when Holmes came along in 78-79 it was hard to establish who you had to beat to be called a great fighter.

Ali was just about out of the picture and faded. Spinks was was off the rails, jimmy young was losing to ossie ocasio and Norton never won a world title fight.

This left larry to prove himself agianst guys already beaten by an old ali like avangelista, shavers and Norton. It was a thankles task so larry basicly had to wait for the next crop to come up.

Sometimes it is hard to be regarded as a great fighter even if you are the man to beat in order to be called a great fighter.

 

Great post...I always love Holmes until I hear him talk.

 

I'm from England and that's how i remember it.
I remember my uncle never giving him his due because of what he done to Ali. Still doesn't actually.

 

I agree completely,

Which is why I rate Holmes very highly.. He basically inherited a crownless thrown, and made a reign of it....

But my point, is that there were many who didn't see it that way, or at least as far back as my memory will let me recollect. He defeated the remaining bodies of the 70's while continuing with the sprouting up shoots of the 80's. He was never really challenged by a blooming all time great in his prime....... He also had a public image which a Movie star biker drug addict like Tex Cobb could have matched, based on attitude alone.........

But at the same time, he was never really beaten at his best, which is the bitter sweet taste of his era....At best, Holmes can be considered as a stable champion regardless of not taking on the obscure WBA champ here, or the 6 month long worthy challenger there... He held his own, compiled 48 strait wins, beat a lot of young challengers with good records - even a few who became champions themselves, and came back from the jaws of defeat to win, and even competed well long after losing his title..... For me, this warrants an easy induction into the the heavyweight all time top 10, with or without names like Schmeling, Louis, Frazier, or Foreman on it......

 

Yeah, i can live with this. I think if Larry had kept his mouth shut in terms of being negative towards other fighters, sometimes to the point of being outright derogatory, he would have been held in a better light back then. Of course nowadays most acknowledge his great ability and rightly so. I wonder if he thinks himself that things could have been so different popularity-wise

 

He seemed a lot more popular when he made his comeback in the early nineties.

 

at least someone gets credit for fighting in the 1980s except the fab 4!!!! Leonard Hearns Duran Hagler get all the credit and they were just part of the decade in boxing but somehow it is unfair!!!!

 

Id imagine Tyson might get a mention sometimes

 

That was exactly the case. It didn't help his cause to say that Marciano couldn't carry his jockstrap though after loosing to Spinks.

 

:good