It's like this for me since Holmes: 1) Holyfield 2) Lewis 3) Wlad 4) Tyson 5) Bowe (had Bowe not thrown things away he would have been at least no.3)
STFU, plenty of people on here have Larry somewhere in their top 10, usually somewhere between 4-7 or thereabouts. This content is protected This content is protected
I tend to feel at that high level you can start to put up an argument for any of the top 5 as #1 depending on what you are looking for and how you approach the subject. Holmes at #3 is fine I think.
CMON MAN! The man held the title for 8 years.That alone had got to get him in the top 5. The best his critics can come up with is he didtn`t fight a couple of CokeHeads in Don Kings staple. Greg Page and that other fat guy.
He slapped the crap out of the guy who beat Page (Bey). How much more do people want? At 43 he went 12 rounds (and was ahead after 8 iirc) to a man Tyson got owned by...Holyfield.
I give Larry Holmes credit for KOing Marvis Frazier in the 1st round of their fight. That actually showed how much class Holmes had. Not because he KOd Frazier but the way he did it. Eddie Futch was in Larry`s corner for that fight. He was against Marvis fighting Holmes. Too soon. At the weigh in Futch took a look at Marvis and could see he was as tight as a drum. He was trying to please his dad. Futch went to Holmes and said " I`ve known this young man since he was 5 years old. He is like a son to me. Larry I don`t want to see this kid hurt!" Holmes ended it the first chance he saw. No prolong beating.
He got the job done cleanly, absolutely. And he was waving the ref in shortly after Marvis got up. I think the last two or three shots Larry landed on MF in the corner...watch his shoulders as he throws those shots. Vicious...almost terrifyingly so. I don't think he meant to really hurt MF, but he obviously wanted the ref to know it was that time. Marvis could have ended up in really big trouble with even one more of those shots...rarely was Larry so locked into such a seemingly borderline homicidal mode. That ko freaked me out because it was almost a Foreman-level of domination (rare for a fighter like Larry).
Real boxing fans know the greatness of " The Easton Assassin " He gets and deserve the credit for what he accomplished in the boxing ring.
It basically was an indicator of what happens to a protected fighter when they are moved into deep water before they learn to swim.
As already indicated by some other posters, this is not a good list. Obviously Wlad ranks way too high and Holmes way too low. While you are entitled to your opinion, the general consensus is that Holmes , who was actually in some exciting fights, is the greater fighter of the two.
Very good. I agree with 90% of it. On his behavior in Spinks 2, that was justified. He won that one. In the first Holmes vs Spinks fight, he lost it and the world was mostly against him. As for not meeting Page, maybe for a 1.5 year window that was a hot topic.. Had Page beaten Bey, maybe we see Page next. Instead, we saw Bey next vs Holmes. Alphabet politics made it tough for Holmes to fight everyone, but he fought plenty. It took many years after retirement for Holmes to get his just dues, and I still think Foreman ducked him in the 1990's. When I see Holmes, I see a 47-0 fighter with very few weaknesses who lost his next fight on a bad style match up with a large age difference. Holmes was very well rounded, durable and tough champion with more than just an all-time jab. Larry had great hand speed, punch variety to his game that could be deployed at any range, Ring smarts, Fast feet, and one of the best chins at heavyweight ever, and excellent stamina to go a hard 15 rounds. Yeah he could be a jerk, but he told it as he saw it.
