Back by popular (well @themaster458 ) demand. Larry Holmes' reign can be divided into 2 parts: 1978-1982 where he tried to prove he's the best heavyweight around and 1983-1985 where he was cherry picking and trying to have the easiest fights for the most amount of money. Between 1978 and 1982 there was 27 heavyweights that were included in The Ring Magazine's Top 10 rankings. Larry beat 15 of them, including 7 out of 12 that were considered Top 5 for at least 1 year (Mike Weaver, Gerry Cooney, Leon Spinks, Ken Norton, Renaldo Snipes, Muhammad Ali and Earnie Shavers). There were also 3 guys that stayed in the Top 10 rankings for more than the year and Larry beat them all (Trevor Berbick, Tex Cobb & Alfredo Evangelista). He also beat guys who were included in the Top 10 rankings for just 1 year during that period: Ossie Ocasio, Leroy Jones, Lorenzo Zanon, Scott LeDoux and Tim Witherspoon. The misses during that period are evident: Michael Dokes, Gerrie Coetzee and Greg Page. However, Dokes was signed under Don King along with Larry and King didn't want their 2 best heavyweights to square off. Holmes signed to fight with Gerrie Coetzee in 1984 but the fight was called off due to the lack of funding. You can add John Tate to the list, but he was in the Top 5 only for a year and will eventually lose to Mike Weaver. The most common criticism you hear about that period is that Larry never faced his number 2 contender. However, for over 2 years, the number 2 contender was Mike Weaver, a guy he already beat. The next best thing in 1982 was Gerry Cooney, so he beat the best guy available he hadn't beat yet. We have similar situation now - Dubois is the number 1 contender to Usyk (who already beat him), but not many want to see it, especially with Parker at number 2. Cooney had a lot of hype behind him and was rated as number 2 contender for 2 years as well. Now, let's look at the 1983-1985 period. There were 16 Top 10 heavyweights ranked by The Ring. 4 of them Larry already beat (Witherspoon [Top 5 for 2 years], Weaver, Berbick and Cooney). Out of 6 remaining guys who were rated as a Top 5 for at least 1 year Holmes only beat 1 (David Bey). He missed Pinklon Thomas, Greg Page (again), Gerrie Coetzee (again, but we now the story), Michael Dokes (again, but we know the story) and Tony Tubbs. Besides Bey Larry only beat 2 other Top 10 heavyweights in that period: Bonecrusher Smith and Carl Williams. So he beat 3 Top 10 guys out of 12 that he hadn't defeated yet. He of course lost to Michael Spinks to end his run. So there we go. How would you rate these 2 parts of Larry's reign? I think we could give him 9/10 for the first part and 6/10 for the second part, which looking at how long the periods were leaves us with 8 for the entirety of his championship run.
Seems like Holmes missed a few guys. And that was era were I thought matchmaking was better than now. But 20 title defenses in a row is insane even with some close tussles so maybe 8.5?
We definitely need to respect the consistency. It takes a lot to stay on your grind for so long, that's why even biggest talents are not able to do it sometimes.
I think the only notable omission was Pinklon Thomas. But those 80's guys (as talented as they were) had very short time at the top, which make Holmes' consistancy stands even better. 8,5/10.
For me it's quite simple. He should've faced Page as Page had earnt his shot and was his mandatory. I know I've heard arguments that Holmes got paid more for facing lesser opposition which makes sense from a financial standpoint and I'm not the one taking the punches Holmes is. But it still doesn't sit right for me that Page wasn't allowed to get his deserved shot but the likes of Frank, Frazier, were. Thomas was undefeated for 7 years and had beaten Witherspoon more convicingly than Holmes did. He definitely deserved a shot between 1984-1985 theres no way green versions of Williams, Bonecrusher, should've been ahead of Thomas in the pecking order. Likewise Spinks was a Light Heavyweight and had no resume at Heavyweight again he shouldn't of been ahead of Thomas in the pecking order. And I've always thought that this was a cherrypick gone wrong. I've always said I have no real issue with Holmes's reign up until the Witherspoon fight and then that's where I think Holmes because alot more picky in regards to who he fought. I think at this stage in his career he was solely focused on beating Marciano's record earning as much money as possible and he wanted to ride off into the sunset without taking too much of a risk. But all in all Holmes still had an impressive reign on average he was fighting atleast 3 times a year and was fighting multiple ranked fighters every year. Compare Holmes's numbers to the Heavyweights now and they pale in comparison Holmes fought 13 ranked Heavyweights over a 7 year period. Pretty much every Heavyweight now hasn't even got half the amount of ranked fighters on their resume.
