Why is it not held against Holmes legacy more that he was never the undisputed HW champion of boxing

Everyone knows Vitali ended up there by chance. He saved the event, yet received an absolutely ridiculous amount of money. Vitali wasn't chosen even though he was the WBC number one—Kirk Johnson was.

 

He wasn't, lol. He was fighting obscure opposition in Germany and was rated number 9 by The Ring. Chris Byrd was seen as the best contender to Lewis' throne after Wlad got beat. And Lewis dropped the belt not to fight Byrd and chose Kirk Johnson instead which you skipped over.

 

So where is all the criticism for not fighting Tucker who was similarly unproven but available to fight?

And I would classify plenty of Holmes later challengers as undeserving such as Rodriguez, Frank etc. A number of these guys didn't have any business getting title shots especially with more deserving guys available to fight

 

Yep. Vitaly, quite like Witherspoon, was an opponent that grew in hindsight. And in Lewis's case he was the alternate to a fighter that's been forgotten by history, except for the fact that Lewis dropped a belt to face him rather than Byrd. It was a duck by Lewis.

So:

Holmes ducked Page, Thomas and a rematch with Witherspoon.

Tyson ducked Lewis.

Lewis ducked Byrd.


This doesn't mean that they were quaking in their boots for these guys. That most probably wasn't the case for any of them. But they consnciously faced less deserving challengers that they could get similar or more money for.

I don't see why this is so hard to accept. And they of course weren't the only ones. Ali was clearly done with tough challenges after Norton 3. You have Jeffries-Johnson, Dempsey-Wills also. Patterson-Machen (which I, contrary to popular opnion, probably view as the least bad among these). Rocky choosing Cockell instead of Valdes was clearly to take the easier road, but I'm prepared to give him a pass since he had so consistently only faced nr 1s up until then.

Louis was quite flawless. I greatly admire how he always gave a rematch if there was anything even resembling a controversy. That's how a champion should function. No question marks.

 

1. Lewis was going to fight Vitali anyway. That’s why he was on the undercard.
2. Tyson avoided Lewis a decade after his career defining reign, and it was only for a single fight which ended up totally derailing his career. That is not the same as what Holmes did.

 

Usyk fought Rico instead of Kabayel.

These guys do what they think is in their best interest at the time.

 

Tim was moved quicker.

He’d beaten Snipes and got a top 10 rating.

Tucker didn’t make waves until the end of Larry’s reign.

 

The Rico fiasco was at age 39 one fight removed from retirement. Not quite the same situation.

He also promptly dumped his belts afterwards

 

So, the highbrow principle of "conduct unbecoming of a champion" evaporates by a certain age then?


OK.

 

He was clearly wasn't number 9 though. The WBC and WBA had him ranked first and in this case they were right and Ring was wrong.

He was the best challenger Lewis could have faced.

 

Clearly some of them choose to take the high road and Holmes is not among those that did.

Lewis and Wlad could have both.continued to.milk the title against poor opponents this maximizing their earnings but chose not to do so.

 

None of these are the exact same situations.

But the point is, fighters will do what they want.

 

Whoa there, fella! Bring those goalposts back so we can see them.

You said Uysk wouldn't accept a fight with a novice whilst he was champion. That opened you up for the obvious counter, just as if a boxer not only dropped his guard, but also closed his eyes and did an impression of a statue.

 

Every fighter’s circumstances are different.

You know that.

It’s been explained numerous times what Larry did and why.

He only gets real criticism for Thomas.

Many other fighters minimised risk to prolong a title reign at an advanced age.

Calzaghe did it.

Floyd did it.

Lots of fighters did it.

 

Why did Usyk fight Chisora and Witherspoon, but not Kabayel and Parker?