Does Larry Holmes deserve the ATG status?

One trick pony Tua beats Holmes and power-puncher Byrd beats him too. The knowledge of these experts is amazing ! I like your points, you see what kind of fighetr Holmes truly was...

 

Bubby and BSG eh.
How dare anyone question they're knowledge on our great sport.

 

Witherspoon actually won that fight and was robed, big time. Norton fight was great, but so damn close. Shavers lost every time he stepped up, he was just guy with heart and big punch, but no stamina, no chin, and slow.

I'd say Norton, and comeback in Weaver fight are his biggest wins. Then agian, Weaver fight should not have been stopped, and he never gave him a rematch.

 

I used to rank Holmes as #3 or #4 in the ATG heavyweight list.

Now I change my mind. Mainly because of this:

1) Most of his defences, half of his best wins, were against green fighters. And some were even close fights.

2) He could have unified.


However, Holmes is great in H2H matchups and he indeed dominated an era. So, instead of #3 I will rank him as my #5 greatest heavyweight of all time.

 

:smoke The TRUTH and SPOON both should have gotten desisions against LARRY and they were novices . LARRY is now being looked at with ROSE colored glasses . he wasnt the HEAD to HEAD monster people are making him out to be . In fact he struggled with every live body he ever faced .

 

He went unbeaten for 48 fights and 12 years, beat a slew of solid contenders or former/future champs like Norton, Witherspoon, Shavers 2x, Snipes, Mercer, Berbick, Bonecrusher, Cooney, L. Spinks, Weaver, etc. Add to that he was able to be successful all the way into his 40's and at his best, looks as impressive as any heavyweight ever bar a peak Ali.

Yeah, he's an ATG, and there's no disputing it.

 

It's ridiculous to say that Holmes is not an ATG. He defended the title 20 times and against good fighters. It's extremely difficult to stay at the top and go for years beating everyone put in front of you. He also fought ATGs himself, and had longevity fighting to 50+ years old.

If you don't see him as an ATG, you might as well not see the Klischkos either.

 

Been a long time since I saw the Williams fight, but I seem to remember Holmes digging down deep toward the end, didn't he pull it out down the stretch? That is the perception I always remember having.

Spoon may have done enough to edge it, but it was not robbery imo, some of the rounds were very hard to score from what I recall

 

But thats the point, Holmes had to dig deep to beat green kids.

Witherspoon and Williams combined for 31 fights and less than six years of pro experience. Both together had just three more fights than David Haye.

 

Yeah talent and ability wise there is no denying he's one of the best ever. As far as his record goes I think his best win was against Norton. That was a give and take fight that was up there with Fraiser v.s Ali 3, Bowe v.s Holyfield 1.

 

jesus christ. esb forum, where you can argue that joe calzaghe is one of the greatest fighters ever and where you can argue that larry holmes isn't.

 

atsch but if his talent was so monumental why the strggling against everyone with a pulse ?

 

I would say a prime Norton and Shavers were more than just guys with "a pulse." To be able to get up from that knockdown against Shavers to come back and stop him says a lot. The guy had talent. Not saying he was the best ever like Larry himself likes to think ...but he was a fantastic boxer.

 

he certanly had talent . Im actually making light of the rediculous ridicule todays heavyweights get ! And neither KEN or SHAVERs where anywhere as good as the old guys make them out to be . In fact none of the old fighters where . youtube can enlighten alot of people .