Greater Resume: Lewis or Holmes?

Duo, that the squeaking poster gets the peanuts does not in any way diminish your knowledge or bright-eyed, fun style.

 

Thanks. I consider those posts somewhat boorish and pompous myself, but ChrisPontius seems to like them.

 

I think I'd have to go with Lewis but it is a toughie.

 

Is this even up for debate. Holmes failed to face many of his best contemporaries. Lewis missed a few but seems to have faced more of the best heavyweights of his era.

Holmes oppossition in 1975-1977 was not spectacular. He should have stepped up in competition much earlier than he did.

 

I would have to say that their resumes are on par with each other's. I don't want to be a fence sitter, but that is really how I feel.

I don't think that Holmes missed out on any more fights than Lewis did. Holmes missed Thomas, Page, Coetzee, and Dokes.

Lewis missed Bowe, W. Klitschko, Byrd, Moorer, and Foreman.

I don't fault them entirely for their missed opposition. Foreman speaks like he wanted no part of Lewis. Moorer may have never been thought of by Lewis. Bowe just ducked Lewis.

Promoters, money, timing may have effected Holmes ability to fight the four I named for him.

I really don't think an edge can be given to either fighter in terms of their competition. Some of Lewis' look better on film, but that was only because they had better cameras in his era.

 

Speed, not debatable, unless you are talking about the Holmes from the Tyson fight and after. Agility, again, not debatable, Holmes could get on his bike and get around like Ali did at times, Lewis couldn't. Jab, not even close. Larry KO'd a guy with a jab, and he knocked Ocasio down with one. Also, his jab was a stinging dart that most guys didn't see coming, or did, just it was too late. Heart, again, not debateable. Larry never gave a reason to stop a fight. If he was knocked down, he would get up swinging and slugging. Except against Shaver, but he got on his bike and stuck his jab in Shavers face until his head was cleared. Larry lost in a very disputed decision in the rematch with Spinks, and in the first fight, Ive heard mixed results. IMO Larry won it by about a round. Yeah, Witherspoon gave Larry some trouble, but Mercer gave Lewis a lot of trouble, and a 42 year old Holmes beat Mercer convincingly.

 

Great post.:good

 

Watch the Weaver and Tyson fights. In the Weaver fight, Larry had a cold, took a beating, but made it a point to rally back, badly hurt Weaver with a great uppercut that dropped him, then land a great combo that put Weaver onto ***** street to finish it. In the Tyson fight, Larry took a beating, but wasn't shy about hitting Tyson, or getting up to fight on. Lennox was about a level above Holmes in power, thats not "way more" Larry had some pretty good 1 punch KO's, like against Curt Sheppard or his rematch with Weaver. Larry's jab was faster, stronger, and way more effective than Lewis's, although Lewis had a great jab too.

 

You seem to forget that 2 men in their 40's and lasted, and beat most of the guys of the 90's. Both of them went 12 rounds with Holyfield, each picking up about 4 rounds in the process. Larry went 12 rounds with McCall, only losing by 1 point on 2 scorecards, he beat Mercer convincingly, he beat Jesse Ferguson, he lost a controversial decision to "Dane" Brian Neilson in Denmark. Foreman went on to win the title by a come from behind KO, and lost it in a controversial decision. Most of the guys they beat/gave good fights, gave Lewis hell. Like Mercer.

 

He fought Roy Williams in 76, broke his hand on his head, so he wasn't able to fight for the rest of that year. He tried to get a fight with Foreman, but Foreman ducked him, and later ducked him in the 90's. Larry failed to face 2 of the best contemporaries, and 1 of them was pretty much all politics. He almost got a fight with Coetzee, but the fight was cancled a few weeks before fightnight.

 

Good points. I have these two absolutely neck and neck for my number 3 and 4 spots. I've always had trouble separating the pair. Lewis has the two losses but he also took on all comers. Neither is in danger of dropping to 5. Good points.

 

I'd love to see that. Personally i highly doubt it.

 

I too think Lewis' resume has the slight edge. Both fighters are ATG Heavyweights, for me Holmes ranks higher than Lewis regarding prime-from-prime greatness.

Not much in it at all, though ....

 

Beat most of the guys of the 90's? That's a strong claim.
Let's have a look.
The 12 best fighters of the 90's: (in no order)

Lewis
Holyfield
Tyson
Bowe
McCall
Holmes or Foreman (roughly equal i think)
Douglas
Golota
Bruno
Mercer
Morrison
Tua


You say they beat most of the best guys of 90's. Of this list, they only beat Mercer. That's a grand total of 2 out of the 12 best. How is that "most of the guys in the 90's"?

That fact that they lasted the distance was impressive, especially in Foremans case because Holyfield was beating him up badly. They won at best 3 rounds a piece. So what? 3 rounds out of 12 is nothing. It's being dominated, unless the other rounds were close, but they were not.

Holyfield, who gave Holmes & Foreman a little more than a 'good fight' didn't give Lewis that much hell though. Not in the ring, anyway.

They did extremely well for their age, but let's be honest here. Both had one good win and outside of that, they lost when they stepped up or struggled with mediocre opposition.