"He cleaned up the division"

Robinson at WW? Louis had a strong run as well with all the ex-champs, but had that loss against Schmeling. Frazier has a shout, especially if we go by lineage. Tyson also if we go by lineage.

 

Frazier is a good shout. As is Louis.

 

Ali in both reigns.
Was there anyone he didn't face and beat?

 

Marvin Hagler - beat Bennie Briscoe, Cyclone Hart, Willie Monroe (twice after losing the first time), Mike Colbert, Sugar Ray Seales, Kevin Finnegan and Johnny Baldwin before the first Antuofermo fight. Squeezed in a KO over Bobby Watts before the Minter fight to clean his record of his only other blemish.

 

Has to be only Ali and Louis at heavyweight, right?
Maybe Marciano?

 

Wilfrdo Gomez...Monzon ....Bob Foster. (Problem the ABC Sanctioning Bodies won't let some fights occur today w/o a champion getting "stripped" of his title).

 

It's Joe Louis, Ali and Marciano.

Frazier on his way to unification was close. Old Patterson and old Sonny would have looked nice on Joes record.

Tyson missed Witherspoon. Dempsey missed Wills, Sonny missed Ingo.

Holmes did not miss anybody that relevant but still missed some insignificant mandatorys. He did miss Thomas though.

Lewis missed Bowe, Moorer, Foreman and also had mishaps.

Sharkey to a lesser extent on paper at least did quite well within a small window. Godfrey, Maloney, Wills, Schmeling and Carnera. All significant at the time. Losing to Dempsey and Carnera diminishes it somewhat.

 

Holmes missed Page, Dokes and Thomas. You could also say he missed Coetzee. Cleaning out the division is cleaning out the division. Holmes beat a lot but also missed quite a few. He's not even in the discussion.

You haven't read the thread tho, it's "before their first title shot". almost all your comments refer to post title.

 

Tyson only "missed"Witherspoon because of him losing in the first round againts J B Smith....
I remember it well because i hoped to see Tyson vs Witherspoon...

 

But Witherspoon was a good contender within Tysons reign. He was active and winning against live opposition unlike Holmes.

If you look at the credentials of Tubbs and Thomas (who really had not beat any live opponents since losing titles) it's a wonder they got shots ahead of Tim.

Witherspoon was actually a much bigger name than Douglas when Tyson took that fight.

 

If we use Ring Magazine as a gauge Larry became Ring Magazine champion in 1980 and by then he had already beat Shavers, Tiger Williams, Norton, Evangelista, Ocassio, Zannon, Berbick and Weaver who were all rated in their top ten. So he does qualify.

Unfortunately the other belt holders could not get past their own mandatory defences before unifications could be made. Yes he missed them but how many were more significant than Cooney when he was #1 contender of Both governing bodies? Proberbly only Pinklon Thomas, which is what I said.

I said right at the beginning that Ali, Louis and Marciano did the most Before winning the title and I stand by that.

Ali beat Lavorante, Daniels, Moore, Jones and Cooper who were all "at the time" rated by Ring Magazine before beating Liston for the title.

Marciano beat Lastarza, Louis, Layne, Savold and Mathews who were all ATT rated by Ring Magazine BEFORE fighting for the title.

Louis beat Peroni, Brown, Levinski, Carnera, Baer, Retzlaff, Attire and Pastor who likewise were all Ring Magazine rated as well as the added bonus of former champion Sharkey BEFORE winning the title.

 

When was Roy Williams in the top 10?

Per the thread topic Holmes had a title by the time he fought Weaver, Ocasio, Evangelista, Zannon and Berbick and Norton was his title fight.

So we are left with Shavers.

Strike him out.

 

Does Larry not have a fan in you?

Larry became linear in 1980. By then Holmes had beat plenty.

Belt holder is not really a champion.

 

I rate Larry quite highly but am not obstinately oblivious to the facts.

Holmes was considered the man by almost everyone as soon as he beat Norton.

I highly doubt he fits the criteria the OP is chasing.