God dammit Holmes. He's so weird. Like, the only problem with him is his mouth. He stayed clean his entire career, stayed focused, stayed out of trouble, stayed away from drama (drop kick to Berbick aside), but every time he opens his mouth is like, come on man. And he was ALWAYS like this. Was probably walking around saying salty **** as a 10 year old.
I always thought Holmes had it tough being sandwiched between the 2 biggest names in boxing history (Ali tyson) and it's left him bitter. However, I think he is just a bitter, jealous individual Class act in the ring, but the complete opposite out of it. Always rated him as a fighter and rate him very high, but he's a very distasteful guy. He obviously resents others being more loved In a weird way I see similar traits with Novak Djokovic. He's obviously much more respectful than Holmes and has mellowed over the years, but despite being the GOAT with numbers to back his claim, he will never have the same adoration as Nadal and Federer. However, he has accepted and the crowds seem to have warmed to him over the years I Just don't understand the resentment from Holmes. Boxing fans and analysts from around the globe rate his achievements very high. He will be in anyone's top 10 heavyweights and In manys top 5
He claimed Tyson (who beat him like he owed him money) wouldn't have cut it in the 70s era. A true player hater.
Larry was a better fighter than Foreman; that much is true. That said: I like Foreman's public personality a lot better than Holmes, who acted petty and annoying in front of cameras. Foreman was fun. Even the young, mean Foreman was fun. I don't know either of them as real people behind closed doors, so I can't speak to what they're actually like in real life.
A slight plurality of posters feel Foreman has a better top-ten wins: foreman-vs-holmes-top-ten-wins.729704 For my part, Larry is the fraud. He never unified, declined to fight his #1 contenders, bragged about taking easy fights, beat on a decrepit Ali, insulted a true legend in Marciano, lost to a LHW, and contributed to the current alphabet mess by taking a belt from the gutter. It utterly SHOCKS me that people consider this guy as anything other than a minor great along the lines of a Floyd Patterson, or something.
True that: Just ask (the late) Greg Page. He ducked Page for years, with an assist from that still-living POS Don King....
I don't know if this the exact quote I remember but I believe it's this video. Timestamped: This content is protected This whole vid is Larry hating. Listen to this gem: This content is protected
I want to give Holmes the benefit of the doubt because a lot of writers want to generate unnecessary controversy. That being said, Larry has never been complimentary towards any champ that came after him. He also once bragged about being the only man to stop Ali. Its little wonder why Larry hasn't been embraced by champions that came after him. You see Usyk and Holyfield acting chummy but the young champions don't seem to revere Holmes the same way. Respect his skill? Sure. But they do not revere him.
Larry never had a great filter when it comes to comments about other fighters. Probably never more so than now, at 75 and with 75 fights worth of getting hit in the head on top of that. It could just amount to a case of sensationalist journalism too though.
Holmes is a scumbag, always has been. Great jab but an absolute moron of a human being. Foreman is not here man, gone and you talk about a man and he cant even defend himself. To be honest its sick behaviour.