Is Larry Holmes really underrated?

No. He is rated about right. One of the best that ever did it. Perhaps for a time the casual sports fans under appreciated it. People who follow the sport knew what he was.

 

Underrated no. I think Spinks is the one underrated.

 

Holmes. A great HW, rated properly. One of the best skilled HWs of all time. One of the best footworks of all time. One of the best jabs of all time.

He had his limitations though, he wasn't a hard hitter, 6 of 10, I'd say.
He's actually one of the least athletic lineal HW champions of the last few decades. He didn't have an athletic body, and he lacked strength. Ali, Foreman, Norton, Bowe, Lennox, Holy, Tyson, K-brothers - they all had far more impressive look, they were more gifted athletically. Larry had to sharpen his skills and punching technique to perfection to reach that level, cause he wasn't very big or very strong or powerful.

 

He was underrated in his time but certainly isn't now. It may have even gone a tad the other way imo. A stickler for the top 10 and you can argue him anywhere from 3 to the bottom end.

 

He's only underrated by casual fans who watch Mike Tyson knockout videos every day and think that Muhammad Ali invented boxing

 

I think appreciation, even among boxing fans, has increased over the years. There were plenty of people who didn't give him his due for a long time. Also, plenty of them couldn't separate the man and his prickly reputation from the fighter he was in the ring. If I'd been following boxing when he was champion, I might have been the same.

 

Yeah, he was. Coming after Ali, quite a few slept on him. Arguably the greatest jab in the sport, and tremendous courage and heart. In his youth, tremendous handspeed as well. But not unifying the title and ducking people post Cooney didn't help matters either.

 

Underrated?

• 48 - 0
• First loss at the age of 35, winning the rematch with Spinks at 36
• Got the balls to go into the ring with the badest man on the planet at the age of 38
• Beeing competitive in the devision until the age of 45
  
• Fought until the age of 52
• Had the guts to get up and winning after one of the most vicious right hands in the history of boxing
• Winning 21 Championchip Fights in a row

For me, only two fighters come to mind putting above him: Louis and Ali. A fighter that had it all. Among other #1 H2H HWs in history.
So much for beeing underrated.

 

His "Marciano couldn't carry my jockstrap" comment didn't exactly warm him to the press & fans at the time, but Larry's one of the best & I actually quite like him. The fact that he was so competitive at an advanced age enhances his legacy for me.

 

Top 3 in my book

 

In my top 6 w Ali first and can never decide where to rate the rest but Luis, Foreman, Holmes, Marciano, and Lennox.

 

Perhaps he is getting a bit over rated now.

Some of the skepticism directed at him during his career was justified.

 

The guy was a coward who ducked fighters and bragged about it. Rather than unify belts, he contributed to permanent fragmentation by accepting the IBF belt and giving the organization instant credibility.

If anything, he is dramatically overrated.