You could argue top 3. Suppose Holmes replaced Jimmy Young and defeated Foreman, he would have a real case for #1. Some here feel Jack Johnson is better than Holmes. Any objective film watcher knows that's hogwash.
Came up in abit of weak era, a few fighters that he should've fought, others that deserved rematches. Quality of opposition doesn't match Ali, longetivity and dominance doesn't match Louis. So for me he can NEVER be higher than 3, I have him at number 5 atm with Lewis, Marciano, Louis and Ali above him. In spite of this however he is probably the most well rounded heavyweight champion in history, good power, awesome jab, good speed, good movement, very good chin, very good heart and very good stamina, a very consistent performer something quite rare particularly among Heavyweights. Dominated his era when he was in his prime and when he came back gave some good dangerous opponents a whooping. 20 succesful title defenses, going 48-0, victories over Shavers, Norton, Cooney, Berbick, Snipes, Witherspoon, Williams, Smith, Mercer and Spinks (**** you judges) is nothing to sneeze at.
If you're highest criteria is "dominance over his peers", than Johnson might get the nod over holmes... not sure if that would be a good thing. Back to topic, anyone could tell me that Louis, Ali, Marciano, Lewis, Johnson or Holmes were the greatest HW of all time and I wouldn't think they're insane. Norton, Shavers, corpse of Ali, Berbick, Cooney, Witherspoon, Mercer + a few OK contenders. OK résumé, but you've got to favor longevity to rate him as the greatest. 7 years as the HW champ is a really good achievement. I'd still have him after Louis and Ali for sure... not sure of my whole top 10 but he should be in the top 6.
Against Top 10 Rated Contenders/Champions: Joe Louis: 30-3 Muhammad Ali: 32-5 Larry Holmes: 20-5 Lennox Lewis: 15-2-1 Evander Holyfield: 11-7-2 Mike Tyson: 13-4 Rocky Marciano: 11-0 I don't have precise numbers for Liston, Foreman or Frazier atm, unfortunately. Dempsey and Johnson would be absent, obviously.
I agree that Holmes was an amazing boxer,but disagree with the notion of him being the number one heavy of all time. Top 5,certainly. Maybe even top 3.
Larry Holmes, 'Fantastic Fighter' - Who fought remarkably after the age of 40. On the 'overall' he clearly is an All-Time Great.
His resume is to weak to be the greatest and I also think it's to weak to be in the top 5. Holmes gets far to much love on this forum when you consider his best win is a split decision over a well past prime Ken Norton, a hotly disputed split decision win over a green Tim Witherspoon or a win against an incredibly inconsistent performer in Ray Mercer. He often fought against no hopers and much like the K bros, came at the end of a great era and ruled a dreadful one. More importantly is the fact that he's not come close to beating an ATG that wasn't well past his prime. I know he wasn't in his best shape against Tyson, but he barely won a second of that fight, and I don't count taking 3 rounds from Holyfield as coming close to beating him. I don't think ESB know enough about Larry Holmes and just stick him highly in their lists because that's what everyone else does. I personally have him around 6-8 ish. I can't see how he can be argued over Marciano, Louis, Lewis, Ali or Foreman and I don't mind Frazier, Holyfield or Tyson over him as well.
Larry Holmes Fun Filled Fact #104 When preparing for his bout with Muhammad Ali, Larry stated that the former Champion was so bad, that he coudn't even beat his #3 sparring partner Jody Ballard. Larry, 'Muhammad would have a hard time making my team of sparring partners.'
I need him too as he's undoubtedly amongst that group by now. I have a source, but he doesn't have all of these things pre-configured with attachments ready to be sent and I've got a lot of other requests in already for some epic guys like Armstrong, Ezzard Charles which is an absolute ***** I'm sure to look through. Don't want to exhaust it, but it beats the hell out of looking at "Annual Ratings", for sure. If Monthly's were widely publically available, I doubt anybody would pay attention to Annuals.
Another fun filled fact Mike Tyson did in 2 years what Larry Holmes couldnt in 7 He unified the belts, cleaned his whole division and beat Michael Spinks.
Very true. But it has to be remembered that Don King was right behind Tyson unifying the heavyweight belts,and that the bogbrush haired Mr King always interfered with unification attempts during Holmes' tenure.