Makes me laugh when people say vlad was far superior. Holmes Bit down on his gum shield and defended his title.What more could he do ? Great fighter.
It is a quantity over quality reign. Few can match it for longevity or depth, but many did better quality work over a shorter period.
Louis surpasses him on every possible stat, both quantitative and qualitative. It would be easier to make a case for ranking him over Ali in some ways.
Holmes is finally getting respect, This has changed over the years. While he will never be loved by most, he is the greatest living heavyweight champion, and should be in everyone's top ten. I have in him as high as #2 and as low as #6. RESPECT.
Larry Holmes went undefeated for the first 12 years of his career, for 48 fights. He had a couple of disputable decisions but no one beat him, He turned pro at age 23 and stayed unbeaten until he was 35. In that time, he reigned as the #1 heavyweight on the planet for somwhere between 5 and 7 years (depending on point of view). I don't think any heavyweight had a cleaner record than that.
The same is true of every heavyweight with a long reign or multiple defences. Joe Louis gets the same criticism, and even Muhammad Ali's actual reigns have tons of padding.
All respect to taste. I don't think anyone here needs to defend Larry, his objective accomplishments more than speak for themselves. He was practically unbeatable '77 to (roughly) '84.
