In my opinion, and I'm a big fan of Holmes, he lost that first fight clearly. But he was definitely robbed in the rematch. He was also robbed against Nielsen 100%. On top of that, close fight with McCall and decent showing against prime Holyfield definitely boost his status.
Yeah he was competitive against McCall and Holyfield despite losing. I think in 2017 I had Holmes and Spinks 7-7-1 so a draw. But it was a while ago and I am pretty bad at scoring fights. Only Mike Tyson really had a easy time with Holmes which is insane.