Let's settle this once and for all

Can’t say I agree with him but I do like the logic of, “Champ in the two best eras.”

 

I don't. Ali has the better top shelf wins, Ali has more depth in his resume, Ali has the better title reigns and Ali while past prime beat a prime Foreman. There's more but that's a good starting point.

 

I can see Lewis at 3 for sure. But man has Holmes career been upgraded. Think I have him about 7.

 

Ali and Louis aren’t rated 1a 1b for popularity they’re rated that way because they each beat 30 ranked men…an accomplishment that prob won’t be replicated in the modern era ever again…after those two plenty of interpretations for 2-15

 

Absolutely.

He cleaned out the division the way Valuev did.

 

I have no idea how you can compare Lewis to Holmes - it's not even close to Larry. What is Holmes' most valuable success? I think that 35-year-old, style mismatched, still very strong and in my opinion not at all past prime Norton after one of the greatest fights in the history of HW. What is Lewis' greatest success? 37-year-old, clearly past prime Holyfield after the yawn festival. Nothing happened in the first fight, the second one was painfully average. Holy was a big name back then, but not a great boxer anymore.
What are the downfalls of Holmes and Lewis? well, Holmes was knocked out once, by absolute prime Tyson, when he was 38 and coming back from a break. Lewis was knocked out twice by prime Rahman and prime McCall.. should I add anything else? with McCall Larry Holmes had a pretty good fight in 1995 and Olivier called him the best fighter he ever fought... 45 years old!!! I think Olivier chose between these two
Lewis has Klitschko but it was one of the happiest situations I've seen in boxing, he could have dispelled this impression in the rematch but he preferred retirement Morrison, Tyson, Tua, Weaver, Ruddock, Golota... they look nice on the CV but if you look closely, each of them of them was more or less but on the way down, literally everyone was broken and none of them was outstanding except Tyson but 15 years before the fight with LL. Lewis is a PR master. His fame grows every year, the more he gives interviews and the less we remember his fights, the better for him. Unfortunately, I remember them very well.
I don't think Holmes is top 3 but Lewis is far from top 5

 

I of course agree Ali outranks Foreman, but none of that takes the shine off the point in question.

 

I put neither. Lewis was stopped twice and Larry's opposition was crummy

 

To be fair to Lennox every big name in the game avoided him. Cheating him of a chance to fight for greatness. It’s not like he avoided the number 1 challengers like some on the thread.

 

There really is a solid argument for #3 from Dempsey to Wlad to Marciano Holmes Lewis Foreman. Even Liston and Tyson has a case imo. Some might say Holyfield too. I just can’t budge on Ali n Louis

 

Yes, because Lewis was boring and did not guarantee income. But it's not his fault that he was avoided, it just happened. He did exactly the same thing, do you know any other champion who voluntarily gave up his belts because he didn't want to fight No. 1 contenders? WBA - Ruiz, IBF - Byrd, WBC - Klitschko. Lewis did it. Did Holyfield, Moorer avoid him? I don't think so. Lennox expressed no desire to fight them while they were on top.

 

Foreman gets my vote for third all-time.

 

What about Chris Byrd and John Ruiz? He did exactly the same thing Holmes did - left his title vacant rather than face mandatory challenger, but actually did it TWICE

 

So Lewis was left with no title?

 

Holmes is my number 3