PBF says Holmes is best heavyweight ever

at least he didnt say he was the best HW ever.

 

Holmes was really good, tough and ballsy.The only thing that hurt his historical impact was his lack of serious opposistion.Cooney was a fantasy, Weaver was an over achieving clubfighter and guys like Leroy Jones and Lorenzo Zanon were outright jokes.Earnie Shavers gave it a good go, but Earnie was a bottom 5 contender left over from the 70's.Renaldo Snipes was strong, rugged and could crack, but was comparetivly unskilled.Holmes tended to fight up to his opposistion, so if he had a Frazier , Foreman or some other considerable nemisis, we really would have seen what Larry could df course by the time Holmes fought Spinks he was slipping, and was way past it by the time he fought Tyson.He had some decent showings afterwards, like beating Ray Mercer and troubling Holyfield a bit, but unfortunatly we never got to see what Larry could really achieve.

 

Get off the crack pipeatsch
Name 15 heavys that are better than Holmes?

 

larry holmes was amazing, & in my opinion, along with mike tyson, the last of the true heavyweight champions. when he was champ, you knew who the champ was, and for a whole lot of years, he whupped all comers. do i think he was the greatest? no, and that's partially because he simply didn't have the kind of fights and rivalries that defined the sport the way ali did. that's not necessarily his fault, it's just the way it is. but in remembering holmes' greatness, we should also tip our cap to ali in another respect: holmes went to boxing graduate school at the muhammad ali school of boxing, honing his skills by sparring thousands of rounds with the greatest--what price could anyone put on that? anyway, holmes was a great fighter and is a nice guy. his biography, against the odds, is worth a read.

 

Holmes was great and had a long reign as a champion. He did leave a lot of questions and frustrations behind though. He never gave rematches in close fights (Witherspoon, Weaver, Norton, Williams) unlike Louis or Ali for instance.

He also failed to meet 4 men who were very deserving challengers during one period or another in Thomas, Page, Coetzee and Dokes. Particularly Thomas should've gotten a shot, but in his own words, "i aint fighting no coke addict". That was classless. He dropped his WBC belt to avoid Page and fight a few 10 fight embryo's. This was in a time when the other belts like IBF meant as much as the IBO does today. But he was miraculously gifted the IBF belt after avoiding Page. Post Cooney (1982) he didn't want to take any risk anymore and basically took easy fights.

While all of the above is true, it only emphasises on the negative sides. He does have a great jab, excellent chin & recovering ability, ring smarts and top stamina. He also has very good longetivity as he beat Mercer when he was in his 40's. Although no belt was on the line, i thought that was just as impressive as Foreman beating Moorer.

I'd rank him somewhere between top10 and top5. He had the potential to be top3 in my opinion, but he left way too many questionmarks during his weak championship reign for that. Pity....

 

:rofl :rofl :rofl

Shavers above Holmes Shavers isn't a top50 HW

Tunney/Charles/Walcott/Schmelling/Sullivan/Jeffries/Frazier/Foreman/Holyfield/Marciano should never be above Holmes on any sensible persons list

 

maybe too young to be reading "maxim" too. anyway holmes had the unfortunate timing to come along on the heels of Ali. that's a no win situation. holmes wasn't the greatest ever but he could hold his own in the ring. go back and watch his fights on youtube.com. tyson for a period was a monster. power/intimidation. didn't have the opposition of the Ali/Holmes era but that can't be blamed on iron mike. you fight who's in front of you.

 

I totally disagree here, Muhammad Ali is the best heavyweight ever.

 

Never seen Holmes - Ali ?

 

Even Rudy Koopmans would've beaten Ali that night

 

:think

 

Yes I have. Have you seen Tyson vs Holmes?

 

you do realize that Holmes KOed Shavers and Lewis style was pattoned off of Holems style and everyone in your list except Joe Lewis , ali and Marciano did not have the longevity nor long title run that Holmes had which is 20 defense he only surpassed by Joe Lewis .. Holemes is easily in the Top 10 of the greatest Heavy weights and his impact is still felt today because he set the mole of what a big tall heavy fighting style.

 

He's definitely top 10, but not #1.