PBF says Holmes is best heavyweight ever

Holmes was a defense first, boring boxer. . . of course Fraud would say this.

 

Yeah, Holmes/Norton - boring match!:-(

 

for the most part he was a defense first boring boxer. . . the main reason he never got the attention someone with as many title defenses normally would.

 

One point to make...

* Leroy Jones was actually a very good, undefeated boxer, and a legitimate Top 10 contender. He was very similar in style to Buster Mathis in that he was oversized, but quite mobile. Larry's decimation of him should actually be considered one of his better performances. Holmes fought plenty of soft opponents in his career (David Bey, Scott Frank, and the aforementioned Zanon), but Jones wasn't one of them.

 

A boxer who knew how to protect himself from being hurt and who also had the greatest jab in boxing history along with courage, a great chin and ring-intelligence - that MUST be boring!

 

relax man, I respect Holmes for his accomplishments and courage and skill. . . he was just a bit boring style-wise, he had a great jab and defense. But lets not be too nostalgic and pretend he was an "exciting" fighter.

 

I am fully relaxed - but I don´t think that "boring" should be the first word mentioned when describing Holmes - it was often a pleasure to see him perform.

 

to each their own, I found him to be a bit boring for the most part. Most fans at the time agreed wich is why he wasnt near the draw that guys like Frazier, Foreman etc where before him.

 

In my opinion as someone who starting with the 1st. Shavers fight is YES Holmes ranks among the very best HW Champs ever.

 

Holmes ranks 5 or 6 on my alltime list.
(Behind Ali, Louis, Foreman, Lewis and maybe Marciano)

Re: PBF's comments on Ali.

In the parlance of Holmes, the pretty boy couldn't carry Ali's jockstrap !

 

Larry was very good. He is rated in the top 5 by many. He had arguably, and IMO the best heavyweight jab. In his prime, he matches up very well head to head, and he was very fast. He had very fast hands, he had some pop in his right, and he had great recurperative/surviving skills. If you hurt him, or knocked him down, he was a very dangerous man. Because he would come after you hitting you as hard as he could the whole way, until he was sure that you were hurt, or until he KO'd you/TKO'd you. He was heavyweight champion of the world from 1978-1985, and had 20 succesful title defences before losing the title in 2 controversial decisions to Michael Spinks. Larry fought in the 90's, and beat Ray Mercer at the age of 42, he went the full 12 rounds with Holyfield, he came very close to winning the title back against Olivar McCall in 1995 only losing by 1 point on 2 of the score cards. Then, he lost another controversial decision in 1997 to Brain Neilson. Larry had his last fight in 2002 at the age of 52, almost 53. I have him rated at #4.

 

LOL he beat Earnie Shavers TWICE!!! He won every single round in their first fight, and in their 2nd fight he TKO'd him in the 11th. What is your argument to have all of these people ahead of him???

 

He came very close to fighting Coetzee, the fight was called off a month before they fought. Why would he fight Dokes? And he also was told he HAD to fight Page 1 week before he fought Marvis Frazier.

 

I currently rank Holmes 4th all time. I think you can argue 3rd, which is where I put Jack Johnson. I may be ranking Johnson a little high because of his social significance, but he did prove a lot in the ring.

Holmes beat 8 men to at one time hold world titles, ranks 2nd at heavyweight in consecutive(and total) title defenses, rates 2nd at heavyweight with length of reign, and he made it to 48-0 before losing his first fight(also 2nd at heavyweight).

Holmes had one of the best jabs in the history of the sport, and tons of fighting spirit to back it.

 

If Holmes was "defence first" then he wouldn't have thrown so many punches a fight. And also, he wouldn't have taken punches to give them. You don't know what your talking about.