Prime For Prime who was better, Muhammad Ali or Larry Holmes

Ali by a country mile.

Ali's second and third best wins are as good as Larry's best...some of them are the same.

ALI'S BEST
Foreman
Frazier
Liston
Patterson
Norton
Quarry
Lyle
Shavers
Young

HOLME'S BEST
Norton
Witherspoon
Shavers
Mercer
Berbick
Cooney

See where I am going, here? The competition level just isn't comparable.

 

Head to head, Holmes wins.

 

Based on what? Dodgy wins against Norton and Witherspoon? Almost getting knocked silly by Shavers and Snipes?

You are picking Holmes over a man who beat Liston, Foreman, and Frazier?

 

ali. he would be special at any weight. speed, catlike reflexes, chin, power, skill, heart, intelligence. fearlessness is probably the only weakness he had.

 

Ali

 

LoL

 

Ali. But Holmes was damn good and had an equal Jab to Ali prime for prime.

 

Ali was a boxing enigma. He did a lot of things wrong from a technical perspective, but could get away with it against slower and or smaller opponents. He had exceptional speed and reflexes for a heavyweight. But he was also the money fighter for networks, media and the mob. I personally feel the Liston fights were fixed. Ali also got some generous decisions in the Norton and Young fights. Some would argue Doug Jones and Shavers too. His resume is full of much smaller or older opponents and quite a few journeymen level. Frazier and Foreman stand out as his best wins.

Holmes was the champion without a rival or marquee name victory. He also stood in the shadow of Ali, and Ali was a hard act to follow. Larry couldn’t find a way to connect with fans, he was not a charismatic champion and nothing about him as a boxer really got fans out of their seats. If he were fighting today he would be champion. Would likely have the most trouble with Fury’s size, but would easily handle AJ and Wilder. If Liston was the champion nobody wanted, Holmes was the champion no one cared about. Holmes was a better boxer than Ali from a technical aspect, but didn’t have Ali’s reflexes or agility. I would rank them about even in terms of skills.

 

The first Liston fight was not fixed...it is well known that Liston tried his liniment-on-the-glove trick to win it.

The second...I don't think we will ever know the truth about that one.

As for Larry being "without rival," well, he ducked re-matches with Norton and Witherspoon, both of which were either-way fights, later Williams the same, he declined an offer to unify with Coetzee, never pushed for any unification, and abandoned a title rather than fight #1 contender Greg Page. So really, he was "without rival" because, unlike great champions before and after, he never gave anyone the opportunity to be one.

All of that is fact.

The romance of Holmes these days really nauseates me. You did say one thing right--nobody wanted him in his time. It was because he was a shitty champ who ducked guys and bragged about it.

 

Ali shocked the world by K.O. Liston and Foreman was far better than all Larry's wins.

 

I have always said and I still say that today, Prime Holmes could match Ali in all segments, he is after Ali technically the best boxer of all time...

 

Prime Ali...For God sake don't let an old Ali showing signs of Parkinsons sway your decision Prime Ali to fast and to Classy.!!!!

 

Larry Holmes jab was a thing of beauty!

 

Holmes is a slightly bigger version of Ali.

60/40 Holmes for me.