He was never installed in any rankings after his retirement. The same way Pacquaio is unranked right this second. Holme never ever won a fight against 1/2 whilst ranked 1/2.
That is completely irrelevant. Ali was only retired from boxing for little over a month before announcing he was coming back and had not lost the HW championship in the ring. I find it difficult to rank anyone else ahead of him at the time he announced he was coming back. And? Being ranked 1/2 is NOT contingent on having beaten a 1/2 ranked opponent. Maybe you can tell me who should have been ranked ahead of Holmes at the time of the Ali fight?
After Ali retired there wasn't a valid 1v2 fight until Tyson v Spinks. Ali retired September 1979 and fought Holmes on October 1980. At the time of the fight the top 2 ranked opponents were Weaver and Holmes. I'm not saying I'm fully against the idea of considering Holmes the true champion. I'm saying there was never a 1v2 match and normally we insist on that in the case of a vacant title.
No, I have no argument. I disagree regularly with these such things. I am stating as a fact that Ali vs Holmes was not the world ranked 1vs2. It was 1vs an unranked opponent in the eyes of the Ring Mag.
Well, if you're going to base your argument on who the Ring decides to rank #1 and #2 then I think you should also live with who the Ring decides to hand their shiny trinket over to. Make sense?
Well, if you're going to base your argument on who the Ring decides to rank #1 and #2 then I think you should also live with who the Ring decides to hand their shiny trinket over to. Make sense?