What if Holmes retired at 50-0?

Maybe, but it would be a weak one.

 

Not for me I'm afraid. Not becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion, not dishing out rematches to Spoon and Norton and missing out on fighting Dokes, Page and Pinklon also hurts him. He'd lose a lot of points from his longevity and lose out on his only clear win over top opposition in Mercer.

He'd probably be a lock in top 5 (he's not far off it now IMO) however without that defining win that most great heavyweights have, he'll never be a top 5 or better for me.

 

Despite his losses, Holmes is a GOAT anyway. Watch some of his champiionship fights on youtube, amazing skills and speed.

 

No 49-0 does not get marciano into my top 5....although I do rate him at 6. I rank him at 3....that is likely where he would stay in this bizzarro world.

 

Can you imagine the $$$ DKP would have offered a retired undefeated Holmes to come out of retirement and fight the new sheriff in town, Tyson? That may have been a $30 million payday for Larry and he is coming out of retirement for a huge payday to fight the guy.

Probably would have sold the public a rematch regardless of the outcome and made some more massive profits. And you know something else, I would have preferred it to Biggs or Tubbs or washed up Thomas or some of those other guys w/ title shots.

 

It is a strange contradiction.

If Holmes had squeezd in one more 4 round fight against a nobody on the way up, his legacy would have increased massively. Or if as champion he defended against Nick Wells to avenge his amateur loss, it would have increased massively. Or if two judges were bribed in the Spinks fight, his legacy increases meassively.

His legacy would have been very interesting if he had waited to come out of retirement a couple of years and trained hard and took on tyson in Tokyo in 1990!

Funnilly enough, it would have then been great to see him come out of retirement to fight the reigning champ in 1994. Holmes v Foreman would have been another massive pay day under those circumstances.

 

Never unified the belts. Gave one up to face Frazier. Didn't rematch spoon,weaver nor williams.

He needed a fair bit more to surpass Ali or Louis.

 

If in theory he'd have beaten Tate, spoon, page and Thomas he might have an argument I suppose. But the career is changing far too much to really compare.

 

No, because there were too many questions marks after he dropped the WBC belt.

 

Don't really think so, Marciano retired undefeated and isn't rated as the GOAT, he wasn't that exiting and didn't really have great competition so no, i think he would be rated H2H greater than he is now though

 

Spot on!

 

Most linear champions never unified.

 

What you mean lineal champion?

Any lineage retired with tunney.

Holmes only held one belt at a time and never unified them to assert his dominance on the division.

more importantly to me though he never deserved to beat spoon and he then promptly ducked page and Thomas.

He spent a while as the number 1 he but after spoon he was a paper champ.