Where do you rank Holmes?

One of the greatest to ever step in the ring.

The speed out of him in his prime was something to behold.

Could throw out the gameplan and go hell for leather when needed. A great HW needs to be able to do this.

 

I think lower half of the top 10 is fair. I used to have him as high as 3, but I don't believe he should rank that high anymore, for reasons Bummy has stated.

 

My list is:-

1. Tyson
2. Holmes
3. Ali
4. Johnson
5. Louis
6. Marciano
7. Charles
8. Foreman
9. Dempsey
10. Louis

 

My list is

1.Joe Louis
2. Muhammad Ali
3. Rocky Marciano
4. Jack Dempsey
5. LARRY HOLMES
6. Jack Johnson
7. Lennox Lewis
8. Evander Holyfeild.
9. George Foreman
10. Mike Tyson.

 

I would rank my top 10 as this.

1 Joe Louis
Ali
Foreman
Jack Johnson
Holmes
Marciano
Dempsey
Lennox Lewis
Holyfield
10-tie Tyson, Frazier.

 

How anyone ranks Dempsey above Tyson and Lewis makes no sense to me.

When exactly was Dempsey's magnificent prime and how long did it last? What excellent heavyweight did he defeat in his prime besides Fred Fulton? How much credit does he get for sitting on the championship and not facing his two best contenders? Why exactly was his quick rise to the top more convincing than Tyson's?

 

Jeffries won the title from Fitz ,not Corbett. he did have 15 fights when he first defended against Corbett, and Corbett had a grand total of 19.

 

Head to head top three. Holmes is very under rated.

Legacy, top 8-12.

 

The h2h is all that matters in ATG ranking.

I mean sure, if someone fought nobody worth mentioning their h2h stock means little but then you wouldn't be including them in any reasonable ATG discussion in the first place, would you?

Using h2h as principal criteria, much lower than #3 for Holmes is silly.

Also, his resume happened to be pretty damn good, in a longevity and lemonade outta lemons kind of way.

 

01 Louis
02 Ali

03 Holmes
04 Foreman
05 Lewis

06 Marciano
07 Frazier
08 Holyfield
09 Tyson

10 Wlad
11 Johnson
12 Jeffries

13 Liston
14 Dempsey

I have Holmes FIRMLY entrenched in the #3 spot, but I could see the 3-5 range quite easily as very defendable....I could also accept 6-10 and the a lesser degree 11-15 if one was so inclined.

 

:good

I'd be a bit less forgiving of 6-10 and can't so much much as entertain from 11 down, though.

 

The downfall of Lewis and Holmes was that they both got themselves knocked spark out cold in title fights where as Dempsey never did in a key fight.
I have difficulty putting championship KO victims ahead of those who always made it to the last bell when they lost a title fight.

 

I don`t think you can really count a comebacking, way past his prime KO loss as significant to Holmes career... Lewis was stopped twice,McCall and Rahman. Prime Holmes never lost a fight !

 

Yea but had he fought Page who he gave up a title for or Pinklon Thomas,Dokes,Tate or Coetzee or rematched Weaver, Witherspoon,Williams we may have seen it earlier...I can only speculate that Holmes would have won and they were all in his decade

Dempsey is given heat for not fighting Wills and Greb but how can honestly say Holmes did not avoid some of these $ making unification or rematching tough fights, it has to account for something

 

How the **** could Ali or Louis have a chance against Lewis

Nostalgia tards can't face reality

Unless someone packed an absolute insane one punch ko shot no one could have ever beaten a prime Lewis

87 Tyson maybe wins 3 out of ten against Lewis

Louis is a midget who gets tua'd

Ali walks into too much to get his shots off, Ali's incredible recovery and chin let him last but he takes. Beating against Lewis