Who do you consider the best heavyweight of all-time?

If Holmes wanted to be ranked up with Louis and Ali he should have mopped up the other beltholders like Greg Page, rematched people who gave him close fights like Witherspoon and, Williams.

If you fight in a weaker era and you want glory then you simpply have to do a proper number on it like Louis did.

 

I have some sympathy with this argument.

Esentialy I think that Holmes had a weaker era than Ali so he needed to do a more thorough number on it to compensate.

 

don't get me wrong, I believe that ALi was the g reatest HW

many people believe (and i) that Norton has 2 wins at leats over ali. frazier should of beat him twice when they were close to best) and I know a lot of people who believe that Foreman was cheated in Zaire

 

I was just asking the question; Should Frazier, Foreman, Quarry etc, get heap loads of **** for not participating in Vietnam? as Ali has been so dumped on?

 

That's a question, why didn't they anyway?

 

Muhammad Ali by a clear margin.

He had a far better resume than Louis and I doubt anybody here is willing enough to argue with that point.

He has some spectacular accomplishments to accomply his ATG resume.

Three time heavyweight champion of the world, stopping a peak Foreman when he was past his prime, and clearing out the 70s division not once but twice. It is fairly clear to me.

 

Joe Louis fought the best, most defenses, good era, best record ...deep era.....one loss young vs a master Max S. rematched and dispatched...2 losses late vs ATG heavys...beat a lot of good fighters

 

And that's exactly right. Holmes is 3 - 10 IMO.

I'm surprised more haven't pushed forth Marciano.

 

It's Ali for me, with his quality of top tier wins shading him over the line. Louis just behind and then IMO there's a bit of daylight unless someone picks Marciano on the right criteria.

Marciano really didn't do much wrong.

 

I specified other but if it came down to Ali or Louis I'd go with ALi.

 

If I were a fighter I'd rather have Louis' talent. But I noticed Ali was tougher than Louis. I don't think Ali would ever lose to Schmeling.

 

Yeah, surprising Riddick Bowe wasn't there for you

 

Joe Louis
Lennox Lewis
Ali
Larry Holmes
Rocky Marciano

 

That'd be my 5 too.

 

Nothing between them - and in most ways it's hard to make an apples vs apples comparison.

Perhaps Ali by a whisker and McGrain made some good points:

Ditching Louis' post retirement losses and Ali's post illness losses for the sake of ease gives Ali ONE additional loss - and that is offset by Ali's list of:
Liston x2
Frazier x3
Foreman x1

So it's Ali by a whisker for me!