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With regards to the heavyweights, I'd say it's Larry Holmes. Larry Holmes' problem was that he was "The champion next door," just your average family man who wasn't a larger than life character following a tough act in Muhammad Ali. He was 48-0 before getting jobbed twice by Michael Spinks. He made 20 successful defenses of the title, including Earnie Shavers, Muhammad Ali, Gerry Cooney, and Tim Witherspoon.

People loved to knock Holmes, particularly the "brilliant" Howard Cossel who said Holmes was average and at times, dismal. Of course, this is the same Cossel who said Ali-Norton I was the biggest mismatch in the history of the sport.

Holmes was only stopped once, that by Mike Tyson when he was in his late 30s after 2+ years of inactivity.

Holmes' mixture of movement, jabbing, combination punching, and heart make him one of the top 7 heavyweight champions of all time. Unfortunately, he may never get the recognition as such.

With regards to the heavyweights, I'd say it's Larry Holmes. Larry Holmes' problem was that he was "The champion next door," just your average family man who wasn't a larger than life character following a tough act in Muhammad Ali. He was 48-0 before getting jobbed twice by Michael Spinks. He made 20 successful defenses of the title, including Earnie Shavers, Muhammad Ali, Gerry Cooney, and Tim Witherspoon.

People loved to knock Holmes, particularly the "brilliant" Howard Cossel who said Holmes was average and at times, dismal. Of course, this is the same Cossel who said Ali-Norton I was the biggest mismatch in the history of the sport.

Holmes was only stopped once, that by Mike Tyson when he was in his late 30s after 2+ years of inactivity.

Holmes' mixture of movement, jabbing, combination punching, and heart make him one of the top 7 heavyweight champions of all time. Unfortunately, he may never get the recognition as such.

I would totally agree with Holmes as most underrated champion in Heavyweight at least. Smith, Williams, Weaver, Snipes and Broad(who was highly regarded at the time) were also impressive defenses.

holmes was great but liston was the best all time.. he hurt his shoulder vs ali.. and up to that point he was winning the fight..liston was the type to never run out of gas.. and if you watch he was having trouble throwing his jab.. we all know the second fight was fixed ... not to mention liston was around 40 years old when he fought ali and was winning.. no one new his real age and he was run by the mob... who claimed he was 29. apparently the odds were 8-1 vs ali in ali favor and the mob put tons of money on ali.. watch the fight lisotn wasnt even trying..after he won the title and nobody cared about him .. he didnt even care about boxing it was all about the money.. he got killed after he was supposed to loose a fight.. in 1970 when he was supposedly 38 .. but he was actually closer to 50

holmes was great but liston was the best all time.. he hurt his shoulder vs ali.. and up to that point he was winning the fight..liston was the type to never run out of gas.. and if you watch he was having trouble throwing his jab.. we all know the second fight was fixed ... not to mention liston was around 40 years old when he fought ali and was winning.. no one new his real age and he was run by the mob... who claimed he was 29. apparently the odds were 8-1 vs ali in ali favor and the mob put tons of money on ali.. watch the fight lisotn wasnt even trying..after he won the title and nobody cared about him .. he didnt even care about boxing it was all about the money.. he got killed after he was supposed to loose a fight.. in 1970 when he was supposedly 38 .. but he was actually closer to 50

Liston was certainly not the best of all time. Liston was older than his "age" suggested, and I do think he should've gotten his title shot years earlier. The truth is, his out of the ring exploits made it hard to give him a break. Nonethelss, you are not the greatest heavyweight champion of all time if you only have one successful title defense.

And you DO NOT give up the most prized possession in boxing because your shoulder hurts.

I would totally agree with Holmes as most underrated champion in Heavyweight at least. Smith, Williams, Weaver, Snipes and Broad(who was highly regarded at the time) were also impressive defenses.

Oh the Roy Williams fight was something else. Holmes took the fight on less than a weeks notice and broke his right hand in the third I believe. To go the distance with a strong mofo like Williams is something else.

Against Weaver, you could clearly see Holmes was on the slide. There is no reason Weaver should've been that tough. Mr. Snipes had Holmes out, he truly went from pillar to post on that shot LOL.

I'm not familiar with the Broad fight however. I did appreciate the Leon Spinks fight, that was special.

Oh the Roy Williams fight was something else. Holmes took the fight on less than a weeks notice and broke his right hand in the third I believe. To go the distance with a strong mofo like Williams is something else.

Against Weaver, you could clearly see Holmes was on the slide. There is no reason Weaver should've been that tough. Mr. Snipes had Holmes out, he truly went from pillar to post on that shot LOL.

I'm not familiar with the Broad fight however. I did appreciate the Leon Spinks fight, that was special.

Carl Williams but I know what you mean. Weaver is underrated imo and Snipes was a hell of a fighter and the last of the Mobbed up guys I am sure of. He had close ties to the Gambino family and was buddies with Sammy the Bull and even was thrown out of the last Gotti trial trying to intimidate jurors. Thought you might find that interesting. James Broad was highly regarded and I remember Tyson talked highly of him in his first Ring Magazine appearance.

LOL I know Snipes, he's a figure around NYC boxing. I do remember reading about that in the Gotti book Goombata, but it slipped my mind. Snipes is a cool guy.

i agree and i disagree.. i agree about his legacy about few title defenses.. but times were different he already fought everybody else.. he had the best jab ever in heavyweight boxing even better then holmes was alwasy in position to punch and defend could fight going foward or backward and could roll and counter.. skill wise hes the only guy that could of beat every heavyweight ever

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I totally agree.:fing02: Liston is really a top three heavyweight of all-time, but he struggles to get on peoples top ten lists. It's disgusting.:nonono:

holmes was great but liston was the best all time.. he hurt his shoulder vs ali.. and up to that point he was winning the fight..


Liston was certainly NOT winning that fight at that point. In fact, it's difficult to so much as find a moment where Sonny even lands a glove on Ali until he flicked powder in his eyes.

Even so, Liston was great. I think the reason he rarely finds a way into some people's top ten list is because of accomplishment. He beat Patterson, yes, but as champion, his list of defenses is pretty...eh. No one is denying that he should have been given chances earlier, where he surely would have reigned for many years. I have him between 6-8 all-time right now.

Larry Holmes is definitely underappreciated, though it's hard to find someone that won't put him in their top ten.

Lennox Lewis is flat out denied because people say he had a glass jaw, plus, there's a general hatred towards contemporary fighters. The man was extremely talented, and improved with age. Given his size and skill, he could have competed in any era.

Well, I agree Liston belongs in the top ten: In fact I have him somewhere 4-7. Holmes I have in the same bracket. Lennox I coinsider a near great that just misses out making the list. Bear in mind I'm a Lennox fan and NOT a Lennox hater. I DO think he was on the chinny side and that's the main reason I don't have him higher.

PS. I believe he was better than Bowe and Bowe KNEW it and punked out by tossing the belt in the garbage rather than fight Lennox.

Poet

But there were many more Champions who didn't have a great chin, and got knocked out cold. What burned him is the fact that he slacked off that one time(I don't think he was against McCall) and got knocked out by 1 punch. What should have been enough to prove they were flukes, were the rematches. And people still have issues with Oliver's breakdown, but that wasn't Lewis' fault. And also the way he retired, the whole VK thing. But the main thing for Lennox Lewis were his chin myths.

I just don't think it's fair to discredit a guy that did infact take huge shots from big hitters, and became a very dominant champion in his time.

Well, I'm not like some who think he is completely glass jawed in the mold of Floyd Patterson. Obviously those guys are out there. I'm more inclined to place his chin as mearly average. I think this not because of the KOs but because of the number of times I saw him wobbled in fights. The reason it hurts him in my rankings is because chin is one of the factors I give the most weight to; way more than hitting power in fact.

Poet

Thanks for the video mate. Very interesting and sad at the same time.

Have a present, cos i can't give no K right now.

I agree with most on here...Larry Holmes is the most underappreciated Heavyweight of All Time.

I also agree that Larry Holmes is the most under appreciated Hvy Champ.
Gene Tunney also comes to mind, but Holmes gets the nod from me.

He would be hard to beat in any era.

Liston was certainly not the best of all time. Liston was older than his "age" suggested, and I do think he should've gotten his title shot years earlier. The truth is, his out of the ring exploits made it hard to give him a break. Nonethelss, you are not the greatest heavyweight champion of all time if you only have one successful title defense.

And you DO NOT give up the most prized possession in boxing because your shoulder hurts.

But Liston cleaned up the division while Cus kept Patterson away from him, no? it is a bit unfair to count his defenses. I agree on the general shadiness of his behavior in the Ali fights.

I think Liston was appreciated in his time.

Holmes was not considered in his time, making him the most bitter HW champ in history...

I mean you are close to beat Marciano's and Louis' record and people give you **** as if you were some Ingemar Johanson kind of guy, I would be pissed too! Imagine the disrespectful **** Mayweather would have talked in his shoes..

Holmes was an awesome fighter. He SHOULD have been more respected in his day and it's a shame he wasn't.

Poet

I completely agree on Larry Holmes but come on guys, how could nobody mention Evander Holyfield?? There has never been a champ with as many harsh critics. Throughout his career all the biggest wins he has under his belt he was predicted to lose! I've never seen anything like it.

larry holmes is a good pick but jersey joe walcott is the most underated. He was
got robbed when he fought joe luis the first time. and he gave rocky marcianno a pure boxing lesson until he was caught with that lucky punch in the 13th round when he and marcianno thew power shots at the same but he was the victim because rockys landed first. but Just imagin the respect he would have had if he got the descision over luis and ducked from that power shot from rocky and got the win. If it wasent for jersey joe walcott, hopkins, mayweather, and alot of todays fighters would not be as good beacuse walcott evented that "roll the shoulders" deffence that most of the fighters use.

James J. "The Boilermaker" Jeffries is definitely the most unappreciated great heavyweight champion, today. Very surprising considering that up until the early 1960s, Jeffries was consistently ranked as the greatest heavy of all time.

larry holmes is a good pick but jersey joe walcott is the most underated. He was
got robbed when he fought joe luis the first time. and he gave rocky marcianno a pure boxing lesson until he was caught with that lucky punch in the 13th round when he and marcianno thew power shots at the same but he was the victim because rockys landed first. but Just imagin the respect he would have had if he got the descision over luis and ducked from that power shot from rocky and got the win. If it wasent for jersey joe walcott, hopkins, mayweather, and alot of todays fighters would not be as good beacuse walcott evented that "roll the shoulders" deffence that most of the fighters use.

Walcott is an old favorite of mine. I LOVED his turn away!

Poet

Damn my secret's out! lol, yawl no bout JERSEY JOE WALCOTT. I boxed for 13 years and I studied Walcott to death! He's really my fave fighter. Period. The man was just alien with the moves, slick (and sick) defense. He just didnt' get his shot til it was too late. But he was still so good. He made the most of it at 40 (they say 37) when that ill left hook put dropped Ezzard Charles like a crumbling oil derrick! That walk-a-way move, the shoulder roll, the shuffle (before Ali and Robinson), the sucker punch (meaning not dirty but he knew how to suck you in to getting hit); the feints. Hell, I could go on and on. Nobody does this shiznit anymore in the ring! If you're a boxer/puncher type and you're not studying WALCOTT, ROBINSON (esp Jersey Joe for learning how to create openings) you are F-----g up! The greatest fighters are like music when they box, ya heard. You can almost hear it. I make all my fighters watch the OLD SCHOOLERS of the game...One more underrated fighter: ARCHIE MOORE. Hella defense. One of the best at FIGHTING INSIDE. Rolling and throwing short combos 6-8 inches to bust ya up. Beautiful stuff.
(Damn I just busted a nut talking about these beautiful moves!)