Calling Larry Holmes A Greater HW Than Jack Dempsey?

[Perfect Plex]

Can it be justified? I get the feeling not many think this.

But could you say Holmes had the more impressive HW career with the better resume of wins than Dempsey? Does anyone actually think this anyway?

[CarlosG815]

I don't do lists, and I would guess based on the criteria for rating a fighter that Larry would without a doubt be far higher than Dempsey.

I believe Dempsey knocks him out.

[Joey Giardello]

I rate dempsey as the greater fighter, and head to head dempsey would of knocked holmes out

[Marcov]

Historicly Dempsey has a big edge. Accomplishments go to Holmes. But I got Holmes by knockout.

[Joey Giardello]

Historicly Dempsey has a big edge. Accomplishments go to Holmes. But I got Holmes by knockout.

Larry Holmes does not have the power to knock out a prime dempsey!

[CarlosG815]

Larry Holmes does not have the power to knock out a prime dempsey!

Or the speed or style...

Holmes is Taylor made for Jack.

[Greg House]

I don't do lists, and I would guess based on the criteria for rating a fighter that Larry would without a doubt be far higher than Dempsey.

I believe Dempsey knocks him out.

Is Larry Holmes's career really that good?

I get it, he has 19 consecutive defenses but wasn't the biggest victories he had against Ernie Shavers and Ken Norton?. A guy who reign in the 80's against two guys whose prime were in the 70's.

And i read that he ducked some good contenders during that long reign, is this true?

Are you rating him that high just for all those championship wins?. Because Wlad, i think, has like 17 championship wins already, are you planing to rank him very high when he retires too?

Because the competition today is bad, but it wasn't that good in the 80's either...

[CarlosG815]

Is Larry Holmes's career really that good?

I get it, he has 19 consecutive defenses but wasn't the biggest victories he had against Ernie Shavers and Ken Norton?. A guy who reign in the 80's against two guys whose prime were in the 70's.

And i read that he ducked some good contenders during that long reign, is this true?

Are you rating him that high just for all those championship wins?. Because Wlad, i think, has like 17 championship wins already, are you planing to rank him very high when he retires too?

Because the competition today is bad, but it wasn't that good in the 80's either...

I personally do not think Larry Holmes was as great as everybody else does, but look at any HW list and tell me what you see. He is always top 10, mostly top 5.

I was referring to other people, not me personally.

[StarshipTrooper]

Is Larry Holmes's career really that good?

I get it, he has 19 consecutive defenses but wasn't the biggest victories he had against Ernie Shavers and Ken Norton?. A guy who reign in the 80's against two guys whose prime were in the 70's.

And i read that he ducked some good contenders during that long reign, is this true?

Are you rating him that high just for all those championship wins?. Because Wlad, i think, has like 17 championship wins already, are you planing to rank him very high when he retires too?

Because the competition today is bad, but it wasn't that good in the 80's either...

I have Holmes ranked #5 all-time. Remember that while it's true that Shavers and Norton were in their primes in the 70s, Holmes fought them in the 70s. Holmes' prime went from the late 70s to the early 80s and, in fact, most of Larry's best fights were from prior to 1980. Larry's last great fight was Cooney and he was on the slide after that. In fact, the boxing writers were talking about Holmes being clearly past-prime at the time of the Bey fight. The Holmes of 78-82 was a legitimate ATG that only a VERY few greats would have had a reasonable shot at beating.

Poet

[Obama]

Without hesitation I say Larry is better than Dempsey, and would have beat Dempsey head to head.

Resumes are actually pretty close though. Holmes getting to 48-0 helped his resume a lot. But ignoring losses and draws, Dempsey beat the better guys.