Shuts out no. Defeats conclusively, absolutely. Prime Ali was the greatest of all heavyweight champions. (most major historians agree) Norton was an excellent contender however.
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Is Larry Holmes the most underrated heavyweight of all time?
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Yes. He beat Norton, Shavers twice, Cooney, Witherspoon etc and 20 defenses in a long seven year championship reign. It takes an LHW ATG, Michael Spinks, to dethrone him, in a close fight when Holmes was past his prime. The fact he got up from that knockdown in the Shavers rematch and the way he fought on in the witherspoon fight, when witherspoon looked like he had holmes' number that round, showed his champion-like heart. This man retires with a succsesful 48-2 record, and comes back, trains for one month, and still lasts 4 rounds with the Peak version of mike tyson, even toying around in the 4th round. At the age of 42, he easily dominates ray mercer and wins 4 rounds against Prime Holyfield. Larry Holmes deserves consideration as the best heavyweight champion
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He is closer to the most overrated than the most underrated. I am sick of hearing how underrated Holmes was. He is possibly the ugliest champion, which would be a better thread.
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If you take the question literally, 'most underrated' (NOT necessarily how good the guy was) I argue the answer is Gene Tunney. IMO he never the the praise he deserved. Overshadowed by Dempsey and then cast aside for Louis.
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