Comments Thread For: Champ: Critiquing a half-century of “Greatest” wannabes

[prinzemanspopa]

Frazier over-rated? yet he puts buster douglas, spinks, rahman, and klits on the list? I think this guy had some psychodelics in his coffee when he wrote up this one.

Well,Wlad certainly rates above Frazier on any credible ATG heavyweight list.Wlad has ruled his division in a way Frazier never dared.Unlike Cherry Pickin' Joe,Wlad has fought all worthy heavyweight contenders of the last decade.He has cleared his division out,picking off each contender one-by-one and has done so in the most decisive manner since Mike Tyson at his peak.

[Spray_resistant]

That list is fair enough other than Bowe being up so high.

[The_Demon]

Bowe at 3? Lol

Apart from that a very good list

[ChopperRead]

I never did get the cult of Rid**** Bowe. There are some boxing people out there who seem to think Bowe was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

But I'm not one of them.

I also would have Vitali higher on the list. Not too many fighters are going to "gut it out" over Vitali Klitschko, who is as mean and tough as they come, and who has never been behind on the scorecards at the end of any fight in his career.

Vitali >>> Rid**** ****in' Bowe

Demote Bowe, promote Vitali, otherwise not a bad list.

[crold1]

Sorry, can't resist...

If Frazier is overrated for ONLY going 1-4 against Ali and Foreman, with three stop losses, and beating alleged 'cannon fodder'...

...what is a fighter who has gone 0-0 against fighters of that HOF caliber (or even the next level down), fights a whole generation of cannon fodder, and had three stop losses to guys who Ali and Foreman would have used as sparring partners?

Hint: See #4

[tlarry]

Larry Holmes was a Man's Man...A Real Champion

Larry took no crap from anyone. No crap from fighters, no crap from promoters, no crap from the media. He said what was on his heart, he was a family man, stayed out of trouble, and demanded respect for being the Heavyweight Champion of the World, and his division. Larry had the best jab in Boxing History. He defended his title, and fought everyone available to him during his tenure. He conducted himself as a Champion in and out of the ring. In my book, Larry Holmes is in the Top 5 Greatest Heavyweights in History. What Ali did to Joe Frazier in their third fight, Larry in his prime would have stopped Frazier before the 14th, with the continual hammer of a jab he would have used as target practice on Frazier. George Foreman would have been too slow in his prime to land a bomb on Larry. Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano were too small to handle Larry Holmes. Larry never got the credit he was due, till his career was over. Clearly one of the greatest Heavyweights ever.

[Walt Liquor]

why does lyle fitzsimmons write for boxingscene? he's easily the worst writer on here.

rid**** bowe #3? joe frazier overrated for a w vs ali and going like and death with the greatest 2x???????????????????????

WTF????????????????

you rated bowe at #3 on what? fantasy fights?

later on you use people's reign as champions, even if they never even fought an hof fighter as criteria to rate them highly.

which is it? if you rate on fantasy fights, there's no waaaaay frazier is behind half that list, accomplishments- no way bowe is so high.

combo of both, then they are BOTH misrated.

[WladIsTheChamp]

Great list apart from Buster Douglas - winning one time over an over-rated Tyson does not give you rankinig. Like the fact that Wlad and Vitaly are in the top 10, as they should be.

[ChopperRead]

Great list apart from Buster Douglas - winning one time over an over-rated Tyson does not give you rankinig. Like the fact that Wlad and Vitaly are in the top 10, as they should be.

The stats of both K-Bros are going to look even better to people when they are done fighting and all the emotions, both positive and negative, concerning them have died down (as they did with Lennox, who was hated by many in the US when he was fighting, and who is at least respected if not loved by the same people now, who forgot why they used to hate him).

Wlad and Vitali have the numbers, and the numbers are impressive. Wlad's current unbeaten championship stretch, and Vitali's unbeaten string while losing nary a round since coming back from a 3+ year retirement are both very impressive.

If the Klitschkos can get through 2011 undefeated, those numbers are going to look that much better.

[ChopperRead]

Larry took no crap from anyone. No crap from fighters, no crap from promoters, no crap from the media. He said what was on his heart, he was a family man, stayed out of trouble, and demanded respect for being the Heavyweight Champion of the World, and his division. Larry had the best jab in Boxing History. He defended his title, and fought everyone available to him during his tenure. He conducted himself as a Champion in and out of the ring. In my book, Larry Holmes is in the Top 5 Greatest Heavyweights in History. What Ali did to Joe Frazier in their third fight, Larry in his prime would have stopped Frazier before the 14th, with the continual hammer of a jab he would have used as target practice on Frazier. George Foreman would have been too slow in his prime to land a bomb on Larry. Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano were too small to handle Larry Holmes. Larry never got the credit he was due, till his career was over. Clearly one of the greatest Heavyweights ever.

Holmes, like the Klitschkos, took and still takes a lot of **** because he didn't fight in one of the strongest eras for heavyweights.

Nevertheless, Holmes racked up some quite impressive numbers and cleaned out the division, and that makes him, as you say, one of the very best.