How do you rate Larry Holmes as a heavyweight champ?

[BM dnobagaV]

Top five heavyweight of all time, easily. Great shout-out with the 15th round against Norton. That was breathtaking.

[therealpugilist]

I got some time on my hands as do many of you. I'm going through some old footage and holy schit, I'll be damned. Larry was a bad boy.

His fights with Cooney, Spinks (Michael and Leon), destruction of Frazier, Wars with Norton, Shavers, Mercer, etc

I mean damn. Norton vs Holmes was Gatti vs Ward before Gatti vs Ward, only it was 15 rounds. In the 15th round, Holmes was out on his feet, only to bite down on his gum shield and come back and almost stop Norton before Norton was saved by the bell. True legendary warrior schit.

He had a 29 year career only being stopped by a prime Mike. I would've loved to have seen him head to head against Foreman.

How do you guys rank Holmes against the greats and how do you see a Foreman fight playing out?

IronDanHamza
crold1

top 3 and he stops foreman late in their primes.....UD in 90s for holms

[Dodger07]

He's anywhere from top 3-7 all time at heavyweight. Only guys who for sure are ranked ahead are Ali and Louis. Probably had the best jab of all time and is one of the more underappreciated fighters that i can think of.

[Chollo Vista]

I was just a boy when Holmes edged Norton but in quick fashion I followed his active schedule. The media loved to trounce Holmes. He didn't have Ali's charisma and he wasn't schooled on playing the game in front of a camera. The media was adept at pointing out all of his deficits, overlooking his in-ring talent.

I remember the Mike Weaver match in June 1979. Holmes was taken to the very edge but managed to reach into his considerable bag of tricks and pull it out. A scant three months later he was dropped badly by Ernie Shavers, but again, the bag of tricks and again, out of the fire. The media loved to talk him down.

I'll skip the Ali burial and what it did to Holmes and move forward to the Renaldo Snipes near-wipe out. Again, a mistake made but the recovery and turn-around from Larry (even within the very round he was down) was incredible.

The media loved to point out Larry's imperfections but the reality is those imperfections forced greatness out of him in moments of extreme duress. As he began to show some deterioration, we still got to see that greatness come out a few years later with Tim Witherspoon. Round 9 was a beauty.

Hell of a ring general with a heart and spirit as big as Idaho.
Terrific left jab, sharp right hand, very good chin, 15-round conditioning and a ridiculous (by today's standards) schedule.

Definitely in my top ten ATG heavyweight champions.

Great post

[CubanGuyNYC]

I got some time on my hands as do many of you. I'm going through some old footage and holy schit, I'll be damned. Larry was a bad boy.

His fights with Cooney, Spinks (Michael and Leon), destruction of Frazier, Wars with Norton, Shavers, Mercer, etc

I mean damn. Norton vs Holmes was Gatti vs Ward before Gatti vs Ward, only it was 15 rounds. In the 15th round, Holmes was out on his feet, only to bite down on his gum shield and come back and almost stop Norton before Norton was saved by the bell. True legendary warrior schit.

He had a 29 year career only being stopped by a prime Mike. I would've loved to have seen him head to head against Foreman.

How do you guys rank Holmes against the greats and how do you see a Foreman fight playing out?

IronDanHamza
crold1

Glad you gained an appreciation for one of the greatest heavyweight champions of all time. This is the reason true fans of the sport should avail themselves of all the unprecedented footage on the Internet. There’s a reason why many of the old-timers are so highly rated by experts and historians. It’s not just nostalgia.

I’m old enough to remember prime Holmes, and the criticism he faced on the heels of Ali. Larry had a legendary piston jab, heart of a lion, great jaw, boxing skill and ring generalship. I’m happy he’s found much greater acclaim in the years following his retirement. Don’t know exactly where I’d rank him personally — unquestionably top-ten, and arguably top-five.