Boxing Writer wrote: ↑27 Jun 2018, 13:51
For me it's a no brainer that Larry Holmes was way better than Lennox Lewis. And I rank Holmes at #3 after Ali and Louis.
I'd say, this is arguable. Sure, Holmes is somewhere in the very top, but despite his longer reign it's questionable, whose opposition was better, his or Lewis'. Furthermore, Holmes had more controversial moments during his career.
42-years-old Holmes beat better version of Ray Mercer way more convincingly comparing to 31-years-old Lennox Lewis. 45-years-old Holmes arguably beat Oliver McCall who in his previous fight knocked out 29-years-old Lennox Lewis in 2 rounds. As for controversial moments - of course, Holmes had more of them because he had much, much longer career (75 fight to Lennox's 44). But Holmes sometimes was a victim of the judges as well, while Lewis was robbed only once in his career (and it wasn't a loss - it was a draw). Holmes deserved the wins in his rematch with Michael Spinks and especially in the fight against Brian Nielsen. He also arguably deserved the win in the fight against McCall.
Boxing Writer wrote: ↑27 Jun 2018, 13:51
For me it's a no brainer that Larry Holmes was way better than Lennox Lewis. And I rank Holmes at #3 after Ali and Louis.
I'd say, this is arguable. Sure, Holmes is somewhere in the very top, but despite his longer reign it's questionable, whose opposition was better, his or Lewis'. Furthermore, Holmes had more controversial moments during his career.
42-years-old Holmes beat better version of Ray Mercer way more convincingly comparing to 31-years-old Lennox Lewis. 45-years-old Holmes arguably beat Oliver McCall who in his previous fight knocked out 29-years-old Lennox Lewis in 2 rounds. As for controversial moments - of course, Holmes had more of them because he had much, much longer career (75 fight to Lennox's 44). But Holmes sometimes was a victim of the judges as well, while Lewis was robbed only once in his career (and it wasn't a loss - it was a draw). Holmes deserved the wins in his rematch with Michael Spinks and especially in the fight against Brian Nielsen. He also arguably deserved the win in the fight against McCall.
Yeah, Holmes also had some controversies, where it was him, who was considered to be robbed, but I don't like McCall example so often being mentioned. Larry did almost nothing to win that fight. He was in a good survival mode, but he didn't provide much effort. Sure, it can be understood, as he was old. And Lewis' both losses were clearly due to underestimation. It may sound as an absolute excuse, but prepared Lewis had always been too much for anyone.