Happy 72nd Birthday Larry Holmes!

[scorpio83]

I would like to say Happy 72nd Birthday to the former World Heavyweight Champion "The Easton Assassin" Larry Holmes!

[bennie]

I've never seen an all-time heavyweight list without Holmes in the top five.

[Monzon83]

I think he is over-rated personally. He fought in an era before Tyson, Lewis etc and post-Ali, Frazier, Foreman etc. His title reign was full of defences against 2nd tier HW's because that's all that was around. Then he got done twice by Spinks a fighter every great HW champion would beat comfortably.

No prime HW champ comes close to losing to Mike Spinks. Not Ali, Louis, Liston, Marciano, Lewis, Tyson, Bowe, Holy even Klit and Fury all beat Spinks.

Top 15 HW's he would be in the conversation but top 5 no way. He had a lovely jab though no doubt about that.

Happy Birthday though

[Seamus]

Couldn't stand Holmes at the height of his career, but came to like him in his old age. I think he mellowed a bit.

[bennie]

I think he is over-rated personally. He fought in an era before Tyson, Lewis etc and post-Ali, Frazier, Foreman etc. His title reign was full of defences against 2nd tier HW's because that's all that was around. Then he got done twice by Spinks a fighter every great HW champion would beat comfortably.

No prime HW champ comes close to losing to Mike Spinks. Not Ali, Louis, Liston, Marciano, Lewis, Tyson, Bowe, Holy even Klit and Fury all beat Spinks.

Top 15 HW's he would be in the conversation but top 5 no way. He had a lovely jab though no doubt about that.

Happy Birthday though

Your casual dismissal of Larry Holmes and the man's opposition is extremely disappointing. Holmes paid his dues like few others in the hardest game as he graduated from Ali sparring partner to genuine contender and then world heavyweight champion after one of the greatest fights of all time against Ken Norton (and one of the greatest final rounds). Holmes cemented his reign over the next seven years with a succession of brilliant displays (and often brilliantly courageous) but you merely label his opponents as second-tier. I have a higher regard for the men Larry conquered, such as Norton, Earnie Shavers (beaten twice), Mike Weaver, Gerry Cooney, Roy "Tiger" Williams, Ray Mercer, Tim Witherspoon, James "Bonecrusher" Smith...
Then comes Michael Spinks. You use Spinks to completely write off Holmes by stating, and I quote, "No prime HW champ comes close to losing to Mike Spinks." Do you think Holmes was in his prime against Spinks? Holmes was pushing 36 on the night he dropped a desperately close 15-round decision to Spinks in a fight that Larry hung on for because of the Marciano record. The rematch was just as close, if not closer.
You fall into the trap of judging Spinks on the man's one career defeat at the hands of a peak Mike Tyson (right at his peak) because Spinks is criminally underrated, one of the greatest light-heavyweights of all time and a man who moved up to heavyweight, trained brilliantly, filled out and still proved an outstanding fighter, up to Tyson. On that note, you declare that Tyson Fury (and Wladimir Klitschko) would beat the gifted, lethal-punching Spinks, a former Olympic champion and the first light-heavyweight champion to win the world heavyweight title.
That statement alone does you no credit.

[littlepug]

Great fighter who I have at either 3 or 4 on my heavyweight list.