Larry Holmes fought bums for the most of it.

[NoSavingByTheBell]

similar to Marciano's time, with lots of older fighters/club fighters that lowered the level of comp as some say...... Norton, Shavers, Cobb, Scott Frank(who i met by the way in Oakland, NJ, was very highly touted until Larry sparked him),, Marvis Frazier..... Leon Spinks...., somewhat parallel Walcott, Moore, LaStarza, Charles, Rex Layne, Kidd Matthews.........

but Larry pretty much schooled and beat a prime Cooney who was no joke, and tough fights with Witherspoon, Weaver, Williams....

Holmes I rank #4 all time

[NoSavingByTheBell]

[SlimTrae]

Holmes also prevented a few contenders from rising. Berbick was 18-1 when Larry beat him. Carl Williams was considered a top HW at the time undefeated. I remember he sold himself rather well The Truth! Nice jab. But Holmes took his '0'As well as Renaldo Snipes '0' who both IMO would have held titles had Larry not been there.
No fault he took on Spinks who kept himself in contentions with his win over Evangelistsa, but I agree neither fighter were world class.

Taking on 2 undefeated fighters back to back in Snipes & Cooney was & still is a rarity for HWs. & from 1981-1985 he faced 6 undefeated fighters. 8 total if we include & novice 10-0 Frazier & a 14-0 David Bey.
No world class beaters, but he took on some young fighters who gave him a run, especially Tim Witherspoon.
Not any greats, but he beat some good ones. Frazier eye injuries played a part in not being on that resume & Ali, then Young took Foreman's confidence, so that would have been the only fight where a champ could've given him a run for it.

[Master]

Holmes wanted Foreman and that would have been a huge fight for his legacy. I think Larry would have given George a beating with that jab of his.

[Spicoli]

No love for Scott LeDoux eh . I'd love to have ol bitter Larry with that stick at heavyweight today. The man was literally sandwiched between two absolute dynamos era wise. But he faced a pretty decent run of tough talent and a half dozen Wal Mart shelf stockers, seem to recall even Renaldo Snipes giving him a helluva fight but may be off.

[NoSavingByTheBell]

No love for Scott LeDoux eh . I'd love to have ol bitter Larry with that stick at heavyweight today. The man was literally sandwiched between two absolute dynamos era wise. But he faced a pretty decent run of tough talent and a half dozen Wal Mart shelf stockers, seem to recall even Renaldo Snipes giving him a helluva fight but may be off.

yes you got that right - here's the knockdown in the 7th

[NoSavingByTheBell]

then there was this....you gotta be great to come back from stuff like this

[TitoFan]

No love for Scott LeDoux eh . I'd love to have ol bitter Larry with that stick at heavyweight today. The man was literally sandwiched between two absolute dynamos era wise. But he faced a pretty decent run of tough talent and a half dozen Wal Mart shelf stockers, seem to recall even Renaldo Snipes giving him a helluva fight but may be off.

Larry beat up on one half of that sandwich... old, stale bread.

Then, in beautiful justice... he got slaughtered by the other half. (A battering I could watch over and over again).

[Master]

No love for Scott LeDoux eh . I'd love to have ol bitter Larry with that stick at heavyweight today. The man was literally sandwiched between two absolute dynamos era wise. But he faced a pretty decent run of tough talent and a half dozen Wal Mart shelf stockers, seem to recall even Renaldo Snipes giving him a helluva fight but may be off.

Larry beat up on one half of that sandwich... old, stale bread.

Then, in beautiful justice... he got slaughtered by the other half. (A battering I could watch over and over again).

Even the beating he took from Tyson, being knocked down 3 times, showed how great his chin and recuperative powers were. Those were truly brutal punches he took from a prime Mike Tyson.