One of Muhammad Ali‘s past foes believes he doesn’t get enough credit for what he achieved in the ring.
Ali is widely viewed as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, having lost to just five men throughout his entire career.
One of those five fighters was Larry Holmes, who was the only man to ever defeat Ali by stoppage when they met in October 1980, though the bout is always seen as a controversial one due to concerns over Ali’s health.
Nonetheless, Holmes kicked on following that victory as he went on to make 20 successful world heavyweight title defences, and ‘The Easton Assassin’ explained to Sky Sports why he believes he’s the best heavyweight of all time.
“I don’t really get the recognition that I would normally get like a Mike Tyson. I had (nearly) 20 title defences. Mike Tyson had three or four and then lost.
“I was champ for seven-and-a-half years. They don’t want to recognise me. [Muhammad] Ali don’t have the fights that I had defending the title. He didn’t hold his title for seven and a half years. Only one guy had that title for longer than seven and a half years [and that] was Joe Louis. And the only person that had a record like mine was Rocky Marciano, nobody else.”
“Why does Muhammad Ali got to be the greatest? He could say he’s the greatest, you could say he’s the greatest but I know different. I’m the greatest!”
Holmes ended his career with a record of 69 wins and 6 defeats, competing for the final time back in July 2002.
