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True Greats Become Greater As Time Passes: Larry Holmes, Lennox Lewis, and Pernell Whitaker

Out of this group in the article, who do you think was the most underrated during their career?

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Larry HolmesBy Travis Fleming

In boxing, active fighters get overrated and underrated. Sometimes in order to truly gage a fighter’s greatness, we need to sit back and let the dust settle on their career. Often times, a decade after retirement, fighters are elevated in their all time ranking, or determined to be not as great as they were once perceived. Once a great fighter has been retired for several years, we get to reflect on the impact they made and, many times, even if he wasn’t as universally appreciated when he was active, we realize there hasn’t been another like him since.

Fighters can be disliked by fans for any number of reasons, despite being ultra talented. They could possess a non fan friendly fighting style, they can be accused of ducking challenges, they can be arrogant, or their out of ring persona and misconduct can lead to fans disregarding their in ring prowess. A fighter can also be the victim of disdain from fans for being the heir to a much loved champion. When a long reigning king that was adored by fans finally hangs up his gloves or can no longer compete at the elite level, fans become extremely critical of his heir, especially if the heir dethroned their king at the end of his career. Many relish in the nostalgia of their once great hero and refuse to believe that anyone after him can compare, or even come close. They discredit the new king at every opportunity in order to preserve the legacy they’ve created in their minds for their old idol. They spin tales of fantasy fights between their hero in his prime, and the new king in which their hero wins in easy fashion everytime despite having tougher fights in their prime against opponents who weren’t as good as their heir. On the flip side, there’s a plethora of fighters who get overrated while they’re active, only to have people reflect on them and realize that they were bamboozled into believing the hype. These fighters generally have an exciting style, some have very likable personalities, many are either charismatic or the definition of classy, some of these are thought to be ambassadors of the sport while others are adored for being presented as menacing beasts that will rip your head off, and fans buy it.

There are some great recent examples of fighters gaining prestige in retirement, and a few more with current fighters who I believe will get the same treatment several years after retiring when fans look back and realize they were a one of a kind type of talent. There are also plenty of examples of fighters who were thought to be the latest greatest, that didn’t quite materialize.

Larry Holmes is now generally regarded as one of the top five heavyweights who ever lived, but it wasn’t always that way. Larry was not adored by the boxing public, they wanted him to lose so badly that they were happy when he was robbed against Michael Spinks so he didn’t beat the much loved, and overrated, Rocky Marciano’s undefeated streak. Holmes had the unfortunate timing of coming into his prime when Muhammad Ali was nearing the end of his career. In fan’s eyes, no one was going to replace Ali and, despite Holmes being an extremely worthy successor, fans refused to accept him because he wasn’t Ali. He didn’t have the same charisma or showmanship and, even if he did, fans would still shun him for replacing their hero. Holmes made it even harder on himself by easily whooping a shot Ali and publicly declaring, before fighting Spinks, that the beloved Marciano couldn’t carry his jockstrap. Holmes was right, he was leagues above Marciano but he didn’t enjoy the same fan support and for this reason he was highly underrated until well after his retirement. Looking back now, we see Holmes had perhaps the greatest jab of all time, and we realize there hasn’t been a heavyweight with his complete skill set since. As a result, Holmes has seen his all time great ranking steadily rise in the years following his retirement.

Lennox Lewis just happened to come along after a Mike Tyson who left fans in awe with the most destructive heavyweight championship campaign in history. Tyson was the baddest man on theLennox L planet and when the more calculated, less destructive, and better mannered Lennox emerged as the king of the 90’s heavyweights, fans weren’t willing to accept him. They wanted another man who was out to rip your head off, they wanted mean, they wanted Tyson part two. For a longtime, fans refused to give credit to Lewis, claiming he would never be as great as Tyson. They incorrectly labeled Lewis as boring and applauded when he got knocked out in upsets to Oliver Mccall and especially Hasim Rahman, using the losses as proof that Lewis was not an all time great heavyweight. When we look back, years after retirement, we see that Lewis had a monstrous punch, great fights, great knock outs, an excellent resume, a well rounded skill set, and he erased both of his losses in dominating rematches. Lewis is now universally recognized as greater than Tyson and one of the top ten heavyweights who ever lived.

Pernell Whitaker was a defensive genius and a master technician. Although his skills were undeniable, he was overshadowed by the crowd pleasing style of Juliopernellheader Cesar Chavez. Chavez is without a doubt a certified all time great but he fought a lot of easy fights to pad his record and was incorrectly rated higher than Whitaker by the majority of fans. When Chavez and Whitaker fought, Whitaker clearly outpointed Chavez but the judges gave the more popular fighter in Chavez more credit than he deserved and scored the fight a draw in order to keep Chavez’ undefeated record in tact. Even after clearly proving he was the better man head to head, fans still continued to rate the much loved Chavez as the greater fighter. Now that the dust has settled on their careers, you would be hard pressed to find a respectable all time great list that ranks Chavez over Whitaker. Looking back, in Whitaker we see one of the most skilled fighters of all time, one who, even way past his best days, was able to arguably beat Oscar De La Hoya and, in recovery from substance abuse issues, was able to avoid getting knocked out by the much bigger Felix Trinidad.

Keep these examples in mind when it comes to ranking current all time greats, as I feel there are a few fighters today that are judged much like these men were, and who’s all time great rankings will rise in the years following their retirement. Current fighters that fit into this category include Bernard Hopkins, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Wladimir Klitschko, and Andre Ward. We may not see it right now in the present, but rest assured in another 10 years, when memories of their likeability no longer factor in to our ratings, enough time will have passed to rate them properly on their in ring abilities and accomplishments. Don’t be surprised if their legends grow and their rankings leap ahead of fighters you would have never imagined them to be ranked higher then.

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