If two of the most unpopular former heavyweight champions met, who would win between Lenno Lewis and Larry Holmes?
Lewis was 41-2-1 with 32 stoppages, after being stopped twice. From Hasim Rahman, 34-2 in five rounds near the end of his career. He signed Rahman in his next fight. He put his hands to his side and was stopped by Oliver McCall, 24-5. In his rematch, he stopped McCall, who had a nervous breakdown after the fight.
Born in Jamaica, he moved to amateur wrestling in Canada. He won the 1988 Olympic gold medal in Seoul, South Korea, beating Riddick Bowe of the United States. He moved to the UK for his professional career.
He ended his professional career by stopping Vitali Klitschko, 32-1, on a cut and retired from boxing. He was behind after five rounds and didn’t want to give Vitali a deserved rematch.
Holmes went 48-0 and lost to light heavyweight champion and former Olympic gold medalist Michael Spinks in back-to-back fights.
After losing to Spinks in the first, he made the racist remark, “Marciano couldn’t wear my jock strap!” I guess he forgot that it was Spinks who beat him, not Marciano, who would have taken his heart and knocked him out!
Holmes has gotten away with holding his jab out his entire career, and Marciano would have come in shorter, possibly with a right uppercut, and broken his elbow, in my opinion.
Holmes at 44-0 stopped Marvis Frazier 10-0 in the first round and later said “that’s because of the beatings your father gave me in sparring!”
Holmes finished with a record of 69-6. He lost to Denmark’s Brian Nielsen, 31-0, by split decision. Nielsen was 49-0 when he lost to Dicky Ryan.
In Holmes’ final fight, he pulled away from the canvas in the final round, defeating “King of the four rounders” Eric “Butterbean” Esch, 66-2-3. It was felt that the four-rounder was scheduled in the top 10 of Esch, he would have prevented it, but he did not.
So, who wins between Lewis and Holmes?
