Evander Holyfield and Larry Holmes are torn on who they believe is the greatest heavyweight in boxing history.
Known as ‘The Real Deal’, Holyfield became the first fighter to achieve undisputed status at cruiserweight and heavyweight, a record that remained unbroken until last year when it was matched by Oleksandr Usyk.
Holmes reigned as the world heavyweight champion for seven years between 1978 and 1985, defeating the likes of Muhammad Ali, Earnie Shavers and Trevor Berbick before he eventually suffered back-to-back defeats against Michael Spinks.
In a resurfaced Youtube clip, Holmes shared details of his 1980 showdown with Ali, where he claims he told the heavyweight icon that he was the greatest ever.
“I said ‘I still love you man,’ he said ‘if you love me why you beating me up then?’ I said it’s part of the game. And after the fight I went to his dressing room, grabbed him, hugged him, gave him a kiss. I told him you’ll be the greatest man, you’ll always be the greatest in my book.”
It seems as though not everyone shares the same opinion as Holmes however, as Holyfield revealed in an interview with Seconds Out that he views himself as the greatest heavyweight of all time.
“I’m the only four-time heavyweight champion of the world but they are still talking about Ali when I broke his record. I’ve been the only four-time heavyweight champion of the world for 24 years.
You can’t talk about it until you break someone’s record, they don’t say nothing about me. How do you cut somebody out of history? Now I didn’t even know I was the first person to be undisputed in two weight divisions, until Usyk did it.
They keep saying Ali is the best fighter, no I am. He was three times, I’m four.”
Whilst the opinions of both men are subjective, many of the sport’s fans and pundits regard Ali as being the greatest heavyweight to have ever graced the sport.
