Heavyweight great says Muhammad Ali was his idol but considers himself ‘the best ever’

To become a world champion requires a fighter to believe he or she is the greatest. No man embodied this better than Muhammad Ali.

Part of Ali’s persona was to label himself the very best, but what he achieved led others to do the same. Inside the ropes, he was the first ever three-time heavyweight champion, beating the likes of Sonny Liston, George Foreman and Joe Frazier along the way. Outside of the the ring, his cultural impact is immeasurable.

Though he is number one in the eyes of many, others can’t see past the achievements of Joe Louis, or the more modern-day boxing of Lennox Lewis. A man who is usually regarded in the top ten heavyweights ever, but rarely number one, is Larry Holmes.

Speaking to Sky Sports, ‘The Easton Assassin’ explained why he should take the top spot.

“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 recognize 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!”

On paper, Holmes could point to his victory over Ali in 1980 as his case in point, though a closer look would show that Ali should have been far from a ring that night. Holmes later said that he was asking the referee to stop the action but was forced to continue fighting, beating the legend to a late stoppage — the only of Ali’s campaign.

Where he can’t be denied is his comparison to Marciano, as he was just one fight away from equalling that latter’s famous 49-0 record before losing on points to Michael Spinks in ’85. He failed to avenge the defeat in a rematch six months later, and retired for two years before returning to lose to Mike Tyson inside four rounds. Holmes fought on until 2002 before retiring.