From 1978 to 1985, who were the ten best possible opponents for Holmes?

I would've liked Larry Holmes to fight Peak Thomas (coming off Witherspoon win) in late '84 instead of Bonecrusher. Also, Peak Tubbs (coming off Bonecrusher & Page wins) in '85 before Spinks, & instead of Williams.

 

Dokes
Tubbs
Page
Coetzee
Thomas
Witherspoon 2

These are the only fights I can think of,other than those he'd already had.

 

I don't think there are ten improvements tbh. Like wlad today the era isn't perceived as great. However unlike wlad today he never strove to unify.

Page
Thomas
Coatzee
Dokes
Spoon

Truth be told if he only fought 1 of the wba crew and page it wouldn't seem as tho he failed to fight some top guys.

 

Two names Coetzee and Page .He beats these guys and Holmes reaches boxing immortality.

 

78/79; Norton rematch. John Tate. Coetzee was another guy out there winning but not getting a big fight until that Spinks destruction.

80-82; The 76 amateurs that were improving; Dokes.Page. Witherspoon. Thomas. Plus, the Weaver rematch in this timeframe. Snipes rematch maybe and clear that mess up.

83-85. Coetzee still. Witherspoon rematch. Above names, plus Tubbs was a new guy on the scene. Carl Williams rematch.

 

I think holmes landed most of the biggest fights he could have got anyway. he missed out coetzee, dokes and thomas. so what?

had thomas, coetzee or dokes kept winning those fights would have been staged.

I dont include witherspoon, smith or williams as a best posible opponent for holmes because they were unknown when each fought holmes. Tim was only later regarded as a major star because he gave holmes a hard fight, it was never a fight the fans wanted before they met. williams also turned out to be good but wasnt expected to be - as was smith, who would later KO witherspoon.

page was so overshadowed by cooney then blew it against witherspoon then bey, when greg did get a strap it was around the time of the mike spinks fights that were bigger. here are the most important fights that could have been made for holmes:

1.shavers because he kod norton.
2.weaver was a good opponent with hindsight as he later beat tate and coetzee.
3.ali because it was the biggest mainstream fight.
4.leon spinks because he beat mercado and was an ex lineer champ.
5 cooney because it was the biggest fight.
6.berbick beat tate,
7.dokes in 82 but cooney was bigger that year, couldnt keep the title long enough.
8,coetzee in 84 was almost made anyway
9.thomas in 85 but he lost to berbick anyway.
10. david bey as he beat page


each year holmes was a champion he defended against at least one ring magazine rated contender.

when holmes walked away after the spinks fight he could claim to have beat all the rival champs at that time. smith, berbick and mike spinks!

 

In retrospect, things change. But we didn't know Ali was completely done until Larry proved it, for instance.

So:

1. Muhammad Ali
2. Ken Norton (to win the title)
3. Gerry Cooney
4. Earnie Shavers
5. Leon Spinks
6. Tim Witherspoon
7. Mike Weaver
8. John Tate
9. Gerrie Coetzee
10. Greg Page

 

pinklon thomas
gerrie coetzee
greg page
bernardo mercardo
michael dokes
john tate
mitch green
tony tubbs

 

Are these alternatives to who holmes did fight or are you saying you would pick these over norton, shavers, ali, cooney, weaver, leon spinks, witherspoon, berbick and smith?

 

Page, Coetzee and a rematch with Witherspoon would have been very good for Holmes resume IMO.

 

Quality post .. Holmes critics tend to leave out the fact that Dokes, Page, Thomas and Coetzee kept losing along the way and gave many poor performances as well .. Holmes often fought the men who defeated those guys ..no doub post Cooney Holmes played some games but he earned the right to do so .. the sport and the governing bodies were so corrupt with King at his zenith of power as ell that Larry had a right to look out for Larry.

 

In the past when a chalenger put up a good effort he got a rematch but this was the first era he could go for another title then go for a big money unification. I think don king tried to get belts for Holmes's best contenders before they faced holmes first time around or before they rematched holmes. It back fired a lot of times. Problem was the alternative champs often just could not win title fights.