I think that larry holmes avoided jimmy young and ron lyle.

In Ron Lyles book he mentions a lot of fighters who were ducking him but Holmes wasn't one of them.

 

By the time Holmes emerged as a top contender,Lyle had already declined.

 

I think, by the time Larry came to the table, Lyle was on the downslide, and Young blew it by losing to Ocasio twice.Page had Young beat, then went through the motions inexplicably.After that, Young was no more.:verysad

 

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ....

 

There is no shame in admitting that your opinion is flawed when presented with evidence.

Holmes was green and was not in a position to command fights with Lyle or Young. The reality is that Lyle and Young were not looking at Holmes as the guy to beat; they were looking upwards at Ali, Norton and Foreman.

By the time Holmes was on the scene as a top contender Lyle and Young were both irrelevant.

This is like claiming that Frazier ducked Liston.

 

He also avoided Tom "Roughhouse" Fischer and Baker "The Bear" Tinsley too and I've never forgotten it. I'd swear all that Holmes guy did was look for guys to duck. Sort of like a Reverse Scavenger Hunt.

 

:deal

Absolutely.

 

Too bad he trained hard for the Ocasio rematch , know his career as a top contender was at stake and lost that one too ..

 

Fine post.

 

Young lost to Norton then to Ocasio, not once, but twice. Holmes destroyed Ocasio and he would have done the same to Young. Young later lost to Dokes and Cooney.

Lyle lost to Young, and likely would have been outboxed by Holmes too. But it could have been an interesting matchup.

 

Your post actually sums up what was wrong with him as well vs the championship integrity and honour of a Marvin Hagler or Joe Jouis, or many of them from well back. They fought who was put in front of them and didn't think they'd become bigger than the sport.

 

John Thomas, I think you hit it right on the head. I have grudging admiration for Holmes as maybe the smartest guy businesswise to wear the crown in many a generation, but there was a seeming lack of sporting pride or championship responsibility in him. Of course, maybe he saw from his time with Ali what being a "mark" for the boxing business gets you. It was sort of like he strove to do everything exactly the opposite of what Muhammad did. And looking at where they both ended up- Ali the broken and broke hero and Holmes being rich and healthy- maybe he was right in the end.

 

Cheers mate, i am very impressed you can see both sides of the coin.

 

Christ, "Holmes-Young" of either '76 or '77 would've stunk in action..... That there is a chess match.... Holmes is a snip green here, but still big enough and strong enough to handle the slippery and stinky Young in a 10 rounder..... Young still eats the Holmes jab while avoiding the right.... Holmes on points...

MR.BILL:hat

 

Really? In 78 he fought and beat norton and shavers who were both top 5 hw's. Infact didn't young lose to norton and ocasio both of whom larry beat?

I think norton won the young fight but I haven't seen the two fights against ocasio.

As for lyle i'm not to up on his career but i'd assume he lost to someone who went on to get a shot against larry.

Regarding their chances in 76, well larry wasn't a player in the division then. I'd probably have favoured him to beat the ali that norton defeated in the rubber match.