Larry Holmes...Some of the fastest pair of hands for a big man?

Ali's and Patterson's handspeed was signifigantly faster.

 

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Foreman Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooook!:rasta

 

Prove it ... I disagree .. to begin with Ali and Patterson had completely different speed ... Patterson was like Tyson, exploding in bursts however rarely keeping a fast , consistent jab moving from the outside through out a fight .. Ali had a fast jab but half the time he slapped with his right or arm punched .. Holmes was lightning from the outside with consistency ..

 

Very snApping jab. Perhaps the best in HW history. People tend to rate him lower bc he was kind of an uneducated asswipe.... But if you can really be honest you must say thAt he was very quick & very smart.... PerhAps the best example of a fighter who worked hArd & utilized all of his talent.

 

Dokes had faster combo's than Holmes, but also lesser power.....:deal

Page had good tools and skills up til around 1985, but then he went to hell in a hand bag...

Holmes ranks supreme in an over all sense.....

MR.BILL:bbb

 

Ali also threw lightning fast combinations.

 

Yes....I always thought that.....much faster than any other big man in history of boxing....

 

Larry's left jab,,,,superior to anyone in quickness, accuracy and power combined.

Fastest hands,,,,the short-armed Michael Dokes.

Floyd Patterson was not as fast as Michael Dokes.

 

Of course he had fast hands. To suggest otherwise is nonsense

 

Wrong.

Holmes was "lightning"??? Hardly.

Holmes was a terrific hard jabber but an awkward right-handed puncher who sort of half arm-punched/half-clubbed with his right but rarely hit somebody with a snapping right to drop them. It was embarrassing that he couldn't drop the much smaller and frailer Michael Spinks in either fight, despite his age (he was still champ in the first one), and Holmes used his "clubbing" right all night both times. Whereas Ali could drop people with his right and did so numerous times.

To say Ali slapped, but Holmes didn't, is getting it backwards. Watch Ali-Williams for the best example, but by far not the only example, of correct combination punching.

Holmes had a hard, fast left jab, but no way is the fastest or best at anything technically. Nonetheless, he was a great champion and fine all-around fighter. But the more gifted men were Ali, Patterson, Tyson, Dokes, Louis . . . Holmes wasn't the best heavyweight at ANYTHING, including the jab. His jab was top-5 historically. Overall, his combination of skills and heart made him a great fighter nonetheless.

 

I wouldnt say Dokes was more gifted

 

Holmes sharp and crisp punching is what always impressed me the most with him.He had pretty decent workrate in his prime but he rarely wasted any of his punches.Loved the way he systematically broke down Ossie Ocasio.

 

Would have nice to watch Holmes against some of Ali's 70's comp. He was supposed to fight Lyle in early 78' but Ronnie ended up getting locked up for the murder of his then manager.

Lyle eventually beat the charge which you can read all about in his excellent auto-biography from 2010 - Against the Ropes.

Nevertheless, Holmes, despite being vastly underrated coming after Ali, could just plain fight! The man had a will or iron and was one mean and even sometimes dirty mofo in there. He kind of looked pear-shaped and didn't have the physique of Norton, Ali, Foreman, etc. But he could fight as well as any of them.

 

A must read in Holmes' bio was his 1976 bout with Roy "Tiger" Williams. Williams was big, tough, mean, etc. But also kind of slow and ponderous. Holmes suffered a broken right hand in training. Carl King, you know who's son, gave Larry a pep talk. "Yeah, I know the guy is mean as hell but you can still kick his ass with one hand. Just use the jab Larry."

Holmes had just proposed to his long-time and still to this very day bride Diane. The last thing he felt like doing while being on his honeymoon and holed-up with a broken hand was fighting the ferocious Tiger Williams.

So all the future champ did was win every round of a ten round decision with the use of ONE hand. His legendary left one.

 

I would take that with a pinch of salt mate