He may be overated but had the potential to upset just about any heavyweight on any given nite. He was regarded as a 'high risk low reward' type of fighter.
Forgive me for the necro, but this seems relevant in the discussion: Larry Holmes Won vs Art Card UD 10 17/09/1991 Corrie Sanders Won vs Art Card TKO 1 (10) 23 November 1991 Card had a relatively good fight while losing to Holmes in a UD, but Sanders obliterated Card in 1. Food for thought.
Holmes would deal with Sanders the way he did Cooney. Use movement and circle away from the power hand, parry and block punches tie him up circle away wash rinse and repeat until he got Sanders drunk then he would mug him and score a stoppage. Like he did against Cooney Holmes would give Sanders a lot of respect and stay away from the ropes and would keep it in the middle of the ring to avoid the power shots.
Azzer85 said "Larry was 42 years old in 1991. Sanders was 25." Good enough point. However, I could then make the argument that Sanders was green, with only 12 pro fights under his belt, whereas Holmes had 54 bouts under his belt. Not only that, but Holmes would go on to beat Ray Mercer, and take Oliver McCall and Holyfield to 12 round decisions for world championships. So this cuts both ways ...
Threads like these make me really, really wish Sanders had had a better promoter and had taken his career more seriously. By the time his big breaks came he'd already basically blown it. Let me point out that Azzer85 regards it as relevant that Holmes was 42 vs Card (citing the old age excuse, which is, fair enough, a good point) but people seem to regard a 37/38 year old Sanders as "prime" which is far from the case. His footwork and stamina by that time were gone, and his handspeed was on the way out as well, although maybe he hit harder than his younger self. Nice discussion, gents.
I never mentioned anythign about Sanders prime or him beign 37 years old? all i stated was that when Holmes/Sanders fought the said mutual opponent one was 42 and one was 25?
Sanders could not finish Rahman. At best, he lands some good punches in the opening rounds and make the fight competitive for a while... Holmes had chin and stamina, so he does not get KO'd like Wlad, and after a couple of rounds he takes over and wins with exhausted Sanders via KO/TKO.
Holmes is a class A fighter....really an all time great. At that level in prime shape it would take another all time great to beat him....another class A fighter. Sanders was a class C fighter at best. Holmes would side step away from Sanders power and jab him at long range, tie him up in close. After 5 rounds Sanders is a tired bloodied mess. Mid fight Holmes starts attacking and ends it by KO. Holmes KO 10 in a one sided fight....ala his match with Cooney.
Holmes schools him, Corrie has a chance early on like you said but outside of a complete fluke I see Holmes destroying him late in the fight with Corrie having very limited success.