Holmes really slowed down after the Cooney fight. I think the preparations for that fight took a lot out of Holmes both mentally and physically. I remember an article where Holmes was asked about a Cooney rematch in late 1983 or early 1984 and he said only for $20 mil would he fight Cooney again. Like others said he was looking for easier fights and I think he thought he would blow right through Spinks I remember where he said he was afraid of seriously hurting him in the fight. Didn't turn out that way.
Holmes deserved to lose for avoiding guys like Page and Thomas and for never rematching Williams and Witherspoon. I like Holmes and think he was a great fighter, but he was not the take-on-all-comers champion that he often gets credit for being.
He miscalculated ... Spinks had a very strange style, youth and speed and was had to hit ... Holmes at that point just didn't have the legs to chase him down .. Mike squeezed out the first fight but Larry got screwed in the rematch ... Holmes cherry picked some opponents but almost everyone he fought beat someone ... Bonecrusher had just upset undefeated , highly hyped Frank Bruno. David Bey had just beaten Greg Page. Williams was a 6'5" undefeated former amateur star ... yes he fought a Rodriguez and a Frank and a Frazier but for the most part, even post Cooney he did fight very big, young, strong, talented fighters ... Witherspoon, Smith, Cobb, Bey, Williams ... Larry figured Mike would be easy but he underestimated Spinks talent and style ...
As Michael Spinks was his very next challenger, I've never understood why Larry gets stick for not rematching Carl Williams. [By the way, the most recent two failed challengers for the heavyweight title to get immediate rematches at that time were JJW against Louis, and Ezz against Marciano. Before that, you have to go back to Tommy Burns, who twice defended against failed challengers in back to back HW title bouts. Not defending against Carl Williams is sort of a reflexive red herring when criticizing Larry's reign, like slamming Ali for not immediately defending a second straight time against Shavers, an opportunity which Earnie almost certainly would have won.]
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I've got to admit, the more I see of him the more I like Larry. He is a proud man but he had much to be proud of. He seems real old-school, I wouldn't be surprised if he's never cheated on his wife. He never forgot where he came from and by all accounts has done a lot for his home town as a business man. He seems like the sort if you treat him (and everybody else) with respect he's got all the time in the world for you but if you're a bad man he's BADDER. I'll stop now, getting a bit gushy...
When a challenger pushes a champion to the brink of defeat and, arguably, in the minds of many observers, beats the champion, it's not uncommon for there to be an immediate rematch. Williams outjabbed Holmes and puffed up Holmes' face, and Williams was lightly regarded going into the Holmes match. No reason why Larry couldn't have rematched Williams in his 49th fight. But with HOlmes, you could go back further: Witherspoon pushed Holmes to the brink and won the fight in many observers eyes, yet Larry elected not to rematch Witherspoon. And since Holmes openly admitted to not wanting to fight the bigger, better fighters, his conduct during the last 2-3 years as champion was not surprising. To me, a true champion rematches his tough, controversial fights; that's just what a champion should do. And for his 49th fight, Larry was indeed looking for a soft touch.
I'm going to puke if I have to read another post about how Witherspoon beat Holmes. In no way shape or form did Witherpsoon win that fight. None. He did not throw many punches, Larry threw more and landed more. I gave Tim 3, perhaps 4 rounds to be generous. No way did he win more than that. As for the Williams fight. Holmes won it. Barely. 2 judges had a wide margin of victory for Holmes which was way off. The 3rd judge had it 144-143 as I did for Holmes.
As mentioned, Larry wanted some easier fights to get to 50-0 and said himself he was too old to fight big, strong fighters, so thought picking on some lighter guys would be the best bet. But a lighter guys who is actually tall and a smart boxer wasn't a good decision by Larry, he'd have been better off with a Qawi, in hindsight. One of Holmes' mooted opponents for his 50th was Alonzo Ratliff, who lost his cruiser title on the undercard. I don't think Larry would have ever stayed retired, he liked money too much...I think had he gone 50-0, he'd have been tempted by a Tyson fight around the time it happened, maybe a bit earlier. It's surprising how many at ringside tabbed Holmes a winner in this fight, there were some odd scorecards from the press section.
Holmes said he wanted to beat up on little guys, he didn't want tough fights, LOL, he got beatup twice and the knocked out by tyson