Add Tyson. As much as I like Larry, I think Mike has the style to beat Holmes, though not as easy as he did against 38 years old Holmes.
Probably not many. I think most of the above mentioned names I'd favor over him. Joe Louis vs Holmes is about 50/50 odds for me. I'm kind of up on the fence about Joe Frazier. While its true that he had a style which gave boxers hell, I don't know of the Ali fights are accurate berometers for measuring how he'd do against Holmes. Muhammad's weakness was the left hook. Larry's was more the right than the left. Holmes had arguably a better jab than Ali, even if only marginally. He also had a vicious upper cut that I think Frazier get caught by often. And Larry had plenty of stamina and durability.
I think Holmes would be horrible for even prime Ali. Apparently Holmes named Liston as one of his toughest possible opponents. Holmes could beat Louis with an ultra-disciplined fight-plan but I dunno that you can pick him over the Bomber in a fifteen round affair. I would pick Frazier to beat him. Nobody else is better than a 50.50 proposition for me. Little light on the dominance but the man was a war-machine.
No certainties here. Louis+ Dempsey Lewis Liston Ali + Have solid chances imo. Holmes can hang with the best of them. The + are my slight favourites
I'd say the fighters who have at least a 40% change of winning would be Ali, Louis, Foreman, Liston, Lewis, and Tyson. Of those who would likely win, I'd only remove Foreman from that list. The rest would be about a 50-50% chance with slight edges to Ali, Tyson and Lewis. I don't think Frazier would give Holmes the trouble he gave Ali and I don't think Foreman gives him the trouble he gave Frazier.
Most likely Ali perhaps Foreman - leaning towards George. against the rest I favor Holmes Norton Lennox Liston Bowe
Not many. Larry was an impressive fighter. He had the grit, heart, guile and guts to call upon when his considerable skills alone weren't enough. That's quite a package.
Agree with that. There were snippets of the Williams fight which I recently watched which made me think how an Ali fight would play out. Okay, Williams isn't Ali and Holmes was ringworn by then, but the stylistic elements remain the same. Speaking of George Foreman...I always felt Larry would handle him rather comfortably. He has every necessary tangible and intangible asset to make life hell for George.
I think he would loose to the best pressure fighters such as Marciano or Frazier, and the best finishers such as Louis or Tyson. Outside of those extremes, he is pretty versatile in beating most styles.
No, Rocky can't carry Holmes jockstrap. Rocky barely got past washed up Ezzard Charles and nearly stopped on cuts in the rematch, got a boxing lesson from washed up Jersey Joe, and got knocked down and struggled against Archie Moore all of them were washed up and past their prime, none of them are fast like Larry, all of them are smaller than Rocky whereas Larry is bigger and a natural heavy, and Holmes has the best heavyweight, maybe p4p, jab in history. Holmes took Shavers best shot clean and got up within 5 seconds. Rocky offers absolutely nothing