Larry Holmes: If I fought who Wladimir Klitschko fought, I'd have 40 title defenses

Ferguson was an off-night. He weighed a lot for the fight and beat Ferguson later anyway. That Mercer gave Holyfield a pretty good fight and arguably beat Lewis. Holmes beat him more conclusively than either.

 

He barely beat Ferguson in the rematch though. Ferguson was unlucky not to get the decision, probably deserved a draw. And, yes, Mercer was in good shape for that one.

 

Holmes is in no position to criticize Wlad's title challengers.

Among Holmes' title reign were such 'fighters' as Alfredo Evangelista, Ossie Ocasio, Lorenzo Zanon, Leroy Jones, Leon Spinks, Scott LeDoux, Lucien Rodriguez, Scott Frank, Marvis Frazier.... etc.

Wlad would have murdered those bums.

 

Sands Casino? I saw him at the sands on the 11th, must have been around the time of the interview, second time I ran into him in PA

Holmes would have done well vs Wlads opposition if I had to guess. Haye may have had moments.

Wlad surely would have ran through plenty of Holmes defenses too though

 

:rofl

he was 38 years old coming out of retirement

and he beat the sh.it out of mercer, wasnt even close :rofl

just shut up dummy

 

Hes right

 

No, but he personally signed a glove to me that he used in sparring for the camp leading up to the Haye fight, and didn't ask a thing in return I'm tall enough to put up my own shelves

 

Holmes opponent list reads like a "bum of the month" club. Despicable.

 

You can repeat it all you like. Repetition of your stated opinions does not at any point magically turn them into facts.

I lived through and remember the era very clearly and your claiming "[Holmes] just wasn't that good" is to rather carelessly belie the times. You seem to be confusing Holmes' technical boxing ability with his lack of popularity.

Holmes 'the boxer' was greatly respected for his craft and, whilst he was unpopular, this was mainly due to his having to live in Ali's shadow, as well as fend off continued attacks on his approaching the Marciano record.

What many people will not have known or paid any attention to, at the time, was the degree of commercial, political and legal shenanigans that were occurring in the Heavyweight division between '83 and '84. Holmes, as much a business mind as he was a boxing brain, was either being conned out of money or legally frustrated by competing promoters, whenever he tried to set up a unification bout. So, he just got on with the job and made his money.

It should also be borne in mind that these contenders, which Holmes supposedly 'ducked', were unable to retain their form long enough for the wheels of the boxing business to straighten themselves out and the fights be made later down the line. Page, who had already lost to Berbick in 1982, went on to lose his title to Witherspoon when a deal couldn't be agreed on for a Holmes/Page match-up in 1984. Page also lost his next fight to David Bey.

I do not hold the lack of unification bouts against him. Holmes' consistency in beating his opposition, most of which were top-ten rated, whilst the other hopefuls lost to each other (including losses to opponents Holmes beat or had beaten), gives him enough of a pass, from me.

I also have to disagree with your take on the Norton, Witherspoon and Williams fights. Holmes won the title with a well-deserved victory over Norton.

Though surprised by Witherspoon, that fight was a classic case of the game underdog giving a greater than expected account of himself, which somehow translated into a winning performance. But, Holmes did enough to retain the title.

A similar case can be argued for the Holmes/Williams result, although this was closer, IMO. Williams' performance relied almost entirely on the jab; produced lesser output overall, compared to Holmes, looking as if he was cruising down the straight. There were fewer attacks from Williams and those he did launch were not especially well-constructed.

Holmes was consistent in his workrate, from start to finish, and threw much more in terms of power shots and landed them more cleanly, finding some great angles, at times. There's no certainty in claiming Holmes lost to Williams.

The Michael Spinks debacle, both the first and second fights, was part complacency and part politics and a rather filthy end to Holmes' first career. But Holmes redeemed himself, in many respects, during his '90s return. Here, he became popular and, at the same time, his underlying skills began to be appreciated more by the boxing public.


Overall, your fairly weak attack on Holmes is more reminiscent of the petty boxing politicians and fickle casual [Ali] fans of the '80s, than from any form of objectivity. If you did indeed live through the period, you should perhaps do any accounts you give of it more justice.

 

obviously the man can't count. unless he fights a lot of rematches.

 

Holmes looked like how you're meant to look against under matched opposition- Very Impressive. Wlad can't even do that.

Look how Holmes dealt with Shavers , who was a better Povetkin and look how Wlad dealt with Povetkin.

One guy put on a master class - twice. Case closed.

 

Shavers was coming off a Detached Retina in the 2nd fight with Holmes then proceeded to knock him down. It was far from impressive and the Snipes fight was downright embarrassing. Holmes never had a highlight reel KO like Wlad has and most of his fights you could throw a brick in the arena and not hit anyone like the half empty Joe Louis arena when he fought Spinks. People got tired of Holmes not being able to dispose of his opponents.

 

if you are champion long enough, you are gonna have some garbage on your resume...
holmes and wlads records are very similar...mixed with good and bad....
Holmes had a lot of undefeated guys on his record...but sadly some were very low in the win column

10-0 Marvis
14-0 Carl Williams
14-0 david bey
13-0 Occasio
24-0 L Jones
20-0 Scott Frank
15-0 Withspoon
25-0 ****ey
22-0 Snipes
27-0 M Spinks

as non champion
32-0 Tyson
18-0 Mercer
27-0 Holyfield
31-0 Nielson

 

That sentence makes perfect sense coming from a espn monster knock-out fan.

I like to watch boxing and Holmes was a master at it.

 

20-0 (15 KOs) in title fights as champion

yeah no power there....