I like his interview... Larry Holmes, as good as he was, wasn't a complete boxer like Tony Tubbs, but he had a great chin, champion's heart and mental toughness... Tony Tubbs was a helluva boxer with electirifyng hand speed and could upset some ATG heavyweights on his best night...
I'm dubious with some of it. Having said that Holmes was past peak and not his speedy younger self. Funny how he beat Tubbs but lost to Holmes. I would agree tho that Tubbs was quite talented.
By the way, which specific answers do you guys find to be outlandish? I could see someone thinking that Tubbs was the quickest and most skilled but lacking in power and conditioning.
I wouldn't say anything was outlandish, but Holmes doesn't get due credit imo. Of course, that wasn't the best version of Larry but he still wasn't as one-dimensional as he make him out to be. And he still had a great jab.
My thoughts as well. Could be a case of sour grapes with Holmes, and Timmy lost that one on one of his best nights.
Tim belongs in the wasted talent bracket with other fighters James Toney and Eddie Mustafa Muhummad who could have been great had they had more discipline with training and diet. Tim at his best was devastating and at his worst he lived up to nickname.
Eddie Mustafa would be a legend....the fighter of the 80's....the entire decade, that is...if only he had the proper discipline.
I remember Lennox Lewis having high respect for Tony Tubbs when he was referring to their sparring sessions. TNT Tubbs had a lot of talent and he certainly could have accomplished more if he got his weight down. He was that generations Buster Mathis. I do notice that fighters quite often will have higher praise for fighters they defeated than the one they lost to.
These guys never praise the guys that actually beat them. That said I see no lies in what he said about Tubbs. Tubbs really was a smart fighter, who had fast hands and feet. And, as Witherspoon said, he lacked strength and power. And, it is true, if Tubbs kept his weight down he would have had a much better career. He weighed 244 against Witherspoon!!!, yet it was still a close decison for Witherspoon. Holmes was very good all around and maximized what he had, unlike just about all the top heavyweights of the Witherspoon generation.