If Larry Holmes had never been

Cooney lost to Spinks.. I don't think we had many other guys who could be the Holmes level. He was just above all the others and eeked fights out but he wont.. Cooney? I don't see him consistent.

 

What great fighters did he beat? Ali was a corpse and Norton just below great and past his absolute pinnacle tho still very good.

 

Ali and Norton were good, and he beat all which was in front of him. I get it. Sort of like Duran at lightweight, but it is the wins and being consistent. He was always a level above the guys who were at heavy like Witherspoon or Cooney or Weaver.. He demolished Leon Spinks. Marvis Frazier fight was a joke.

 

Ok so we've established Holmes didn't beat any "great" fighters, like many heavyweight champs. Ali was also a long way from "good".

 

Ali was still Ali, and not many guys dominated him like that ever, regardless of it being 1980 or 1971. He did not beat many greats, but that happens to many guys who defend titles and their competition is not great competition. Not many guys are lucky like Hearns or Leonard or Duran or Hagler to have those top guys available. With Duran I mean after lightweight, when he started to fight great fighters. Holmes is great by his domination. Not many guys came close to beating him. except a few knockdowns here and there, and still he came back. Shavers, or Norton or Ali or Cooney or Weaver or Bonecrusher, he beat them, and that a good record and most top guys cannot beat all those guys. He did. And I think you know he was the top. Some people think Holmes with his jab could have beaten 1971 Ali. I doubt he could beat the Liston Ali..

 

I don't see anyone holding the title's long. Whenever it be page ,Spoon ,Thomas etc.Something in the water back then caused em to drop the belts fairly quickly. And that's with out a dominant champ like Holmes around. If there had being only just the one belt even ,the man holding it may have been around 3 years top's.
No one man was consistent back in the 80 s ,apart from Larry obviously. It would be like the early 30 s with max to Sharkey to Primo to Max etc.

 

My former trainer Bobby Walker, fought many of these guys in the 70's and was a former sparring partner of Ali's at the same time as Larry Holmes before his rise to the title...He told me the following on some of these guys:

Earnie Shavers was the hardest hitting opponent he ever faced; but was slow getting a punch off.
Larry Holmes had the best defensive jab as a heavyweight he had ever seen next to Ali.
Greg Page was talented, but soft, didn't get his body in peak condition.
Tim Witherspoon was no lethal threat to anyone, but a solid boxer.
Gerry Cooney had the most potential of anyone, but lacked all-around variety of punches.
John Tate lacked dedication, I trained with him some in Knoxville, TN; ridiculous punching power.

 

Ali in 1980 was a bad joke and norton in 1978 was very past his prime and still gave holmes a war

 

they still lost to him. I am not sure Ali was a bad joke in 1980..

 

Ali was not still Ali at all. Not even remotely close.

Holmes did not beat any greats, i'm not sure how that hasn't filtered thru.

Yes Holmes was great and had great longevity and beat most of the top contenders until post Cooney. He's a walk up for the top 10 and top 5 for many. Absolutely.

 

What??? Lmao!!!!

 

a bad joke? Let us put 1980 into perspective. This was 2 years after the Leon Spinks rematch, and he was if I do the math in my head 39.. Take that into consideration Holmes was fighting near 50 wasn't he, since we are talking about Holmes. and Duran fought until he was 50 and he was a lower weight fighter. So 39 a bad joke? Today that would not be considered old, although Ali had a lot of mileage on him but I forget his record at that point. Something like 54 wins and total maybe 62 fights or so. This is from memory, since I don't like to look things up when I post.

 

Yes yes it is exactly the same a healthty man than a man with parkinson... The same..

 

Cooney lost to Spinks A full 5 yrs after the Holmes fight 5 yrs of inactivity and abusing his body with drugs and alcohol. I don't see him losing to Spinks if he remained active, or had defeated Holmes. And as I said before, If Cooney had won the championship and gained the confidence needed he could've easily remained undefeated until Tyson came along. His management team would've smartly matched him up with fighters who wasn't a serious threat Until Tyson. When the public started demanding the Tyson fight he and his team would see the writing on the wall, and he would probably retire. Marciano 1980's style.

 

Nothing ANY trainer could do would give that bum a chin. You can polish a turd all, day, but at the end of the day it is still a turd.