Larry Holmes decision to fight Mike Tyson.

I love Holmes' quote after the fight when he was shown a picture of himself on the deck after being KO'd by Tyson;

"Pay me another $3.1m and I'll pose for another picture like that" !!!!!

Gotta love Larry, he calls it as he sees it.

I don't know for sure but I would imagine Larry took the Tyson fight through a combination of ego (wanted to be back in the spotlight) & the payday - mostly the latter. Larry was an extremely experienced guy, I think he knew he couldn't come back after nearly 2.5 years out & compete on an even keel against a peak Tyson.

 

I've always thought that Holmes severely underestimated Mike Tyson. I think he thought that Tyson being much shorter and with a very short reach for a heavyweight and always coming towards him, that he would be able to keep Tyson off him with the jab, and set him up for the right hand.
Unfortunately, Tyson was so much faster than him, and Larry was so rusty he was almost creaking around that ring.

 

I would say the 92 Holmes from Holyfield was better then the 88 Holmes from Tyson. Fighting a guy like Tyson is horrible when you have a year long layoff.

 

?

 

Actually, I know for a fact that Larry had at least a couple months to prepare for the fight. I went to college in Easton, and got to hang out with Larry many times. By no means am I saying that Larry was still in his prime when he fought Tyson, but, he was not some late replacement with short notice. He had at least two months to train. I remember wishing him good luck a few weeks before the fight. All of us in my fraternity house were rooting for Larry, big time. (obviously, it was not enough). Larry was a great guy, and an ATG fighter in his prime.

 

I reckon Larry just took the fight on for cold hard cash .He'd have known he had very little chance so in his mind he could have had six months to train but he'd have still lost .Larry wasn't stupid ,this was just a boost for his bank account.

 

I think an argument could be made for Tyson stopping a peak Holmes. Holmes was always susceptible to right hands, even in his prime. From Shavers all the way to Butterbean, the right hand was Holmes Achilles heel. And Tyson could punch with either hand.

 

Ahhh I see what you did there!!!!

 

I think so too. Holmes had some sort of arrogance to really make him believe what he wanted to see. But beeing an boxer, you better believe in yourself than the opposite, especially in front of a speeded two handed bulldozer.

I remember an interview after the fight, Holmes of course beeing disppointed about what happened. Here´s what he said:

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After Tyson, who he fought at 225 3/4lb, 2 3/4lb more than after beating Spinks in the rematch, Holmes never fought under an overweight 233lb. Never got into some comparable shape.
I absolutely don´t buy Holmes beeing better at 42, four and a half years after the Tyson loss. He did a little better than Foreman did vs. Holyfield, but thats just Holyfield suiting him better.
Ask 10 top Heavyweights of the 80s/90s if they either want to fight Tyson or Holyfield, you´ll find nine of them chosing Holyfield. There´s a reason why. The same reason Holmes ended unconscious on the canvas.

 

I agree. Even a prime holmes has serious problems with tyson. He didnt like non stop aggression, preferring to fight at mid range and select his shots carefully at his own pace. And he did indeed have trouble with big right hands.

Its equally true that tyson struggled with tall, solid chinned, athletic guys who could jab, tie him up, and use lateral movement to neutralize his short but powerful arms. A prime holmes is top 5 in the division when it comes to these attributes. Despite saying that and being a holmes fan i admit theres a strong possibility tyson still manages to pin him down and nail him for the KO at some point.

My problem is with rabid fanboys who want it both ways: give tyson credit for beating a near 40 year old ex champ coming off a layoff and ignore anyone who gives the slightest suggestion holmes might have pulled it off if he was active and a little younger. These same people write 10 page essays explaining why holyfield and lewis shouldnt get any credit for beating tyson.

 

Personally, I think that Holyfield win over Tyson was a good win. I know that Tyson wasn't at his fighting prime, I still think it was a solid win. And I think the same way about Tyson's win over Larry Holmes. Just solid, good wins. A 1996 Mike Tyson was if not considered the best heavyweight in the world, at least in the top 5 best . So I don't downplay Holyfield win over Tyson. But I do recognize that it's not the same as beating a 1986 Mike Tyson.

Its not this false dichotomy, this either or situation that a fighter is either in his prime or he's shot beyond belief. There is a middle ground.

Just like beating Holmes in 1988 wasn't the same as beating a 1980 Holmes, but I do think of it as a solid win.

 

Let me piece meal it for you so your limited intellect can digest......

The British Bodybuilder build his entire reputation on beating a 41 year old glass chinned robot who got waxed in his absolute prime by flash in the pan ham and eggers..........who had no timing, no speed and no gas tank aka shot beyond shot because he could not pull the trigger anymore.

Replace Holmes with that WK version against Tyson and WK goes to sleep quick.............replace Holmes with AJ and AJ gets Bruno'ed..........and Tyson would not have to come off the mat, period.

Holmes while not prime had plenty of fight left in him when he signed to face Tyson, Holmes never ever entered the Ring with a looser mind set...he came to WIN every time.......the problem was that he faced, next to Ali , a genuine Heavyweight enigma in his prime named Michael Gerard Tyson.............that Holmes from the Tyson fight would have boxed comeback Foremans ears off in embarrassing fashion.

I hope I made it easy for you to understand, if you need me to write in big krayon letters let me know.

Yours truly,

Sauhund II

 

Wow, in the clip Barry Tompkins using sauhund level analysis says Liston beating Patterson was a surprise defeat of a Cus DeMotto fighter!

Larry Holmes look terrible in this fight! The way he moved from the very beginning was shocking! He looked liked he had aged 15 years! Larry Holmes look much better against Ray Mercer and a Evander Holyfield it looks like you and got a bit of his jab back.

 

He was scared agreed, Larry knew he shouldn't have been in that ring that night

 

Tyson would have landed more punches on AJ than Wlad did and AJ would have out boxed old flabby Larry quite easily, even Bruno may have given rusty Larry problems but I don`t like this British tag, AJ is nothing like Bruno.