I too think Holmes and Ali would have been a great fight, and I think both Ali and Holmes would irritate the hell out of each other with their jabs. I do think the 1980 Holmes would hurt the 1966 Ali more than once, but ultimately see Ali winning the decision. Lewis would almost inevitably knock down Larry. The problem is, Lewis really didn't deal with many fighters whom had the courage, champion's heart, and resiliency of Larry. Lennox had a This content is protected he hit harder than Shavers and I don't put his right anywhere above Cooney's hook either. Larry would have bounced off the canvas and started landing the overhand right and Lewis would be a lumpy, bumbling mess by round 11. In my goofy opinion of course. Larry against Joe L. oh HELL yeah! Significantly more exciting than Larry vs Ali. Louis would have been really aggravated by the jab, and I can't even imagine what would happen if Larry caught him coming in with the uppercut flush. That said, I see Joe perhaps even knocking Larry out; the Brown Bomber had a seriously ugly, nasty, at times seemingly ubiquitous and terrifyingly accurate right hand...and that punch was Larry's Achilles'. So I think it could go either way. Holyfield, another really good fight. But Larry wins with Holyfield's approach...Holy tries to come in, the uppercut pole-axes him; he tries to stay outside, the jab bothers the hell out of him and the overhand right eventually starts landing. Larry by hard fought (because Holy can be SUCH a resilient, pressure-ish fighter) TKO by 10.
Not necessarily at all. Stylistically not a great fight but both fighters are prone to mistakes. Holmes is a much more accurate puncher than Wilder, also a lot smarter.
I can see Holmes been ultra cautious Fighting Louis with that right hand .Of course ,no one can dismiss Joe's punching power ,I just believe that if he had been caught and knocked down , Larry would have somehow made it through. But who knows , after all , the Brown Bomber put so many men out .
Reading the above I have this mind's eye of Larry getting tagged hard a couple of times but reversing it and getting right back in control by the end of the round (Snipes, Shavers II). It's just...as you know, Louis was a much greater fighter than Snipes and Shavers, and he could be a savage, almost robotically effective finisher when it came time. Still, Larry had a powerful enough uppercut and right hand to stop Joe if need be. You might be right, my friend. Either way, it's fun as hell to envision.
John Ruiz beat Evander Holyfield and Rahman who beat Lewis. Does that make him the man of the early 2000s? Larry ducked a lot of the toughest fights out there for him.
At that time the various boxing associations were as divided as they ever were or have been. This was the time where these commissions decided to run boxing strictly as a business. The more champions the better as championship fights garnered more $ for each of them. So blaming Holmes for this division is historically inaccurate. If hwt boxing was being run as it was prior to say 1980 Holmes would have fought the leading contenders.
It is for sure . When you think about it , Holmes and Louis are really two of the most dominant champ s in history . Both had long reign s and over twenty defenses and both considered the best in the world with out a doubt at certain times . Both faced the same man twice at the end of their title days with disputed decision s in there . Louis got hammered by a smaller hard punching guy and Holmes got hammered by a ...Wow so many similarities !
I think Wlad was more dominant than Larry. He did a better job cleaning up than Larry, excusing Vitali, and didn’t have close fights like Larry. Lewis also cleaned up even if he took a couple loses. Larry missed Page, Tubbs, Thomas, Coetzee, Dokes....
Btw I think Holmes would probably lose one fight, with a chance of a draw or loss in another. He’d be favored in all four, but not by the kind of margin that would favor a sweep.
For dominant champ s over a long period , the big three really are Holmes , Louis and Wlad . But Wlad did have those bad losses hanging over him, when became champ for the start of his long reign . Louis had Schmeling of course but that was sorted out eventually . I'm not sure Wlad gained respect as a dominant champ until quite late on ,he wasn't seen as Holmes and Louis were ,at least not for a good few years .
Sorry. Prime Holmes would have zero chance losing to any of these low level scrubs. Holmes jab alone would be enough for the win. They would have no answer for it and it would bust them up and end the fight.
The commissions of the day did not want a unified hwt championship. Never before or since did the politics of boxing interfere so much with the hwt landscape.
