The great limit of Larry Holmes

Too many confuse prime Ali to the more flatfooted Ali of the mid 70’s.

 

Same with Larry. The Ali-worshipping Larry started leaving the building after Norton. The difference is, Larry got much better (and more himself, for lack of a better term) with the change imo.

 

Tim was incorrect .. I read that article too .. watch how Larry takes Snipes apart .. many vicious shots to the body delivered along the way ..

 

Jab, right hand power and uppercut are a lot .. they were very , very close .. the biggest difference was likability .. Ali was a master and Holmes was socially awkward .. physically Ali was a bit stronger, maybe even a bit tougher although Holmes was an A in those categories too .. two all time great fighters ..

 

One of the reasons Larry is my favorite fighter is precisely because he stuck up for himself. I was there during his reign and even after his first dozen defenses he was still getting underrated. It was ridiculous.

People talk about how bad the division was then...at least three of the fighters active during Holmes' reign would have beaten the champs of today imo (I'll leave the names to folks here, it's more fun that way ).

I could be wrong...

 

Ali was physically a bit stronger than Holmes, had a slightly better chin, a better left hook, was a bit more nuanced and sharper reflexively on the defensive side and had better footwork either moving away or closing the gap. Better combination puncher.

Holmes had a better jab and uppercut, possibly the edge with the straight right and was a shade better on the inside.

Both had marvellous powers of recovery when hurt. Holmes more susceptible to the right, Ali the left hook.

Ali was the better fighter at his peak by a fairly small but significant amount imo. A lot of the advantages either way are very close but obviously Ali was the greater fighter overall by a clear margin although I think a h2h between them would've been pretty close.

 

Strange question to ask.

It doesn't really work like an a' la carte skillset sort of thing, like an erector set. If Holmes HAD much better power, he most likely wouldn't have focused on movement as much or utilizing that superb jab quite like he did because he wouldn't have needed to. In effect, you're trading one skillset for another because the natural tendency is to utilize and accentuate the things you're best at.

 

Holmes did not have a better jab than Ali. Perhaps more powerful but in all other aspects Ali’s jab was superior. Ali’s vastly superior side to side movement alone made his jab eons better than Larry’s. Ali was able to hit at angles while being a moving target and much more difficult to counter.

 

Bull****, everyone is repeating the same lie... Larry Holmes was a better boxer than Ali, period.

 

So everyone is wrong but you're right.

Think about that.

If I meet an arsehole in the morning, I may well have met an arsehole. If I keep meeting arseholes all day, though... See where I'm going with this?

 

Isn't it more likely that Joe was not as good in fight 3 as he had been in fight 1, rather than Ali developing an ability to avoid the left hook as he entered his 30s?

 

No, but it's a fact that most people believe what they're told and if you repeat it enough times it will become a reality for most people. That is a fact, people have basically been brainwashed into believing Ali is the greatest, end of story... I'm not buying it.

 

No. You can see Ali was much less susceptible for left hooks after his first fight with Frazier. He leaned back with hands down much less often. In general less defensive mistakes.