Why did Larry Holmes do so well against Holyfield at 42?

Tyson was the best fighter Holmes fought full stop, he got murdered in there.

 

That was a real bad cut Evander had in there. With an awful lot of rounds to kill. Lots of guys would have been stopped via tko and let Holmes pepper away at that cut for a stoppage win. Evander did not do that but had to take his foot off the gas and stop his aggression so he would not be stopped. Larry fought a negative type fight and was only in there to win a razor close decision.

And Holmes throwing up at the end sure translated to him not making much longer. He might have been fortunate to last another 3 minutes.

 

Larry came off eighteen months inactivity and trained about six weeks to fight the absolute prime Tyson all for the money .. very dumb. As great as Larry was this Tyson would be a murderous match up for anyone , let alone a 38 year old who hadn't had a fight in so long .. Holyfield ,also a great fighter, posed a different set if stylistic challenges and while Holmes was older he had been highly active in a comeback . Styles and conditioning ..

 

underestimated Tyson? I don't know if I buy the excuse. That was Mike Tyson. I don't think it was a good idea for Larry to ever get in the ring with Mike. Mike started to wear him out with body punches in round 3 and landed the right in round 4. And Holyfield? Evander won. Evander usually won but many guys made him struggle. Evander liked to get in brawls. Why did Dokes do so well. Didn't Seamus Mcdonaugh do well? Was that the name? I remember a name like that, but it has been so many years. Cooper almost beat Evander.

 

Well the numbers don't add up. First off. Why did he only train 6 weeks? He knew after the Biggs fight that he was going to fight him. He was interviewed after that fight. Saying, I am no kid and all this stuff. Biggs fight was I think October 16th, 1987, but I could be a few days off on that. October, November December. January. 3 months.. 12 weeks. Why did he train only 6?

 

Styles and the fact that Larry didn't really care whether he won against Tyson or not, just there for a payday and nothing else, more or less admitted it in the post fight interview while against Holyfield he did seem to have passion for boxing again.

 

1992 Holyfield had much less physical strength, less punching power and worse defense than 1988 Tyson. When Holyfield did get inside, Holmes was allowed to hold and re-set.

Styles make fights.

 

First part right, second part LOL. Just another excuse from Larry - and he was known for a few doozies.

 

Do you honestly believe the 1992 Holmes that fought Holyfield would have a shot at the 1988 Tyson who obliterated him?

I think not.

 

If Larry's heart was still in boxing at that point why did he not fight again for over 3 years after the Tyson loss ??? The answer is simple really - he'd got his money and went back into retirement because he didn't care anymore unlike his true comeback in the 90's, fighting every few months and even after losing to Holyfield continued fighting even getting another title shot against McCall.

 

Because of timing , skill and experience.

Klitschko waxed lyrical about having the experience to beat a green and inexperienced Joshua. He was wrong.

 

LOL @ all the Holmes excuses....

One more time, Holmes had a FULL training camp for close to EIGHT weeks, he was as good as he could get......Larry never came to loose in his entire career, he came to win and he believed that he could frustrate Tyson, take him deep and out.......Holmes would never show up for just a pay check...Full stop end of.

Michael Gerard Tyson was the best heavyweight on the planet since Ali, bar none, when Holmes fought him and the only one who would have a realistic chance to pull out a win would have been Ali, peak vs peak......this is not rose colored nut hugging, Tyson was the perfect offense/defense machine.

Ali and Tyson are the most genetically gifted god given talent Heavyweights that have ever lived................the difference is that Ali had a unbreakable will/ ego vs Tyson who beat himself deliberately after he reached the zenith for not giving a shid and fell right back into the Ghetto, live today die tomorrow party live.

BTW, Holmes also threw up at the end of the Mccall fight.

 

I think Tyson deserves a lot more credit.I can't take comments like Larry was not prepared or underestimatedTyson too serious. But it is true that Holmes had a long layoff before Tyson and that had some effect.But the main cause was Tyson himself

 

Career timing means that Tyson goes ahead of Holmes in the way Jack Johnson goes ahead of Jim Jeffries. They beat former champions on their comeback debut.

Remember also, Larry was a legitimate active contender when he challenged Evander. He wasn’t for Tyson.

In truth, Tyson was a better champion first time around than Holyfield was. He was more dominant and clearly the best fighter in the world.

 

Perhaps Evan Fields wasn’t cycling his HGH and PEDs at the time. Holmes was good but Holyfield looked awful. Here’s a fun read from the New York Post

https://nypost.com/2007/03/02/report-holyfield-used-alias-to-buy-steroids/