Appreciating Holmes' Jab Against Berbick

As knowledgeable members here know, Larry Holmes tended to have trouble with fighters with unorthodox styles, and Trevor Berbick was weird pretty much throughout his career lol.

The Berbick fight was seen as one where Holmes was unneccessarily flummoxed...he let Berbick get in his head after the bell in the early rounds, which was very unlike the Champion. He actually gave away two, perhaps even three rounds to Trevor almost entirely due to the factors mentioned above.

But, as always during his prime, Larry started finding the range. His jab in the middle rounds is truly a masterful thing to behold, and he actually snaps Berbick's head back many times with it (he even backs him up with it!! And Berbick was a muscular heavyweight).

I think it was Alpert who, noting Holmes' landing the punch incessantly in those rounds, said "that jab can just ruin your whole night", and he was correct.

Larry's excellent sense of pacing was more than evident in the way the fight played out the last rounds; he slowed things down in the later rounds because he saw that Berbick was made cautious and uncertain after eating the punch so much (an obvious change from his charging, aggressive, contemptuous strategy early on), plus of course to save his strength for the distance. Trevor seemed to have lost his gumption, and was at times woefully ineffective.

I'm not sure Ali (who had a terrific jab) had as much power on the punch (though he certainly had more than enough speed and accuracy). In any event, you could just take the middle rounds of this fight and have a solid argument for the best jab in the division's history (though yes, I'm fully aware of the literally supernatural great jabs of Liston, Foreman, and the abovementioned Ali). Liston and Foreman did have heavier jabs, but they didn't quite have that ugly, vicious twist Holmes put into the punch. Of course, they were all amazing.

Berbick did try to rally in the last round, but we boxing fans in the know saw how Larry overcame some serious psyche and style issues in the earliest rounds to once again dominate yet another youthful contender who would go on to become champion later.

 

In some ways, absolutely, William. Of course, Berbick was in no way ever near being the fighter Norton was 1972-1978, and the former was so much more dominated than Kenny...

Berbick spent a lot of time in the Holmes fight eating punch after punch. It could have just been his relative lack of experience, but still...hey, Trevor was well enough after the fight to (like many other of Holmes' challengers) win a world title over five years later.

I always wondered if...again, considering how many of Holmes' challengers went on to win the title later, some of Larry's greatness actually rubbed off on them. At least in the sense that most of them never fought a heavyweight as good in their entire careers. (it could be argued that Bonecrusher did, since he caught Larry a few years past his prime and fought Iron Mike primetime).

 

Holmes snapped back Berbick's head many times. All respect, you might want to watch the fight again. Berbick started losing bad after a few rounds and only rallied in the 15th.

One judge didn't give him a round, and though I don't entirely agree with that (I gave Berbick one and called 15 a draw), I don't entirely blame him.

Again, no offense. The more I watch that fight the more I see Holmes had him in the palm of his hand for the overwhelming majority of it. Berbick was VERY brave and a good fighter, but he was outmatched.

In a way the Berbick fight was one of Holmes' best...he proved his amazing ring intelligence, pacing, and counterpunching throughout. If Berbick hadn't gotten into his head early on, the fight would have been over in 11 at the most imo.

 

Larry put a nasty attitude into his jab, you can see the ugly look he gets on his face when it connects. And he twisted it wickedly.

 

I think Berbick really got his goat, and it affected his performance. Without that distraction, I think the fight would have been over sooner, but Holmes took it personally and it made the fight harder than it should have been for him imo.