Larry Holmes is probably the most underrated ATG in I heavyweight history. The 'Easton Assasin' had 20 successful title defenses & fought the best opposition available. A great fighter he was - he never really fought against slick-boxers. We saw Michael 'Jinx' Spinks beat him x2 & Carl 'Truth' Williams giving him hell (many felt he was robbed). How does Holmes fare against Johnson Tunney Schmeling Conn Charles Walcott Machen Ali (prime) Ellis Young Tubbs Biggs Byrd Fury
that's quite a long list to break down but I would bet real money Holmes would beat any and all of them
Fury, Ali beat him and possibly Byrd because the last time Holmes fought a southpaw was in the amateurs and he lost in the first fight and ot stopped in the seconds fight and never had to fight a southpaw again and especially with Byrd's style he can beat Holmes
Ali,Fury,Tunney are going to be a challenge, Young ,Charles may give him some trouble the rest he beats handily
Only favour 60s Ali to beat him there. He guts out some wins there and puts a jab clinic on most of that list.
Holmes would've seen nothing like the slick awkward southpawness of Byrd and Holmes never worked on improving against southpaws after his 2 fight against one in the amateurs so how was he supposed to be better against them? He would've been bamboozled also Holmes is usually the one fighting on the backfoot, he never had to pin an opponent down let alone a slick southpaw and he would've been frustrated against Byrd and he would've been reluctant to let his hands go because he would be made to miss
Ali beats him about 9-6 in rounds. Fury would be awkward but his career is still in progress and at this stage he'd be the underdog. Byrd might be a bit awkward but i can't see him winning. Charles would give a good account of himself. I'd deffo take Ali but at this stage i'd take Holmes over the rest.
Young, Tubbs, Byrd and Fury could possibly beat Larry, I haven't seen enough of the other guys, I know Charles and Walcott were very good too, maybe them. But Larry was so good its hard to go against him
So your argument is that because Holmes never fought Chris Byrd he would lose to Chris Byrd? Call me crazy but doesn't that argument work both ways? When did Chris Byrd ever beat someone like Larry Holmes? One guy is one of the top 5 fighters the division has ever seen by almost all accounts. The other guy was a blip on the history of the division
No, I didn't mean that, I was saying that Holmes never fought a southpaw since his two losses to a southpaw in the amateurs so he basically had no experience with them
One with feet and defense, why not? Even if Holmes is the better fighter, the style and awkwardness would always be a huge problem for Holmes, he has two low level amateur fights against southpaws which he lost both decisively and never had to fight one after that, so how is he going to be able to beat world level southpaws? You have to have years of experience against them or loads of amateur fights which most do, Holmes would not have known how to set up punches against them and his jab would've been taken away which was his main weapon, he would've found the southpaw angle hard to get through because they're seeing things from a different angle and he would've had to approach it with a different look, you have to throw punches in patterns and ways in contrast to the angle they see punches coming from which he would not be used to
The Homles that fought mike spinks the first time, yes, Chris would have a great shot. Peak Holmes, Chris is one of my guys I have for giving Holmes problems and possibly winning, but by no means is Chris definatley giving holmes a boxing lessen.