Nah, just don't want people selling him short. His chin stood up to way bigger punches than Holmes. The moral victory here is that it's even being discussed, given its a top three heavyweight vs the best LHW, and Charles'd still be one of Holmes' best wins.
Don’t think a prime Charles is getting enough credit here. Has much better wins then Holmes imo. Think Charles is a bad matchup for Holmes and Ali although I’d slightly favor both over Charles I wouldn’t be surprised if Charles edged him out.
The same way I see it. Charles the night he beat up Louis was certainly a better fighter than most of Holmes’s challengers. I would even go so far as to think that version of Charles beats Norton better than Larry did. And that’s really the way to look at it. Another point worth recognition is deciding if one thinks Prime Larry would “always” have trouble with Michael Spinks or not. if he does, Ezzard could be a harder fight.
I’ve seen portions of his fights with Baski and Haynes. From the Baski fight I remember Charles using his footwork and dotting up Baski’s eye over and over from different angles and the film jumping to the stoppage. As for the Haynes fight I remember Charles getting rocked badly by Haynes only for Charles to start ducking and countering every punch Haynes would throw. Charles really started beating the tar out of Haynes. That said I think at his best fighting weight, which in my opinion is around 180 lbs Charles would have a good chance at beating Holmes, but it could go either way if both are in peak form. Both had excellent jabs, mobility, handspeed, and were good at making midfight adjustments.
Charles is giving up practically everything to an all time great heavyweight, height, reach, weight and strength plus the best jab in heavyweight history. Be quite an accomplishment if Ezzard goes the distance
Holmes was tough with proven heart but he simply can't be as proven as Ali in the toughness stakes. Frazier x 3 completely takes care of that Larry never fought anyone near as good as the relentless machine that was Frazier. We also have Foreman banging away at him and landing some monster shots to the body and the odd one to the head. He had plenty of other high level opponents as well (sooooo many wins over top 10 heavyweights it's absurd) and always stood tall. Frazier banged away at Ali's head and body for 30+ rounds and he didn't succumb. Some may have taken it to the head but i'm not sure anyone could have taken all that to both head and body in the fashion Ali did. All those late rounds with Frazier see him way more proven than Larry. One famous insider once said nobody took it to the body like Ali.
