Jones was a decent fighter but more on the fringe contender side. Was unbeaten in his first 25 or so fights. Defeated some ok fighters. Some thought Mike weaver got robbed against him though. Trouble with Jones was that he wasn’t in shape for most of his fights, was non aggressive and didn’t have much power for a big guy.
A legitimate, umdefeated top 10 contender. Holmes picked him apart then ruined him. Larry looked badass.
Oh of course, it's just funny how modern boxing fanboys say Holmes would be too small and would get ragdolled by modern heavyweights when Holmes here clearly had no trouble clinching with a 6'5, 250+ pound man
I would give Holmes a good chance at beating any modern heavy. But his victory over Jones isn’t my reason for doing so. Yes Jones was a very big man and a somewhat decent fighter. But he’s not on the level of a Joshua or Fury.
I don't think size matters much for a guy like Holmes. Hell, Cooney was 6'6 and Holmes didn't have an issue jabbing his head off. Larry would have been a handful in any era.
Agreed which is why I would give him a chance against all of the better super heavyweights. But even Cooney was no easy fight for him. Holmes had to dig deep in that fight and took some damn hard shots. Holmes vs Fury or the Klitschkos would be very tough fights
With modern nutrition and advances in sports science, Leroy would be a major, ring-rated player, today.
Dempsey and Louis fought and excelled against their superheavyweights. Ali and Holmes were lucky that they only had to fight natural cruiserweights.
Those super heavy weights were just as bad as these. Actually Cooney was honestly more skilled than Buddy Baer and Carnera tbh