5 Fav Larry Holmes fights?

Norton
Shavers 2
Cooney
Witherspoon
Mercer

 

Norton
Weaver
Cooney
Witherspoon
Spinks 2

 

I'll have to think on this as he's been in heaps of top bouts. Norton, Weaver and Witherspoon would be mandatory for me. I'll put Cooney in there as it was such a big event. Maybe Berbick or Leon Spinks then.

 

The snipes fight wasn’t bad either aside from its controversial ending. There were a lot of nice exchanges in that one

 

That was on my mind too rest assured Goo. The Snipes KD made it extremely dramatic as Larry was very hurt before coming back strong by the end of the round.

 

I've just got a real thing for the Witherspoon bout. I've watched it more than just about any fight. Ali - Foreman would be the other. Witherspoon's energetic performance, the huge two sided drama of the 9th round and the overall competitiveness with Holmes having to dig deep. Witherspoon needed to go all out the last couple of rounds but i think the Holmes comeback in round 9 had him a teeny bit apprehensive.

 

Witherspoon
Norton
Weaver
Snipes
Cooney

He’s had a number of good ones. I’ll try to revisit some of these in the next few weeks. I liked the Shavers rematch too.

 

Norton
Cooney
Witherspoon
Ali
Tyson

 

Norton, Witherspoon and Weaver are your top three (that order too, IMO), but then it broadens a little. I always liked the Williams fight as a tactical battle; Spinks fights, Cooney, Snipes and the Shavers fights are good choices as well; but I'm partial to the valiant, later career efforts in his gutsy showings vs Mercer and Holyfield.

I've also heard that the Ferguson fight was good but I haven't seen it.

 

Favs

Norton (my fav hw title fight)
Spinks 2
Witherspoon
Shavers 2
Mercer

Least favs

Ali
Berbick
Cobb
Cooney
Tyson

 

All of those, definitely.

But I have to speak up for the artful performance against Shavers I. Sooo

Shavers I, Norton, Weaver, Witherspoon, Berbick (the last mostly because it shows just how much a great jab can completely dominate a legitimate contender in a championship fight. Holmes landed some cracking, razor sharp right hands but the the left was the real show. Should be made into an instructional video lol).

 

You know, Berbick gets more short shrift here than I think he deserves. He had a lot of heart, more than many of the more revered champions here. He didn't have the greatest chin and wasn't exactly great in any one area of boxing...but watch how hard he tried to get up against Iron Mike. He was giving everything to get back into the fight. Watch him lose gracefully against a ridiculously dominant, prime Holmes. He went out on his shield, good for him. And he racked up wins against top guys he shouldn't have.

 

Whiterspoon
Tyson
Cooney
Spinks 1
Shavers

 

On a side note. While Larry didn’t have Ali’s chin he had Joe Frazier’s heart and attitude. I love the pissed off expression and determination to put the hurt on his opponent when he got up from a KD.

Larry was the real people’s champion and the most relatable as a human being deeply floored and arrogant with a real ghetto dirt poor attitude he has that crabby smart ass charisma that reminds me of home.