I know. Was just a little messing around. Lewis should beat him everyday of the week, as long he doesn't drop the ball.
I don't care what Cobb says, he hasn't been hit by Wlad, Lewis, Foreman, Liston, Tyson, etc, to be able to compare.
That was Shavers's biggest weakness, the fact that he didn't follow up when he had opponents hurt. I reckon he could have KOd Ali had he followed up and not stood there like an idiot.
Upon reexamining my own list I would only take off the first Shavers fight, although it was tough too. I only mean by nasty that Holmes encountered some form of hardship in each of those fights. Cooney did give him a tough fight for some time, and Holmes came right back after taking some huge low blows in the 11th, I think. I personally always thought the Berbick fight was pretty exciting. It's not as startling as say, the fights with Norton, the second with Shavers, Witherspoon, etc., but it went 15, and was fought at a fairly brisk pace, and Holmes was in against a guy who could take all his punches without being hurt much. And I thought Berbick fired back on Larry a great deal in the 15th.
Fair enough mate. Berbick certainly hung in there and it's probably not quite as completely one sided as some portray.
It may have been one-sided in that Larry probably won every round, but a lot of those rounds were very close. It's too bad these two didn't fight again a couple years later. That would've been a helluva fight!
TBH it would be pretty harsh on Berbick not to give him any rounds. He landed some good punches in there and as you say there were close rounds. He'd never beat Holmes at any point but a rematch would have guaranteed a good hard spiteful contest that almost certainly goes the duration.
And a rematch would have certainly been much closer! The Berbick-Holmes rivalry has got to be the most intense to never turn into a series.
I'm not sure how much closer to be honest. Actually Holmes was getting older and if it happened after Berbick beat Thomas it would have been closer as Larry was fading. Certainly a Holmes win tho.
I think Holmes would be forced more so into a brawl than in their actual fight. By the mid 80s, he was dancing less, and we all know when Larry's not dancing, he's brawling.
True, true. He'd still land his share of jabs and i think he'd go quite good in the exchanges given his quicker hands and Berbick's average punch.
Agreed. While I think Berbick would take more rounds here, I think the main difference is not in the winner, or how close it is, but I think Larry finishes an exhausted and bruised man. A fight with Berbick in the mid 80s would have used Larry up.
I gave Berbick two rounds, but really more for just trying so hard; Cosell went on to sickening length about Snipes' courage, but let's give it up for Trevor! He must have known by the 10th he couldn't win; in fact, he couldn't practically do anything except eat that supremely nasty, viciously accurate jab (and an occasional, suck-it right hand that didn't exactly made his day, either). A rematch probably would have seen Trevor win more rounds but Holmes had already learned how to beat him. I mean, Larry couldn't have danced as much, but he would have relied on power more and probably stopped him late in a 15 or at minimum yet another (closer) UD over 12 imo. He already had the experience of fighting TB, and let's face it Berbick didn't really get much better (I don't care if he beat Thomas or not, I didn't see devastating changes in his technique for that fight. He just got to Thomas more. Open to being corrected).