If Holmes beat Spinks and retires undefeated does he come back to fight Iron Mike?

Yes but in 1986

 

Good question...I don't know, he already had so MUCH money, much of it really intelligently invested.

 

Yeah but he did come back anyway.

Larry made a very wise observation sometime early in his comeback that a lot of people don’t understand.

To paraphrase Holmes: There’s a difference between having money and having income. When you have money and you spend it, it’s gone. And you keep spending it and after a while you don’t have so much money anymore. When you have income, it replenishes itself. You spend some and then you get another payday. So you aren’t on a steady downward curve in amount of funds available.

 

Yes I think he does. Weather it be in 1988 or sooner it would have happened. Holmes couldn’t resist the opportunity to make money. That and his ego also kept him coming around

 

I like this thread. It's actually historically plausible, and asks a question that affects Holmes's legacy in a way that is equally plausible.

I do wonder whether Holmes would want to endanger that nice, shiny 49-0 against Tyson. Not a major point -- the guy liked money -- but something to consider.

 

He retired undefeated in his own mind anyway.

 

Holmes would have absolutely come back to fight Tyson. If he had beaten Spinks he would have retired with a record of 49-0. The lure of beating Marciano's record combined with the huge pay-per-view paycheck would have been too hard to resist.

 

Good point. Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t recall that/not sure if Holmes indicated before the fact that he was going to retire after the 1st Spinks fight. I’m thinking easier ways to reach 50-0 than fighting Tyson who could’ve been put on the back burner for a moment.

With the hypo Spinks win, at 49-0 I would think Larry might give some pause before deciding to risk that vs Tyson, at least not before he reached 50-0 but even then the 0 would still be at risk.

It’s often said that boxers fight only for the money, not the glory and that it’s naive to think otherwise. That probably holds true in most cases but perhaps at the very elite level, glory comes as a nice by product which might ultimately be weighed into consideration - but the money will always be the most important factor.

And Larry did like the money but don’t we all?…....better to be living in comfort in a mansion in retirement than impoverished with just an unbeaten record to wax lyrical about.

 

Absolutely yes .. no way Holmes would pass on the money ..

 

Definitely. Money talks and Larry liked the dollars. Maybe a lot longer to prepare but same result tho, imo.

 

He'd be in a much better position to negotiate with Tyson if that happened. Even if Holmes retired after Spinks and gave up all the belts and Tyson managed to collect them all, he'd have every right to demand at least 60% and he'd flex it as a hall of famer with a 49-0 record.

I think it goes without saying that Holmes would require a full 3 month training camp, and a guarantee in the $6 million range. He'd train his ass off with his undefeated record on the line knowing how dangerous Tyson was. Win or lose, we'd see one hell of a fight with so much pride and legacy on the line. No way Holmes just quietly disappears.

 

I agree. He surely would have returned to fight somebody, in an effort to get that 50-0. Tyson would have been the largest money fight, by far, so...

 

Well, he picked unproven greenies who had been exposed in their previous fights, hypejobs, unknwn journeymen and Frazier's son.

His next move was obviously Tyson