He'd beat the lot of em that call themselves champs, and all the contenders. Good job he's not prime now..
I'm going off topic, but at least it has something to do with Holmes. I stumbled across this while watching youtube. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rn-AMKmxy0A
I saw Larry saying about the recent Fury farch, he was not impressed with the division now Can't blame him.
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk would be the only ones to give Holmes a competitive fight but would fall short.
And especially right now, Stevie, I see Larry punishing Fury in the long run. Especially a prime Holmes.
If Holmes was around today with the skills he had during his era. He'd definitely break Marciano's record by at the least 10-15 fights. Possibly would be undeafeated into his 50's judging by how well he did in his 2nd career.
I don’t know. Yes I think Larry Holmes would have had success in just about any era including this one. But I think a lot of these sentiments lately are based on Tyson Fury having ONE bad performance in a fight that I don’t think he took seriously or even trained much for. I suspect Holmes could have been a champion today. But I’m not convinced he’d completely dominate and nor do I think the era is exceptionally weak.
I agree with you about the Ngannou fight and I think that Fury would probably win a rematch clearly if he trained properly. Fury knows that he was very lucky in getting the verdict and his pride would ensure that he impresses next time out.
If a peak Holmes fought in todays era, especially if he came in beefed up to 230 or a little over, he'd tear right through nearly everyone. The only exceptions I see who would give him a rough fight or may possible win would be: -Fury, just due to his size and awkward proportions -Joshua, provided he could find the confidence his old pre-Ruiz self had -Usyk, due to his skill, speed and slippery defense
He’d probably do well, but he’d also be no more, or less, active than any other world class heavyweights due to the machinations of how fights are made now. He’d also be just as unlikely as todays champions to pursue unification of the titles, as it was something he wasn’t interested in during his time either.
One shouldn’t be too cynical or dismissive but still be wary of era related cronyism = loyal deference and exaggerated praise toward contemporaries and former opponents - which, as it happens, also uplifts the perceived, relative quality of the fighter doling out the praise - in this instance, that fighter being Larry himself.
I think Fury was sufficiently focused and trained enough for Ngannou - Francis simply negated a lot of strengths that Fury has enjoyed otherwise against different opponents. Even as a relative noob, Ngannou’s own particular style, accents and strengths might prove him to be somewhat of a specific, tailor made bogeyman for Fury. To truly gage what’s what, we need to see them rematch at some point.
Yup Holmes goes through everyone like a knife in hot butter. Nobody today could dream to replicate the 19-8 Weaver's performance, nor could they imagine dropping and badly hurting him ala the immortal Renaldo Snipes who in his next fight, managed a draw against ATG Scott Frank No, Holmes will effortlessly control them, and render them defenseless with the jab, which (contrary to popular belief) he rarely did in his own time, against the mediocre opponents he actually faced (with the exception of Cobb who had as much skill as a door knob) but we're gonna let that slide.
Holmes, though not a Giant (S-HW), was a TALL enough, had REACH enough, where it makes ALL the difference, strong enough, powerful enough and more importantly SKILLED Enough to whip these frauds and in many a case give them a right good hammering, yes Sir, Holmes and a few more Skilled up to 6'5" TOP fighters could do it with these lot. personally I have always said, they should have their OWN Division - the first ever division with a HEIGHT attached to it - S-HW - over 6'5" Tall. that's the best way to isolate them, have them float & bounce among each other, fight each other (or not), display their sub greatness to the point where it would so be as popular as Strawweight... and allow true HWs & CW's be known as the Greatest Prize in Sport as It Used to be !!!
I disagree with the basic premise. On one hand you state Holmes "whip these frauds and in many a case give them a right good hammering, yes Sir, Holmes and a few more Skilled up to 6'5" TOP fighters could do it with these lot." but on the other hand you want to segregate them based on size? In the midst of all this Usyk has cruised past Joshua twice, has beaten other top contenders and is believed to be the best Heavyweight on the planet by more than his share of fans. The greatest prize in sports was always in a division that was unlimited in size at the top end. It needs to stay that way. Usyk is already proving beyond a doubt that more classic sized heavyweights can reign, or at least heavily challenge anyone in the world no matter what the size. You can always pretend for yourself that the cruiserweight division, where they often come in close to 210 is the greatest prize in sport. So many say if a Tyson or Holmes or Ali were about today they'd handle them so it's a matter of 6'3 220 odd pounds guys learning the tricks of the trade and having inner greatness. Given how little they spar and fight now that might be a pipedream but Usyk came along so it's not impossible.