Did Holmes have a bum of the month?

I meant to type 1983. Father time started catching up with him and he started slowing down. He was still sharp no doubt but not the same fighter that beat norton

Also you are discrediting witherspoon

 

So we’re in agreeance that a green Witherspoon faced down a peak Holmes & arguably beat him. At minimum, gave him the closest fight of his career until Spinks years later. Did Witherspoon’s career bear out that he was a Heavyweight Azumah Nelson, or is it that Holmes might not be all that?

 

Williams run him closer. A heap of people actually scored it for Carl.

 

Yes, quite.

That a champion faces the best challengers is the main thing. Louis checked that box, Holmes didn't.

 

Not an expert on Holmes and have only seen that fight once, but I don't think that was peak Holmes. He was 33 and seemed to more and more lose interest. A case can probably be made that Cooney was his last prime performance.

But he should have done better against someone as inexperienced as Witherspoon was at that time, yes.

Holmes had some strange ones. Weaver is another guy that, looking at his standing at the time of the fight, should not have given Holmes the trouble he did, but the success he started have quite soon after redeemed that one also a bit after the fact.

 

Witherspoon was a fine, fine HW, but he wasn't "hundred times the fighter" of Vitali.

 

Witherspoon, like most 80s champions, is extremely underrated and skilled and had lots of talent.

 

Do u really think lennox would’ve won that fight if he wasn’t stopped on cuts

 

The Leon Spinks win was mentioned not because Spinks was one of his best opponents but because thats the best opponent he obliterated.

 

Don't change the goalposts.

You said "Witherspoon was hundred times the fighter any of the bums who were prime that Lennox Lewis fought".

You were wrong.

 

I think though, Larry Holmes did give the best available contenders a shot at the title, maybe not later on in his career as champion like the Greg Page's or the Pinklon Thomas's, but as a fighter ages, he realizes his limitations.

 

I really don't like the term "bum" for people who risk their health and dignity in the ring, but post Cooney he was clearly looking to make money on easy touches.

Witherspoon was an unknown quantity at the time and they just got more than they bargained for. That happens. But you can'y say they were looking for a challenge when they chose a fighter who hadn't had 20 fights yet and not one against anyone of any standing.

Bey was the one who was a bit more risky going in to it, but that's one in three years. And Holmes went on record right after it saying it would be the last.

 

Sure, and this win is lennox’s saving grace. Without it his resume is on par of that with tyson

 

As I have posted several times before. A champion can only fight the leading challengers in his era, not fighter from the past or future but the present day challengers, that does not take away from greatness or has anything to do with resume. What if all of Lewis challengers were subpar? It would not be his fault, that is what the era has produced. Longevity , ability, skill, and conditioning should factor in all of this equation.

 

That’s fine and i sitll have him as top 5 ATG HW. He just gets waaay to much credit by boxing fans with people claiming his resume is better than that of all, largely due to the fact that he is the. last undisputed HW champ we ever saw.