You say that Holmes would land the jab all night against Uysk. So how many southpaws like Uysk did Holmes fight? I know the answer just want to see if you do. It's pretty tough as a conventional fighter like Holmes to land jabs against a southpaw with the opponents lead hand being in direct conflict. Not saying that there aren't conventional fighters that haven't had success against southpaws but I'm looking for an example of Holmes having success against such an opponent. Good luck.
correct. The best weapon vs a southpaw is a right hand, especially a right hand lead. Holmes doesn't have it. Ali does. So i am mystified by the idea that Holmes could land his jab on an elusive southpaw with so much force that he would ko him. Strange.
I'm strictly on about the professional ranks when i'm rating a fighter or looking at their H2H ability, i do not take into account their Amateur record whether it's good or bad you may do but i do not. Plus Amateur fights are only a couple of rounds they're not 12 or 15 round fights like Holmes was fighting throughout most of his career between 1977 onwards. Holmes in his championship reign had 20 title fights which is almost as many professional fights as Usyk has had in his entire career. Like i said on paper Usyk appears to have a better defence than Holmes and i would agree Usyk is better defensively, but if Usyk was fighting 20 championship fights over 7 year period against 15 ranked opponents i'm sure you'd also see cracks in Usyk's game aswell. It's pretty hard to stay consistent without showing any weakness when you have such a hectic fighting schedule at top level.
Holmes and Ali defense looked good till they got tired. Which was inevitable w their style. They got hit on their rounds off. Have to edge it to Usyk for consistency but if I were taking just one round both fully energized I’ll take Holmes or Ali
My point is folks on this forum act like fighters like Uysk and Lomo are unexperienced fighters because they turned pro at a later age when the reality is they are highly seasoned boxers that are typically far more versatile than guys without that amateur pedigree. I'm not saying you are saying that but I keep seeing post after post where people say he only beat Joshua and Fury when the reality he is one of the greatest amateur fighters ever and ran a gauntlet at cruiserweight that we will likely never see anyone do again. Regarding your take on amateur boxing, you should really reconsider that stance especially when rating fighters from the 70's on. Tons of truly great fighters came out of the Cuban and old Soviet Union programs and what you missing is that they are not just fighting one three round fight at these international tournaments. To win a world championship or Olympic gold you have to beat multiple opponents in a short period of time and you have very little time to prepare for those opponents because you don't know who is going to win in their bracket. It is incredibly difficult to win Olympic gold for that reason. You have to be a complete fighter to do so because you will have to win multiple fights against a variety of styles. It's kind of shocking and sad how many posters don't understand that. What do you think is harder? Prepare for months to fight 12 rounds with one guy or have to win multiple three round fights against a variety of stylistic challenges?
I don't see Usyk doing much as far as opponent physical manipulation. Holmes became a master at spinning people where he wanted them, tricking them into walking into the jab, etc. Usyk is terrific at parrying, ducking, all that. I think part of it could be because he's not a natural heavyweight, the men he faces are so much bigger than him physical manipulation might be out of the question. Of course, Usyk obviously has better head movement than Larry. That was one of the weaker sides of Larry's bag of tricks, he stood straight too much. But hey, that doesn't seem as deleterious when you're capable of keeping your opponent too off balance to launch an effective offense.
He is very good at spinning people, using angles, handfighting, as well as feinting and guard manipulation to setup his punches so I would say his fighting IQ is on par with Holmes.
It always seemed to me that holmes was the type of fighter that needed to be hitted a little bit to really get going, he got really emotional and erratic sometimes, but that was his style. Everyone has a style, as complex as his personality or mental state sometimes.
Holmes had great resistance strength. He could hold off somebody like, say, Foreman. Ali-like, there.
Holmes was prone to defensive lapses and there's also more pressure on Usyk to be on point and elusive as he's the much smaller man fighting really big men.