Larry Holmes (Cooney Fight) V Mike Tyson (Spinks fight)?

Great management and legacy are separate concepts.

 

Dreadful management affects legacy.

 

No version of Holmes beats that Tyson

I don't see Holmes beating prime Tyson in any scenario

He would have a lot of trouble mounting an effective offense against Tyson without getting mauled

Doesn't have the footwork or movement to handle Tyson

 

Tyson showed how to fight Holmes. Go right at him and use the right hand. Yes it was a past prime Holmes but Tyson went right through him like butter and I’m not sure it would have mattered. If you look at the Holmes - Cooney fight Gerry sat back and basically sparred Holmes for the first 10 rounds as he was worried about his stamina and going the distance. Gerry also threw very few right hands and the ones he did throw landed and Holmes was moving to Cooney’s right to avoid his savage left hand Cooney just didn’t uncork the right hand. The right hand was there all night for Gerry he just didn’t use it and his right wasn’t that good anyway. It was right hands by Shavers and Snipes that put Holmes down. Holmes had problems with right hands his whole career. I read Cooney’s book the game plan was for him to bore in on Holmes the first 4 rounds and use the right hand because Holmes would be looking and worrying about the left. Cooney said once the bell rang he abandoned the plan Valle had set and went with his own which wasn’t ever going to work. The way to fight Holmes was try to blast him out of there like Tyson did. I’m not saying Cooney would have won he likely wouldn’t I’m just saying he used the absolute worst tactic he could and Tyson was smart enough to use the correct plan to get the job done.

 

I just broke the tie in favor of Holmes LOL. In my estimation, Tyson's win over Larry is his single greatest win. Larry was still great at that time, and the manner in which Mike achieved victory was most impressive.

The reason why I voted for Holmes against Tyson is because I think he still had enough left at that point to be able to win.

 

Tyson by late stoppage

 

The prophet!

 

The styles favor Mike Tyson. I do not believe that Larry Holmes hit hard enough to get Mike's attention or discourage him. I am going with Mike Tyson by KO/TKO.

 

He was scared to consistently attack

And then when he finally did he got knocked out

Holmes is just not a good matchup for Tyson ... He doesn't have the movement to disrupt Tyson's peak a boo style

He's going to get knocked out

 

How do you know Holmes was scared to consistently attack? Are you his therapist or something? I think Larry Holmes himself said that his major mistake was exchanging with Tyson too soon, and that he should have been more patient and waited until later in the fight to do so.

As far as movement goes, Evander Holyfield, Buster Douglas and Lenox Lewis were not noted for their movement, yet they KO'd Tyson. I don't get your reasoning here.

 

What about after that?

 

That version of Tim Witherspoon beaten by a declining Holmes was better than Thomas, Ruddock, Tucker, and Tillis. And don't get started with how Timmy was robbed of the verdict either. He wasn't. Holmes decisively outboxed him. Even following the big scare in the 9th Holmes regained control by the end of the round.

 

Witherspoon lost to Thomas and got ko'd in 1 by Bonecrusher. Barely slipping by a cherry pick gone wrong does not disprove anything I said.

 

Let's be honest, the Tyson of the Lewis or Douglas fight was not the Tyson of the Spinks fight. He was not close, not at all.

 

I said "that version" of Tim, did I not? I am well aware of the bloated, disinterested version who got taken out by Bonecrusher. The focused one in shape soundly outpointed him previously. Witherspoon vs Thomas was razor close. Witherspoon stopped Tillis in 1. While Tyson barely eked out a decision against him.