What could Larry Holmes do that Ali didn't? Ali had more than Holmes, more speed, power, as good a jab, even quicker footwork, as good a chin. Against 71 Joe I honestly don't see Holmes make it to the final bell.
tbh I think even FOTC Ali does better than Holmes. This is a good article, I think you'll find interesting: https://coxscorner.tripod.com/frazier_holmes.html
Larry Holmes was a great fighter and worthy Champion. His prime fighting years were 1977 to 1982 and he possessed an iconic left jab with both speed and power, good stamina, a good chin, fast hands, a reasonably powerful punch, and good ring movement. However, Joe Frazier was at the peak of his career in 1971, was relentless in his pursuit of opponents, had great stamina, a lethal left hook, a good chin, and fearless determination. In my lifetime, there are only two heavyweights I would pick against 1971 Joe Frazier and that is 1967 Muhammad Ali and a young George Foreman. 1967 Muhammad Ali's speed, stamina, reflexes, and boxing movement, a faster version of 1971 Ali, would have prevailed over Joe Frazier and Joe Frazier's boxing limitations, or more specifically, his inability to back up and or alter/adapt his style to his opponents, would have rendered him extremely vulnerable to George Foreman's superior strength and power, even in 1971. A young Mike Tyson would have had a significant chance to beat Frazier, but it is difficult to pick Tyson because his prime only lasted until he was about 21/22 years old and we never saw the best of him due to external factors. That being said, while Larry Holmes was great, I do not think he had the skill set to beat 1971 Joe Frazier in any arena. Prime Larry Holmes was slower than 1967 Ali, had less stamina than 1967 Ali, had a weaker chin than Ali, had slower leg movement than Ali, and would have found it extremely difficult to escape the aggressive onslaught of Smoking Joe Frazier. It is also important to remember that Larry Holmes was Joe Frazier's sparring partner at one point. Finally, while I would pick Frazier, Larry Holmes still had a puncher's chance against Frazier because while his punching power did not match or rival George Foreman or Ernie Shavers, his punching power was certainly superior to Muhammad Ali so if he could put hard combinations together over an extended period of time in the fight, he did have a chance to cause significant damage. However, I believe that 1971 Joe Frazier's relentless pressure would have prevented Holmes from doing that. I would therefore pick Joe Frazier to win a convincing unanimous decision and/or TKO Larry Holmes anywhere from round 11 to 15.
Frazier of 1971 would have beat down Homes of 1978 as larry was still learning and a bit lucky to take the title from Norton previously. Holmes was dropped nad hurt badly by Shavers & Snipes and would have not survived Frazier and would have been stopped in the late rounds.
34 year old Norton arguably won, FOTC Frazier would beat prime Holmes and this version of Holmes was inexperienced, this version of Holmes may even get stopped late on.
Larry's heart might see him through to the end but I wouldn't bet on it, Holmes wouldn't be able to discourage Joe and takes a bad beating probably gets stopped anywhere from 12 to 15.
On the inside fighting point, as a function of when they were at their best, peak Larry probably had more experience to use clinching effectively than prime Ali would have had.
Good points, but questionable. Holmes struggled versus an over the hill Norton, and barely scrapped a "win". The overall consensus seems that 71 Frazier was certainly a level above the 78 Norton who gave Holmes all he could handle. Maybe Holmes has more power than Ali, but unless he is at Foreman's level he is not stopping Frazier. And although Holmes has one of the best jabs ever, Ali is not that far behind, and Ali couldn't keep Frazier away.
Imo he won a clearer decision over Norton then Ali ever did and it was Holmes second serious fight at the world level over an experienced and tough opponent so all things considered he did very well.
I think his point that it's a harder jab is also relevant here. Ali hit Frazier with a lot of them, but his jab didn't have the same stopping power. Larry's jab could literally knock you down.