78 to 82 Holmes a Nightmare for Tyson

Larry > Buster > Tyson

 

50/50 fight for me.

 

"I do not believe that Mike Tyson’s destruction of the ageing Holmes was too much of a deception. In his prime, Larry never met the like of Tyson, nor the like of a Joe Frazier who would have chased and nagged and punched away at Holmes all night long."


Do you agree with Mike Casey that Tyson's stoppage of a past it Larry Holmes was not an aberration | Boxing News 24 Fan Forum

 

But according to leading proponents of the Tysonian school of thought, the real Mike >> Tokyo Buster > Tokyo Tyson > Larry > literally every other Buster. Q.E.D.

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It is. And I know the thread. You got flamed there from top to bottom. Thanks for linking it again.

 

Just like peak Holmes would be the toughest opponent Tyson ever faced. It goes both ways.

 

My post received over twenty likes.

How many of the guys Holmes beat were top 5 and/or champions? It’s almost as if you’re attempting to turn Zanon into Tucker for some reason.

 

Congratulations on the achievement, lol.

Between 1978 and 1982 there was 27 heavyweights that were included in The Ring Magazine's Top 10 rankings. Larry beat 15 of them, including 7 out of 12 that were considered Top 5 for at least 1 year (Mike Weaver, Gerry Cooney, Leon Spinks, Ken Norton, Renaldo Snipes, Muhammad Ali and Earnie Shavers). There were also 3 guys that stayed in the Top 10 rankings for more than the year and Larry beat them all (Trevor Berbick, Tex Cobb & Alfredo Evangelista). He also beat guys who were included in the Top 10 rankings for just 1 year during that period: Ossie Ocasio, Leroy Jones, Lorenzo Zanon, Scott LeDoux and Tim Witherspoon.

 

You side stepped my last comment. The premise that a guy who briefly scraped into the top ten has equivalence to a top 5 guy with a belt is false.

 

Incorrect Tyson fought Lewis and Holyfield both as good or better than Holmes. Not great results but don’t think it was the peak Tyson that faced them. The Tyson that fought Spinks was his peak.

 

Unquestionably, though I think we both know the competition even during Iron Mike's time wasn't exactly Ali-Foreman-Frazier level. It was just way worse in Larry's time, and I do think he adroitly avoided Page and Thomas, though I think he would have beat either of them, given the topic's time frame of course.

Hope you're doing well, my good friend. You're one of the main reasons I still come on here.

 

You make some points but I respectfully have to disagree. He beat the best heavyweights in the world from age 20 to 23 and most of them emphatically. His chin survived the artillery of James Smith, Frank Bruno and Razor Ruddock. He proved he could go 12 rounds to beat bigger men. His prime was short and his loss to Douglas embarrassing but he was definitely top level. It’s possible Larry Holmes at his best might have beaten him. But I’m careful not to make it a forgone conclusion. Prime Holmes fought to a near standstill with a 35 year old Norton. Got dropped and badly wobbled by a 19-8 Mike Weaver. Almost got knocked out by shavers . Dropped by snipes. Fought to a near standstill with a prospecting Witherspoon. Even Cooney gave him some tough rounds despite only fighting once in two years.

 

Larry-Ferguson-Buster-Tyson

Larry Holmes and Jesse Ferguson was really champ HW 80 ' Maybe Spinks yet.

 

If you look at Ali's 70s lineup and compare it to Tyson's preprison run, it's harder in the sense that Frazier and Foreman were standouts. But I think in terms of the average opponent, Tyson fought more live bodies. I also question what Foreman's success would look like if he popped up during that time. Ruddock had similar attributes, but he ran into Tyson twice and then Lewis.

 

If only it were that simple !!!