Holmes (Holyfield Fight) vs PRIME Morrison

Tyson lost to Douglas in his “prime.” Holmes lost to Spinks twice in two extremely competitive fights past his prime. He also beat Carl Williams past his prime, this is not debatable; even Williams admitted defeat in a post-fight interview. Wlad lost his fight, and Ray Leonard was still young, so long layoffs don’t hurt younger fighters in the same way. Usyk also has long training camps in order to fight once a year, and he has taken far less damage and had fewer fights than Larry Holmes. Also, when Tyson was the same age as Holmes, he was losing to journeymen like McBride.

This content is protected

This content is protected

 

Holmes. Superior resistance.. strength..

 

I gave you examples of boxers for whom a two-year or longer break doesn't affect their performance. For some reason, it only has a very negative effect on Holmes. It didn't affect Leonardo, it didn't affect Vitali Klitschko (Holmes' age when he fought Peter), it didn't affect Wladyslaw (he was three years older than Holmes and looked much better than in his previous fight). But it not only affected Holmes, but it significantly affected him. Why? It's unknown... maybe because his opponent wasn't Joshua, Hagler, or Peter? Maybe Tyson was special after all?

If you're accusing Tyson of not being as good at 38 as Holmes was at 38, you should accuse 21 Holmes of not being as good at 21 as Tyson. Right?

 

Vitali had a far less demanding career than Holmes. The Peter fight was only his 38th fight, while the Mike Tyson fight was Holmes’ 51st. Vitali is also known for having one of the weakest resumeof any ATG heavyweight. Age-wise they may have been similar, but Holmes was far more worn down. Just to note, while I think Tyson is one of the most overrated boxers ever, I still rate him levels above Peter. Wlad, like I also said, lost his fight with Anthony Joshua. Yes, it wasn’t as one sided, partly because Wlad had more time to train, and partly because Joshua was only in his 19th pro fight.

Also, who cares how good Tyson was at 21? He was handpicked by Cus Damato at 12 years old and trained by a great coach from the beginning, even living with him after a while. That is an extremely lucky situation that 99% of boxer never get. Prime for prime, and Holmes’ prime lasted much longer by the way, I would pick Holmes to beat Tyson.

 

Vitali was coming back from a serious injury, he was 37 years old, had a four-year layoff, and still won six more fights. Holmes was injury-free, he was 38, returning after less than two years, and won another 20 fights. You're completely ignoring the facts and evidence. We still don't know why Holmes was in such poor form, since it wasn't visible in the ring and there's no evidence to support it.

Why should I care about someone's form at 38 and not at 21? That must remain your sweet secret. Based on this, Usyk must be considered far better than Ali because at 38 he's the best, and Ali was a wreck.

And what does Cus have to do with it? In his entire long life, has he only met one 12-year-old who wanted to be a champion?