Larry Holmes opposition

Holmes' ****ing opposition was FINE! I get pissed when folks out at Disney-Land accuse "The Homer" of fighting pussies and bums, etc.......... Larry Holmes fought many bad-ass mother****ers' come 1977 and beyond............. Okay, he fought a handful of sorry assholes' as champ from 1978 to 1985, but he also fought at least "10" dudes who were tuff cookies............. C'mon..... "Weaver, Shavers, LeDoux, Berbick, L. Spinks, Snipes, Cooney, Cobb, Spoon, Smith, Bey, C. Williams & Mike Spinks" were ALL credible opposition.....

MR.BILL:bbb:admin:rasta:good

 

Well, Spinks clearly had the best record, as he was undefeated. Holmes actually fought some good fighters. Maybe not the best, but very good. Cooney could have won a title today, so could Witherspoon, Shavers and Weaver. Berbick was always a tough fight because he was always in shape and could outhustle you, and Smith was always dangerous because of his big punch. He fought some bums and no-hopers, but who didn't? It would have been good to see him fight Dokes, Page, Tubbs or Thomas, that's true, but I think politics fell into some of the decision making at that time, too.

 

I agree on all points, and it's why I think Holmes is overrated and at the bottom of the Top 10 ATG Heavies.

I, too, am curious what people think Holmes' best title win/opponent is.

 

Prolly 'Cooney' of '82...................... BUT!!! Whether or not Cooney was rightfully rated at # 1 in 1982 means nothing..... What does matter is, Cooney was in great shape at 225 pounds and came to fight Larry Holmes with a vigor......... Cooney ROSE to the occasion upon his title shot in 1982......... Cooney was for real on June 11, 1982 out in Vegas.......

MR.BILLthumbsup

 

Of course Michael Spinks had a winning record in 1985, but, mainly against Light-Heavies........

Gerry Cooney also had a winning record in 1982, however, mainly against old farts and washed-up mothers.....

Bottom line: Holmes of 1982 was much sharper and fit than the Holmes of late 1985........ Just my opinion.......

Holmes was faded to the maxi-pad by Sept. 1985 against Spinks; not so at 212 pounds against Cooney in '82........
:deal

MR.BILL

 

This topic has been beat to **** so many times, it almost makes Nancy Reagan's slogan " just say no to drugs ", look like an orignal idea even now....

John Thomas, Mendoza, Bill1234, Chris Pontius, myself, and many many others have debated this issue for at least three years strait, and I know for a fact you've partaken in many of these arguments....

So why bring it up again now?

With all do respect Bummy, you spent the bulk of many of those debates bringing up points that had long been debunked... Things like " Holmes should have fought Coetzee, " even though it was explained to you countless numbers of times that Holmes SIGNED to fight Coetzee, but COETZEE"S people and NOT HOLMES backed out at the last minute.. Hell, Bill even showed you the fight ad poster, and you still kept mentioning it as though Holmes ran away from him like the plagge.....

So who else? Ah yes, I believe Michael Dokes was part of your campaign to defame Holmes, regardless of the fact that our deer friend from down under ( John Thomas ), hopelessly tried to inform you that Dokes was managed by Don King's son Carl, and the two of them were grooming Dokes to be Holmes successor.... They didn't want to ruin their next king, by having a loss to a predecessor, yet still you pressed on with the claim that Holmes ducked him.....

And then there is PInklon Thomas, who has the sole claim to beating Tim Witherspoon and James Tillis before fizzeling... I also have asked many people here to show me an IBF rating sheet from 1983-1985, listing Pinklon as their mandatory contender... I felt this was reasonable considering that Holmes was the IBF champion during this time frame, and it was the same period that Pinklon had done anything worthy of mention. No such proof was ever produced..

Lastly there was Page... Okay, one fighter that he legitimately ducked, but lets not pretend that this was entirely Holmes doing, and if you think that a man who lost to Trevor Berbick, Tim Witherspoon, and David Bey ( 3 men who Holmes beat ), is going to taint his legacy, then there really is no point in continuing the discussion....

 

Norton was minor great, Witherspoon a very notable two time alphebet guy. It goes down hill from there.

Cooney shaver, Weaver, Boncrusher, all dangerous but not spectacular.

 

No....Spinks hadn't done diddly at heavyweight, whereas Gerry Cooney had easily wiped out 25 strait heavyweights and although his three best opponents were past it, he did to them what probably most other fighters at the time couldn't..... These things made such an impact that some experts and fans even picked Gerry to beat Holmes, despite the fact that he was still reasonably close to prime..... Everyone knew he was past it against the Jinx, yet nearly no one picked him to lose......

 

In a sense, yes......... But as a heavyweight, it gets real gray there...... In truth, Holmes greatest foe was the shot-to-hell Muhammad Ali in 1980..... However, I exclude Ali's challenge in '80 cuz he was sick, old, faded and slurring his speech by then........ How can I take his challenge to Larry Holmes seriously????

MR.BILLhuh:hat

 

The hell is everyone?

MR.BILL:huh