I actually had Holmes winning the last 2 rounds on my card. I scored it 116-112 for Holyfield, with Holmes winning the 4th, 7th,11th, and 12th rounds. I had Holyfield winning the rest of the rounds.
You didn't have Holmes winning the 2nd? He was boxing the face off Holyfield in round 2. It was looking like he was about to pull off a re-do of the Mercer fight.
It may be the only fight I've seen where the winner lost reputation and the loser gained reputation. Most of the post-fight commentary was on how good Larry looked. The only overly positive commentary about Holyfield came from Larry himself, who gave the kind of gracious losing interview he couldn't bring himself to do as a younger man. His interview was basically "God damn he's good". I think if he'd had the cardio to keep it up, he might have been able to win it. Or if Holyfield had kept falling for the corner fighting that favored Larry. Which itself is incredible. In that corner, he was clearly getting the better of Holyfield.
I think he drops a decision to Holmes. He’d have a good chance of beating the other three but they would have been bloody-bloody fights
I think 1980 Holmes wins a decision pretty convincingly. Holmes gave a pretty decent account of himself when he was in his 40s against Holyfield winning 4 rounds clearly and being competitive in a few others. When I watched the fight recently i kept thinking Holmes' old body is the only thing stopping him from just piling on the winning rounds.
If one thing is for certain, George Foreman would gas out by the middle rounds against Holyfield and start talking to Jesus in the locker room once he'd regained his breath to the point of speaking, however faintly.
He beats Liston in a competitive fight and more often than not Foreman. He MIGHT beat Frazier. 50/50. Loses a decision to Holmes
Holyfield SD in a brutal fight. Holyfield vs Holmes is a bit tricky. Larry gives him all sorts of troubles but he really doesn't have the power to hurt Holyfield, and also Holyfield is about the same skill level, and hits a bit harder. 60/40 in favour of Holyfield. Holyfield UD12. George Foreman would've been in serious troubles. Holyfield KO7.
I wouldn't pick him over the first three. Liston would be competitive but the result might have been wide in favor of Holyfield. That's an unflattering match-up for Sonny, in my opinion.
