Holmes says he would have beaten Ali in his prime

What's her number?:hey

 

Ali was always known to be a less than stellar gym fighter he was known to hold back a lot in the gym and save his best for the actual fight night.....Angelo Dundee has even said this many times, so i think larrys assessment of there sparring sessions is a bit diluted and being a former fighter myself i can understand why Ali might do things that way

 

Larry said in his book that Ali was much better in the acctual fight than he was in sparring. That doesn't mean that Ali didn't go at the sparring partners at times though.

 

...that's what I mean when I say I can understand he can be "a nice guy" for pr reasons-obviously,you know him from around Easton.He(and his goons)didn't know anyone at Joe Louis Arena who were removed-I've never seen any other boxer do that...also,I'm really still not sure what he was so pissed about...being regarded as Ali's sparring partner..?So what;Jimmy Ellis also was Ali's sparring partner,Ken Norton was Joe Frazier's sparring partner,George Foreman was Sonny Liston's sparring partner;none of them had "personalities" like Holmes...I seem to remember a Sports Illustrated article on him that said he had a tough time growing up around Easton;fine,I'm not from Easton-and I still don't need to be a fan of his.I still think he uniquely benefitted as "Ali's sparring partner",I don't believe he could beat Ali at his best...and I really think that "he didn't like Leon Spinks " is a lame issue.I used to see Leon when he was living in Detroit-I wish him the best;he needs it.

 

Sonny, are you really Peter Marciano?

 

You think not liking Leon because Leon said a few things to his wife, and was messing around at a formal dinner in front of the great Joe Louis is a lame excuse for having problems with him? Larry has a temper, and doesn't sugar coat what he says, or lie. If he puts on an act for public relations, than why would he say and do what he did? The only people that seem to have problems with him are the people that constantly pester him and won't let him relax. He does a ton of charity work too, he got the boy of steel award for donating millions for cancer, he basicaly pays all of the bills for the St. Anthony's youth center, and he is willing to back fighters from the gym if they are serious and have even the slightest chance.

 

What the great Joe Louis has to say I respect/take seriously-and I don't remember him saying anything about Leon Spinks;what Holmes has to say about anything I don't.It's nice to hear that he supports St. Anthony's Youth Center;most people who aren't crazy about Holmes don't know him personally-and aren't/haven't been pestering him.It sounds like he should he should eat more cheeseburgers and stay drunk more often.

 

You gotta love that jockstrap comment he did though. And then he called at Marciano's brother and said, "If any of that offended you, GOOD !" or something like that.

Yeah, he acted like an *******, but most of those guys at the press conference are assholes too. Larry's possibly a really nice guy, but he certainly comes across as mischievously obnoxious.

Compared to Tyson's "I'll **** you in the ass 'til you love me ****** !", Holmes's Marciano comments (which were blown all out of proportion by the hypocritical American boxing press) seem very very tame.

"I wish you all had children so I could stomp on their testicles" .... Mike Tyson, to the press.

I love Larry Holmes' flying dropkick off the roof of a limo against Trevor Berbick. A 41 year old Holmes at that. Brilliant !

Apparently Berbick had accused Holmes' and Holmes' family of plotting against Berbick and destroying his relationship. But Berbick was a paranoid guy, to say the least, he had many bizarre tales and conspiracy theories about a great deal of things.
Still, it's sad Berbick met such a grisly end.

 

Yeah a lot of these reporters and columnists are jagoffs. Not one of them has the guts to enter the cage, but they sure as hell don't have a problem teasing the tiger, from the outside.

 

Here's the bottom line. Ali had trouble with good jabbers at all states of his career....Jones, Norton, Young, and Lyle.

Holmes had a better jab than any of these fighters.

Ali's un-orthodox guard means he can be hit with fast jabbers. I think Holmes had better stamina than Ali does, and takes far less moments off.


I also think Holmes is a much better in-fighter, with his uppercut and body shots.

So Holmes has the advantage on the outside and inside. Ali’s main advantage might be good will from the judges.

I see a split decision type of fight, with Holmes landing and throwing more. Holmes wins.

 

Holmes had trouble with guys who jab fast at him too. Witherspoon and Williams for example. And he had problems with the right hand.
Ali could send a quick right hand in over, or as a one-two combinations, or as a lead.

Sonny Liston and Ernie Terrell had reputations for keeping guys on the outside with a long left jab, but both found no success with that against Ali.

Still, your points are good. But it's a more two-sided equation, IMO.
Ali could exploit weaknesses in Holmes too.

 

"Holme' had the better stamina" - come on!

Ali in his prime had great stamina. He could keep an extremely high pace for 15 rounds, like he did against Terrell and Chuvalo. Holmes tired visibly after 8 or 9 rounds in his fight with Norton, when he was in his prime. I would say hands down that Ali in his prime had the superior stamina.

I'll give you the point about jabs, though. But as previously stated Ali's jab would definitely give Holmes problems as well. And Ali only had trouble with jabs when he stood flat-footed before his opponent, something a prime Ali wouldn't do against Holmes.

 

Ali took more rounds off, clinched more often, and rested on the ropes more often. Yes-- Holmes had better stamina, and threw more punches.

Ali had some issues with Jones and Mildenberg's jab in his prime, and these are years when he moved around a lot.

As for the Norton fight, remember Holmes was fighting with a torn muscle in his arm.

 

Ali's most valuable asset against Holmes would be his rhythm and movement, which would keep a flustered Holmes in clumsy pursuit and not let him establish control of the fight.

More or less, this is Terrell all over again, with Larry doing his angry utmost to blow Ali's head off, but being peppered from unorthodox angles for a decision loss.

 

I think you are confusing a prime Ali with the later version of Ali. A prime Ali didn't take many rounds off, and he didn't lay against the ropes for any length of time. Big difference between a 1960's and a 1970's Ali. And that's what's kind of comical about Larry commenting about his time sparring with Ali: Larry never sparred with a prime Ali, but he always boasts how well he did against Ali when they sparred.