Norton. People say now that Norton was on the downslide, but nobody thought that at the time. Norton was thought to be the best in the world in the Spring of 1978. The way Holmes, coming in with a hurt arm, was able to pull it out against a very determined Norton was pretty remarkable. Honorable mentions: Shavers II, Leon Spinks, C00ney, and Mercer.
****ey, I'd say..........not because he stopped a big, hard-hitting guy like that but it was HOW he did it in the face of a kind of big-fight hype the likes of which has never really been seen at that level. He was cool as a cucumber as he patiently dissected the raw but earnest and powerful challenger, and knew just the right time to end it. With all the pressures and being in the eye of the hurricane like that occasion was, it was a great display of his ability to compartmentalize, which all great athletes must show.
I gotta go with the Mercer fight, Mercer was seen as a big puncher, and coming off a huge win against Morrison, and was a heavy Favorite going in and ol 42 year old Larry schooled him and made him look like an amateur.... Seriously Ray looked lost in the ring that night,
In relative terms, this was a great performance from the peanut-headed kunt. But in absolute terms, the Norton victory was his best.
I vote the Leon Spinks fight. Leon had just steamrolled Bernardo Mercado with a relentless and passionate two handed attack and looked like he was in shape, serious, and ready to launch himself similarly against Holmes. Holmes played the perfect matador and completely dominated Spinks in three. It was an awesome performance and completely one-sided.
You got to add the first Holmes/Shavers fight into the mix. Probably the first time that people saw that here was possibly a special fighter in the making. March 1978 and billed as an elimination bout to become the first challenger to new champion, Ken Norton. A masterful performance by Holmes as he scored a 12 round shutout against the still dangerous Shavers. To cap it all, almost had Shavers down with a big right hand in the final moments of the 12th round and had Shavers hanging on for dear life as the bell rang.
My favourite is the mercer fight. Holmes was supposedly washed up but he turned the odds upside down with cleverness, savvy, toughness and some serious handspeed. I like it when an old great somehow turns back the clock and shows a young upstart just a glimpse of the real fighter he was.
It has to be Shavers for me. The movement around the ring. The counters. Thats what greatness looks like. And Shavers never looked better despite Larry schooling him. The same Shavers who ran through Norton. Shavers was often a bit flat , but not against Holmes.
Against Ken Norton without a doubt ! Norton may have been past his best but not by that much. He could probably have still beaten any other big man in 1978 except for Holmes. Even Earnie Shavers had Ken managed to tag him first.