Who does he fight next? Would he retire? I think Holmes in shape could have defended his belt 1-3 more times vs anyone but Mike Tyson.
He would have fought and been destroyed by Tyson sometime in 87 in a unification natch, if he still held the IBF title.
I will go to my death bed believing Holmes had what it took to beat Tyson in '88 and would've done so had his arm not gotten stuck.
He'd have probably faced Tony Tucker , that would have being a interesting fight . Remember , Tucker was losing against Buster till he came back in the tenth , so we might even see Holmes win . He's then part of the unification with Tyson . Could a slightly younger , more active Holmes beat Tyson then ? I'm not to confident ,I still see him stopped by it's close on the cards and Larry gets to at least the 7 th .
I don't think it would have changed all that much. I still see Holmes retiring after the Spinks rematch even if he'd got the verdict, and making the predictable ill-advised comeback against the new kid on the block stealing his thunder a couple of years later, with a similar result. Larry had looked ripe for an upset loss for a while before Spinks eventually pulled it off. The close shave with Witherspoon was a key reason he vacated the WBC belt in favour of the easier IBF route (by his own admission, Holmes wasn't fussed about taking on the biggest challenges and he knew the IBF would let him get away with that as he cruised towards 49-0), and I had him losing narrowly to Williams, too. He looked old, gun-shy and cumbersome in the first Spinks fight and avenging it in the rematch would only have been a temporary respite from the harsh reality that Father Time had caught up with him. Also, I don't think beating Spinks in a rematch would have given him inner peace and satisfaction, or would have silenced his critics. The damage was already done when he lost the first fight (that's when he made his Rocky comments) and he'd had that chip on his shoulder (quite rightly, in my view) for many years that he wasn't being afforded the respect he deserved. I think his ego and desire to shove the media's doubts down their throats would always have got the better of him and he would never have been able to resist the comeback for Tyson. I reckon Holmes would be rated more or less exactly where he is now by most people had he won the return bout. The first loss, so close to matching the 49-0 and against a smaller guy, left that indelible mark which would have been there regardless.
Maybe "would've" is to strong but he did fairly well for someone who was 38 years old and hadn't fought in 2 years.
I'll nod to that Swag , would like to have seen Tyson up against Holmes of the Mercer fight . That would have been a much tougher fight for Tyson .
Instead of threads like Picture of Marciano next to Sonny Liston We get Threads like Picture of Holmes next to Holyfield
I concur. Don King would have made Larry an offer he could n't refuse in a 'Passing the torch' kind of match.
I see it if he beat Spinks the first time if could have been like this. Holmes 49-0 1986 Holmes vs Tubbs, Holmes SD. Holmes at 50-0 1986 Holmes vs a non top ten opponent. Maybe James Broad or someone like him Holmes at 51-0 1987 Holmes vs Biggs or Rodigures, Holmes wins 52-0, then retirement.
