The 70-year-old reigned as the lineal champion for five years and Holmes doesn’t think Fury or Joshua could have mixed it with the top fighters of his generation. ‘They couldn’t fight me. I’d have kicked their ass. I’d have knocked them out,’ Holmes told Boxing Social about the champions and contenders of today. ‘Come on. They can’t take a punch… they’re amateurs. To me? ‘They’re amateurs. To Ali? They’re amateurs. To Ken Norton? They’re amateurs. ‘To Joe Frazier? They’re amateurs. To us, they’re kids. They can’t fight. ‘They didn’t learn how to fight. We learned how to fight.’
Holmes is often talked about as one of those H2H nightmares due to his combination of size, skills, grit and boxing nous. And at his best he put in some great performances. But that ignores how inconsistent he was, and how often he struggled against fighters that he should have been a shoo in to beat without breaking a sweat. Why did a 25 year old 15 fight amateur in Witherspoon give him so many problems? Why was he knocked down by Snipes and outboxed by LHW Spinks twice? Holmes just had way too many off nights for me to pick him with any confidence over someone like Wlad or Lennox, and depending on how Fury's career goes I might lean towards him to best him as well.
Well, I think Fury would be top 3 in virtually any era, including Holmes'. The point about not being able to take a punch is valid though, the lack of conditioning and overall easier lifestyle today does make for far fewer granite jaws.
Parker reminds me a bit of Holmes actually. Not stylistically, but in the fact that he looks a lot more effective than he actually is. This might be an unpopular opinion, but Holmes was a bit flash over substance for me. He always looked incredible snapping out that laser fast jab, bouncing around on his toes, ripping in combinations then dancing away again. Awesome stuff. But fighters would still be closing him down, catching him with shots on the inside, making him work, making him miss. This content is protected Look at the Witherspoon fight. Holmes looks great in the opening rounds, except for the fact that none of his jabs seem to be deterring Tim and none of his power shots seem to land cleanly. Several times he throws a shot that completely misses. And this isn't against a particularly elusive or awkward target. Holmes just can't get his range or set his feet properly. And his jab, while landing (just), isn't controlling the fight or opening Tim up to scoring opportunities. By the fifth Tim is openly walking through Holmes's shots and roughing him up on the inside. Again, we're not talking about a prime Frazier or Foreman here, just a big guy who's smart enough to keep his glove up and not give Holmes any respect. Holmes usually had enough dog in him to pull a win out of the bag, but the more I study him the less impressed I am by his overall ring generalship, especially considering the tools he had to work with.
You want to talk about a fighters 2 best wins? LOL I know of a certain fighter you love to death, whose 2 best wins are an old champ and a one armed power puncher, in which it took 2 attempt for him to beat. Sure, head to head your hero probably beats 95% of the champs that came before him. But, I don't think you can give fighters ATG status through hypothetical wins. In my opinion ATG's are a rare breed, that takes not only skill, but caliber of opponent, longevity and domination in some combination to achieve.
Yes sure, just like he picked ken Norton to beat Tyson prime vs prime.. I am not sure that he would beat all them the most of times if they fought series, Holmes was better pfp but h2h this could be different, he is a cruiser for today's standards. Did he beat spoon? i am not sure... and no. whiterspoon was not better than Fury or Joshua NO, HE WAS NOT BETTER AND WAS MUCH SMALLER
A former cruiserweight was strong enough to knock Fury down. A fat man ko'd Joshua I agree that Larry is a bitter guy and i do think Fury and Joshua are good heavyweights. However, i do not agree that Joshua is better than Witherspoon. Maybe Fury is but not Joshua.
I'm the last person qualified to remark about other people's lack of class seeing as i am seriously lacking in that myself, but the fact is Larry Holmes distinguished himself in his era and repeatedly proved himself as a boxer to the extent he is seen by many as an ATG. Larry put in his work and his time, he's earned his right to speak his words. If you don't like them, disregard them. Does he and has he lacked class in the past? That is everyone's individual interpretation. But he earned his right for his voice to be heard.
Absolutely. Holmes was a great champion but he wasn't nearly as brilliant a boxer as people think. His accuracy was often kind of poor, and he had a tendency to put way too much mustard into shots for way too little effect. And a man with his quality of jab should have never found himself in so many dog fights as he did.
You don't need to put in the work to offer a valid criticism. Holmes's criticisms are rarely valid though, or just come across as spiteful comments of a vague but derogatory nature. And he deserves to be called out for them.
