Don't know but man he had a mean jab. I mean it was still a factor when he was in his fifties. Might be the best jab I've ever seen.
I think that might have been his greatest condition, it's just too bad it wasn't the Ali of even eight years before that, would have been far more interesting. Holmes was an artist against Shavers in 78, then kept his heights until probably until Cobb. Witherspoon is where he really started showing his wear, however he still fought with a ton of heart in that fight and it still amazes me there are people who actually thought Tim won that fight He only had a few impressive rounds (one VERY), and he might have won if he hadn't gotten cocky in the last rounds.
He did very much have the flu, you can really hear it in his voice after the fight. It explains why he was sweating so much he almost lost his trunks. He shouldn't even had been in that ring but hey, he knocked the crap out of Weaver anyway.
You’re supposed to SLIP the punches, @reznick, not drink them in. And Larry was at his best when he was slamming that Big Jake jab into someone’s face. In all my years of following boxing, the thing that stands out most watching live in person vs. on TV is the effect of a really good jab. Even in the age of high-res big-screen TV, it’s still different live. There was a photo in the Sports Illustrated that reported on Holmes-Cooney of Gerry’s face after or late in the fight and it looked like someone had forced Cooney’s face into boiling water. It was RED from that jab. It marked guys up and broke them down.
Holmes was at he best from when he took out Shavers last gasping effort for a shot at the title all the way untill he took down Spinks twice to surpass Marcianos record & retire undefeated...
I recall Holmes mentioning trying to market himself before the fight, help sell tickets and perhaps stretched himself thin in that kind of stuff rather than prepare to fight.
I wouldn't say he knocked the crap out of Weaver unless you are talking only about the finish as it was a very good competitive back and forth for quite some time. Yeah Holmes throat was definitely infected. Weaver put up very solid opposition tho.
Holmes was extremely irate that everyone thought Weaver was easy pickings and would basically fall over. He himself wasn't taking him lightly.
