Put Larry in Zaire with Foreman, exact same game plan as Ali, sit on the ropes and take the beating Ali did. Could Larry pull it off? Was his chin and pain absorbent on par with Ali?
Prime Holmes had a hell of a chin ... He probably could pull it off ... Chuvalo claims that he nearly had Foreman gassed and ready to go before the ref stopped their bout
No. Holmes could not hurt Foreman from that position. Ali did not merely lean on the ropes. Ali landed hard lead right hand leads (a punch Holmes could not throw like Ali), occasional hard jabs and lots of blistering combinations. Part of the reason why Ali wore down Foreman was because of the hard lead hand rights and fast and powerful two handed combinations. Holmes was not nearly as good a combination puncher as Ali nor did he had Ali's right hand lead. Ali took a better body punch than anyone. Holmes could not have absorbed the body punches that Ali did. Foreman hit Muhammad with exceedingly hard body shots and only Ali could have absorbed them. If Holmes tries rope a dope, he gets stopped in 4 rounds.
I do not believe Chuvalo. Rather I am sure HE believed that, but the man had an excuse for every loss. I did not see Foreman that tired, "ready to go" seems a crazy conclusion.
He can't pull off the mythical one that Ali kind of didn't do, but he can fight strategically in a similar way. Skill-wise. Mentally, I feel like he wouldn't do that. None of this is an answer and I don't want anyone reading it and thinking I am answering or stating a thought that I had. I am not doing either of those things. That would not be the kind of thing that I'm attempting to pull off and then have to justify in a drawn-out way across multiple posts.
I see no reason why he could'nt, what Ali did to Foreman, and even older Holmes essentially did to Ray Mercer employing the same rope a dope strategy Ali pulled on Foreman.
Holmes wouldn't need a Rope A Dope to beat Foreman. He'd just box his ears off and fight to a decision win.
I don’t know if Holmes would be comfortable using that technique. Of course when you pinned Holmes against the ropes or in a corner he had the tendency to land some pretty wicked upper cuts. He could take a real walloping too.
Old man Holmes literally did a version of it to Ray Mercer. Larry's version was adjusted to his own abilities and strengths, but it was clearly the rope-a-dope. Larry would back into a corner, cover up, let Mercer punch himself out, all while landing flush when he could. Larry had a great right uppercut that he could throw with zero room between himself and an opponent, and he could smash it up through their guard right into their chin. He did it over and over to Mercer. If you haven't seen the Mercer fight (it seems you haven't), I suggest doing so. He basically went full Ali. Rope-a-doping, clowning around, smack talking, yelling to the camera while fighting, going into an all out assault in the final round, it was all there. What a fun fight. Mercer is salty about that fight to this day. His team convinced him it would be an easy win against a big name, and instead he was publicly embarrassed by having his ass kicked by an old man. Holmes TRIED pulling off the same fight plan against Holyfield. It worked for about a round, and then Holyfield's corner made Holyfield stop falling for the bait.
