Muhammad Ali (Foreman fight) vs Larry Holmes (Cooney fight)

Nah it ain’t blasphemous.Just a cop-out.

 

According to Holmes, he was already getting the better of Ali in their sparring sessions by the time of the Foreman fight when led to Ali getting rid of him after that fight so you would’ve thought that by 82, Holmes would’ve been a far better more experienced seasoned fighter but then we’ve only got Holmes word on how he was already getting the better of Ali in 74 and every knows that Holmes was never shy of telling everyone how good he was when recanting his past boxing experiences

 

Holmes jab would give Ali a fit and I've always thought Larry had the potential to beat him. I think the fight would begin around round 5 when Ali starts firing right hands and connects on Larry, they know each other so well a real fight would break out. If anyone gets hurt in this fight it'd be Holmes since Ali's chin is granite ,but it goes the distance where Ali gets a close UD that is controversial . Both men are marked up

 

I have read more than once Ali never looked good sparring before a fight, but he'd show flashes every once in a while to let them know he could still go if he wanted.

 

It’s cliched but I also read Ali being less than impressive in sparring years ago. I then finally saw some vids, and no, he wasn’t particularly impressive. . However, it was also clear Ali was going nowhere near 100% but as already said, he would burst into abbreviated moments to show what he really had in his kick.

Toughening himself up or not, or strategising for the contingent rope a dope, Ali allowing himself to be hit in training as he did bordered on masochism IMO.

It’s true Larry does pump himself up, including his perception of bettering Ali in those sparring sessions - particularly when Larry himself acknowledged that while Ali deliberately laid on the ropes in sparring, Larry didn’t guess that he would actually do same v Foreman.

Holmes has also said Ali was overrated in general. I don’t cut Larry complete slack for such self serving, distorted views but perhaps we can make some allowance due to Holmes’ own underrating back in the day, particularly in the shadow of the man himself, Ali, who made his own outrageous comparative claims re ATGs that preceded him.

Here’s a link to a GREAT channel with tons of Ali vision, in and out of the ring.

It’s raw in terms of containing as and when uploads of unedited vision (which is great) that includes the most vision I’ve seen of Ali sparring Holmes. One clip actually shows Ali dishing it back pretty good to Holmes which might also corroborate some “feeling” between the two men.

You’ll have to dig a little to find it but that’s half the fun, as if you’re directly discovering long lost footage in archives. You’ll also simply stop at some great unseen vision you weren’t necessarily looking for or knew existed but are compelled to watch anyway.


https://youtube.com/c/muhammadalilargestcollectionintheworld

 

The main reason I wouldn't agree with you is the one weakness Larry had, and its similar to one Bennie Briscoe never was able to change. When up against a fighter who moved away from him Larry would follow not throwing punches until the opponent stopped, with Benny he could slip punches but never punch while doing so. Even in Larry's fight with the now way past it and slow Ali, whenever Ali managed to move around the ring Larry just followed never once throwing punches until Muhammad stopped, then Lar would bang on him. Especially in '67 when Ali could move incredibly and for 15 rounds, Larry would have seldom got a shot off or landing because of this flaw and the '74 Ali was still able to move very well for most of 15 also.

 

A sight to see for certain. Wouldn't blame anyone for siding with Holmes: Ali was losing a step around the 74 though he was by not means shot.