Can You imagine Larry Holmes Around Now?!

While I do agree, that Usyk has proven classic sized guys would a fair lot better than modernists would like to believe, I don't think Holmes' problem is his size. I'm not sure about this mythical version of Holmes in this thread, but in real life Holmes very seldom used his jab to effortlessly outbox people ala Ali. To be quite frank, he simply wasn't as fast, skilled, nor had the reflexes.
Holmes often had to struggle, get his hands dirty, and fight in the trenches to put his opponent away (despite these laughable claims by some that he simply chose to abandon his strategy and chose to brawl with his opponents).
Make no mistake, if he had his hands full with his relatively mediocre opposition, fighting better and much much bigger opponents will put wear on tear on him far quicker than in his own era.

 

Great points as usual and good to see you found a little time to post. Holmes wouldn't tear thru this lot with the ease so many claim, that much is obvious from his actual career as you point out. He'd have some battles in there for sure. Having said that he'd be favored in each individual battle. You are right that some of the better big guys would put some wear and tear in there.

I'd still favor him to lead the show but there'd be plenty of twists and turns and Usyk with his skill would be a fascinating fight for Holmes.

 

Fury wtih his size could give him trouble but i still see Larry winning....Larry would beat most of the guys of this era with ease, except for Fury and maybe Usik.

I think Fury;s last performance was a bit suspicious...he did not give it his best, went down from a punch to the temple and now we are looking at a rematch in another PPV fight...

 

...and yet his jab was stronger and much more accurate, something that would be most valuable in the era of the much bigger guys. But no surprise you want to turn this into yet another Ali arse-kissing session. Well done.

 

But its hard to take Larry seriously on any era since he was in his prime, as he pretty much slags off every champ of the past 30 years.

 

TBH though Swag what Heavyweight now hasn't looked beatable ? Fury has been on the canvas 7 times, Usyk got folded like a lawn chair on a "borderline shot" that he was a bit fortunate to get rest bite from.

The way I see it Holmes was an active champion consistently fighting top 10 ranked Heavyweights with all different styles. If you keep consistently fighting ranked contenders some cracks will show from time to time.

Heavyweights now have barely fought any ranked contenders and are seriously inactive, for example if Fury or Usyk were fighting as actively as Holmes was then maybe you'd see even more cracks in their game with possibly a few losses aswell.

And in all honesty Holmes only struggled vs Weaver, Witherspoon, both fighters would be considered top 10 Heavyweights of 80s, and Snipes, Shavers 2, came out of the blue with knockdowns but apart from that were beaten handily.

 

I mentioned Ali in approximately one sentence. I have no love lost for Ali and he quite frankly doesn't even rate in my top 5 favorite fighters.

 

I never said today's heavyweights are unbeatable. Hell I never even said Holmes wouldn't beat everyone around today. I only take issue with everyone saying he walks through the division as simple as that, with zero issues whatsoever. As he wasn't able to do that even in his own era against much smaller, and arguably inferior opponents. He suffered a close calls against Snipes, who went on to draw with an obscure name in his next fight. Almost got his head taken off by Shavers who while likely the most powerful puncher in history, was not the most skilled and should've never nailed Holmes like that in the first place. and he struggled against far more opponents than Weaver and Spoon.
I'll give him a pass for Spoon, as I think he was slipping by that point.
He also struggled against a very past-prime Norton, when Ali defeated perhaps the best version of Norton in their 2nd bout in much more convincing fashion
Weaver had lost literally more than a third of his fights when he fought Holmes.
Berbick actually got past this so called impenetrable jab and had success in nearly every round, just not enough to actually win them. But that fight was a bit more competitive than the scorecards reflected.
Weaver and Berbick also nailed him with an abundance of lefts for someone supposedly immune to them.
So like I said, I have zero issue with anyone thinking Holmes beats anyone around today. I'd probably agree myself. I take issue with the ease some are suggesting he'll do it with, when he literally never showed it against the mediocre opponents he actually faced.

 

I see what your saying I can agree with that.

 

Thank you. Like I said, I’d favor Holmes over everyone around today in one-offs. Just not with half the ease many want to believe in this thread.

 

Certainly not easy Wilder's right hand would be very dangerous weapon vs Holmes who was a bit of a sucker for right hand.

Fury and Usyk would be hard technical fights for Holmes to overcome.

And I know people like to hate on Joshua now but before the Ruiz fight I think he would've been a good match up for Holmes.

 

He didn't have much of a prime Kenny did he? Let me guess, did it start in March 73 and end in September 76? Either way, he fights one of his best fights that night, even "if" he was past his prime- like loads of top fighters do.

Both fights are similar in that Ali/Holmes dominate with the jab early on and Norton comes back in the 2nd half of the fight. Funny that, but when I came back on here for the first time in years, I'm sure I chatted with you was when I said I had Holmes winning the Norton fight more handily than most, and I could've sworn you backed me up on this.

...and became a fine heavyweight, like he was that night. Jimmy Young had a spotty record early on his career, but there's no doubt he was a top heavyweight between 1975 and 1977- only a brief stint at the top, but still.

..and your scorecard too by the sounds of it. You had Holmes winning very handily didn't you 'previously'? Or did someone hack your account that time?

He could do, he's very capable of it but he's probably not big enough to dominate these days in the fashion that he once did, sadly.... just like Usyk won't.

 

Word.

 

how many southpws did Larry Holmes fight?
and how many did he beat?