I haven't watched much of Holmes, just basing that on the bits I've seen. I was in a bad mood this morning it seems.
I scored it even wider for Holmes. The only clear convincing round Witherspoon won was Round 9. You can make a case for Holmes winning every round minus the 9th. And even then, Holmes rallied back at the end.
True but Spinks as he showed time and time again can crack with the righthand and guess who got dropped a couple of times wit righthands?
Well, yeah, but there were the knockdowns. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play? Usyk should have lost two rounds to Chisora only. Just more cheat officiating.
The Cooney win has not aged well. Shavers is a guy who was 34-35 himself, and suffered some embarrassing moments in his career. A decent win, but not a great won. Mercer is a guy who lost to Jesse Ferguson and almost lost to Ossie Occosio. Good, but not great. Everyone Holems beat was good, but not great. You are WILDLY overrating Holmes wins, which, in fairness, seems to be a thing these days.
At the time a lot of people felt that way. Over time, a narrative developed and even if people knew differently, or even if they have never seen the fight, thye come to accept the narrative. "Holmes one a close won by a round or two...."
Yeah but apart from the knockdowns that's the only rounds Holmes lost in both fights he dominated the rest of the fights and stopped both fighters. So i would say struggled is a bit of strong word more like Holmes was briefly in trouble in a single round but was dominant throughout the rest of the fight. Weaver on the other hand i agree Holmes did struggle in that fight and that was a very tough fight throughout. I had Usyk losing 4 rounds to Chisora but anywhere between 9-3 or 8-4 is fine, the two judges scoring it 7-5 was too generous to Chisora obviously but other judge had it about right. I don't think Usyk struggled per se but he was tested and made to work for the win.
And yet Usyk wins are not overrated? Who has Fury ever beaten? Wilder where he got dropped multiple times? Who exactly? The 40 year old champion he took the title from and then never granted the rematch? Larry Holmes beat and stopped Mike Weaver who went on to become heavyweight champion. Beat Witherspoon who held the title latter on as well. And Usyk beats Chirosa who is YEARS past his best and now he is a master boxer at heavyweight? He gets dropped vs Dubois and essentially counted out and this makes him great at heavyweight? No he beats a boxer that got beaten up by a fighter making his PRO debut in a fight where Fury really should have LOST. You guys do this all the time. First Fury could beat any heavy because he was soooo big and powerful because he beat Wilder lol. Now you are doing the exact same with Usyk. It takes more then 1 fight to consider somebody great at a weight class. Usyk is a great boxer and has an impressive reume. But an alltime top ten heavyweight? No.
Have you considered that in order to save the planet, Ruiz' shopping list does not look like this: Mars Bar Mars Bar Mars Bar ... .... Mars Bar But instead looks like this; 25 x family pack Mars Bars It is still a very long list, similar to the historical HWs who would defeat AJ. Usyk has achieved what I considered unlikely after Usyk cleaned out Cruiserweight, but bearing Larry Holmes is an even further stretch. It is possible but not likely.
Holmes would take one look at Usyk on tape and call for a Scott Frank rematch. Or maybe a trilogy. There is no way he could look bad enough to entice Holmes into a fight. Be serious, guys.
I don't think you gave Tim enough credit for his defense in the early rounds he was blocking Holmes jabs and rights while landing his own punches especially those body shots, which is why I gave him the first three rounds besides those I agree with your scorecard but I had it for Tim 7-5 here's mine: Round 1 10-9 Tim Round 2 10-9 Tim Round 3 10-9 Tim Round 4 10-9 Holmes Round 5 10-9 Holmes Round 6 10-9 Holmes Round 7 10-9 Tim Round 8 10-9 Tim Round 9 10-9 Tim Round 10 10-9 Tim Round 11 10-9 Holmes Round 12 10-9 Holmes
If Usyk starts slow, Larry might win a round. Once Usyk adjusts to Larry’s jab, it’s game over for Holmes. I’m talking 37 year old Usyk. Prime Usyk clowns Holmes. He’s levels higher in terms of skill and ring IQ. Easy money for Usyk.
Prime Usyk with his steel chin, perdigree, southpaw stance and stamina would be the most dangerous opponent Larry fought during his title run. Please remember that Holmes was younger than Usyk right now when the former lost to Spinks. Usyk has slowed down considerably.
Holmes had also fought 20 championship fights in a 7 year period against multiple ranked opponents every year. For comparison Usyk has only had 2 more overall professional fights just compared to Holmes's title reign alone. Holmes also had over double the amount professional fights to Usyk 48 to 22 so you can't really compare the ages like that. Holmes had by far the much harder professional career and fought alot more often.
