Larry Holmes (Cooney Fight) V Mike Tyson (Spinks fight)?

Larry wins but I will offer my standard line that peak Tyson could beat any heavyweight who ever lived on a given night and with all the stars properly aligned.

 

Cooney Holmes was still a very great fighter, but Larry's peak was 1978 to 1981. The Snipes fight was arguably the beginning of the decline, but Holmes looked in some ways even better than the Cooney fight when he slapped the crap out of Cobb, go figure.

Mike wins a UD in 12 by tearing it up early and flooring Holmes. He fades and nearly gets stopped in the 12th but he won too many early rounds.

In fact, in a 15 round fight Mike gets stopped in 13.

 

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I didn't vote Fergie as it's a genuine 50/50 for me.

I'm slightly surprised to see two thirds of the votes have currently gone to Larry.

 

I am not surprised Holmes is arguably more praised than any other heavyweight apart from Ali and Louis on here........

 

In terms of greatness I'd agree, he would be (and indeed, has been) ranked third in an ATG HW poll.

In terms of h2h peak ability and the style match up, I'd have guessed most people would pick Tyson, but currently Holmes is leading this poll 9 to 4. I suspect that will even up somewhat before voting on this thread is finished.

 

Tyson would catch up to Holmes around 8 rd tko

 

Cooney had a lot of potential when he turned professional but it was all wasted due to mis-management. After beating former top notch fighters,way post-prime,such as Lyle,Young and Norton he should have been matched against some top contenders before going for the WBC or WBA titles.


I take Holmes to eventually prevail over Tyson by late stoppage,maybe only by something like a 55/45 chance,but Mike had the tools to stop a prime Larry. Obviously it would take him longer than their actual fight.

 

WOW!! Didn't realize he had such a quality record beyond 5 rounds--I tip my hat! (Although I'd like to see who the opponents were--I suspect they weren't quite the caliber of a Larry Holmes circa 1982.)

 

1. Thomas, who Larry wanted no part of.
2. Ruddockx2, who was more dangerous than anyone Larry beat.
4. Tucker, who might’ve been better than anyone Larry beat.
5. Tillis, who was better than some of the crap Larry beat, but never got the title shot.

And Biggs, Bonecrusher, Ribalta, and Green.

 

I say Holmes only because I'm not sure of Mike's conditioning or mental fortitude to sustain any long term pressure on Holmes if it went on long, which I think it would. Mike always had a tendency to engage in silent agreements if things weren't going his way, and he was more than happy to hug it out at times. That being said, Tyson isn't as stylistically tailor-made for Holmes as most people think for sure, and it wouldn't be easy, not unlike what ThatOne said.

 

DANG!! You're making it tough on me to be critical of Mike Tyson LMAO!!

 

I think of what boxing historian Mike Cassy wrote about the fight. He wrote that sure Larry was past it but from what he observed Mike beats any version of Larry.

 

Yep, Cooney's career could have been so much better.Perhaps not achieving ATG status but capturing
at least one of the titles.
It's shame that after his excellent performance against Holmes Cooney didn't try to team up with
a world-class trainer like Eddie Futch or Angelo Dundee to develop his confidence and skills.