Top 5 Holmes performances

1 Holmes v Shavers 1
2 Holmes v Norton ..not as close as the cards had it
3 Holmes v Cooney
4 Holmes v Shavers 2
5 Holmes v Cobb

 

In no order.

Holmes vs Norton = Holmes's first world title fight and one of the best Heavyweight title fights of all time. Holmes showed alot of heart and courage and proved he belonged at the upper echelon level.

Holmes vs Shavers 1 = The acid test for Holmes against his first real notable opponent and a lethal puncher. Holmes completely dominated Shavers from start to finish in a virtuoso performance.

Holmes vs Cooney = The biggest fight of Holmes's career in terms of the hype and the interest it gathered. A great performance from a peak Holmes against a dangerous puncher who was on a roll.

Holmes vs Mercer = Schooling a young dangerous Mercer at 42 years old is one of the best performances ever from a fighter over the age of 40 it has to be included for me.

Holmes vs Berbick = Not often talked about but I think this was a very good underrated performance from Holmes. Holmes had been on a string of stoppage victories in world title fights, and Berbick was game/hungry and went the distance with Holmes in a game effort. But Holmes showed great composure and won near enough every round against a strong determined opponent in one of his most underrated performances IMO.

 

Good list Imine would be identical.

 

I agree with your list.

 

My favourite is the Spinks fight because of the story behind it, apparently at a function Spinks was being disrespectful to Joe Louis, Larry told him to settle down and Spinks got jumpy about it and LH held a grudge (shocking I know) he said when he was beating him he still worried that he was hurting him too much, actually that was a pattern I noticed in his book he was concerned to hurt people Ali, Cooney, Spinks and I believe Frazier were guys he was concerned about. If Cobbs to believed Holmes came up to his room to complain about how much his hands hurt lol a man of compassion…

 

The Spinks win was actually a better one than often given credit for. Yes we all know that Leon was not a great fighter. But regardless of his shortcomings he was an Olympic gold medalist, former linear champion and coming off a good win streak going into the Holmes fight. And Larry looked dominant in taking him apart.

 

* Larry Holmes - Ken Norton
* Larry Holmes - Earnie Shavers I (total dominance)
* Larry Holmes - Gerry Cooney
* Larry Holmes - Mike Weaver (I know Larry was sick, but it was still a great fight)
* Larry Holmes - Leon Spinks (Holmes never looked better, and Leon was a legit top heavy at the time)

 

I remember the story as Spinks got fresh with Larry's wife at a function perhaps the same one

 

I believe maybe the function was for Joe Louis and he disrespected Larry’s wife? Or it could be both, started with dissing Louis and moved to LH’s wife when he got involved. I can’t remember, I’m positive Louis was involved lol.

 

Larry Holmes consensus top ten wins, and runners up...

Norton-5
Witherspoon-5
Shavers 2-5
Cooney -5
Berbick-5
Leon Spinks-5
Bonecrusher-4
Mercer-4
Shavers 1-4
Weaver-4
Ali-1
Williams-1
Bey-1
Cobb-1

 

Amazing how different the Spinks brothers were as fighters and as people.

 

True enough, interestingly I’ve heard M Spinks refer to Holmes as a bully and I’ve never got that impression myself he seemed like a pretty standard blue collar guy.

 

Am I the only one that feels like Holmes was slipping a tad by the time he fought Cooney?

 

He was, not a lot. He was still prime but his peak was a smidgeon behind him.