I always felt Larry should have held that belt, unfortunately Ray Mercer was stripped of the belt for fighting Holmes instead of Michael Moorer. I mean Mercer was coming off a ko of previously unbeaten Tommy Morrison, but even though Holmes may have been old and not undefeated he was a boxing legend. Another reason why Holmes not getting the WBO belt was if he did, I think the superfight that never happened- Homes vs Foreman would have been made with a belt being on the line. Oh well I guess that's the politics of boxing, but still pisses me off!
Not much especially in those days but it probably would have mattered to Holmes to have won a version of the title again. He certainly had enough shots at it. Losing consecutive titles fights against Spinks, Tyson, Holyfield and McCall and so as lightly regarded as the WBO were, I think Holmes would have being more than happy to have claimed it.
Bugner went this route with the WBF and no one cares or cared. Holmes did eventually try for the IBO. At this time people had no idea the WBO belt would have any more significance than the WBU, IBO, IBA and WBF. The guys who won the WBO in the 90s kind of just had the politics go their way after the fact. I don't think Holmes was ever fighting Foreman but Foreman v Holmes for the title made no sense. The winner would be the oldest champion who won that title over someone the exact same age. Headline "45 year old man becomes oldest champion in history by beating other 45 year old man". The loser would have the loss actually matter for their legacy. If Foreman or Holmes fought younger opponents like McCall and Savarese they were playing with house money. But if they fought each other their legacys from their prime were on the line.
I think Bowe won it against Hide, right? Yet he's not even really recognized as a two-time. Point taken, OP, and if you feel bad about it, or even the McCall razor-thin loss, take solace in the fact that the comeback basically re-wrote Holmes' career and gave him a popularity that he never had as champ.
I see a Holmes documentary recently and even Holmes said when the crowd started cheering his name late on in the fight vs Mercer. He felt like he was finally getting the respect that he didn't have when he was champion.
WBO was considered a European paper title and wasn't taken seriously at all. If Holmes won it he wouldn't be ranked by the WBA, WBC or IBF if I'm correct. So he'd eventually be stripped if he wanted Holyfield's belts anyways. Holmes-Foreman would've been nice though.
Not too much. Mercer-Morrison was pretty much sold as a clash of two undefeated contenders (one of whom got beat by Rocky Balboa in a street fight), not as a legit heavyweight title fight. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WBO_world_champions#Heavyweight I’d say it was around the mid 00s when this changed.
Would Larry have even bothered to accept it ? Who knows. What would it be worth ? Money ? Maybe. Historical impact on his record , doubtful.
Isn't it enough that Larry Holmes "promoted" a new boxing federation - the IBF? Did you need another one (WBO)?
I don’t think Holmes cared about the WBO and nor do I think Foreman would have fought him even if he acquired it.
