Holmes opinion of Ali

Holmes should have beaten the best fighters of his era before he can say he could beat the best of the other era's. Thomas,Weaver,Dokes,Coetzee,Page and throw in never rematched tough fights and never unified....his best wins were Norton and Cooney and a lot of the rest were fighters with 10-2-2 , 10 -0-0 , 13 , fights or guys that were very green and suited his style.....Sorry Holmes was one of those guys that may have been better if he fought the best or he may have a few more serious loses on his record...I think the later would be the case

 

I'm not saying Ali would KO Holmes (don't think he would), but his right would in all probablity give Holmes all kinds of trouble. I would say that Holmes was more reliant on his jab than Ali, who often resorted to countering the other guy's jab when he felt that paid better dividends.

 

Still have this post saved from Bokaj I believe:

In Hauser's biography about Ali there's an interesting story about Ali sparring with Holmes. It's told by Gene Kilroy in Ali's camp. Obviously Holmes had said in interview that Ali was the champ, but that he, Holmes, was the better fighter. Kilroy tells Hauser what happened after that got back to Ali:

"So that day, when Ali went out to spar with Holmes, first round, he moved on him. Pop-pop-pop-pop, backed Holmes into corner and told him, 'Larry my legs are gone'. And Holmes said: 'No, they're not, champ.' Second round, Ali beat on him again, and at the end, shouted across the ring, 'I'm old!' And Holmes said, 'No, champ; no, you're not.' Third round, he beat the **** out of Larry, went back to his corner, and yelled, 'Larry, you're the better fighter. I just got the title.' Holmes was crying, 'No, champ; that's a lie.' Bundini and I laughed our heads off, altough I don't Larry thought it was funny."

 

Sparring stories always differ depending on which camp are talking about them. There's ones in Holmes' book and how he had to go easy sometimes to make Ali look good. Both could be true, both could be bull****.

 

Holmes vs Ali both Prime Ali in a very close fight. Foreman vs Ali in the states no voodoo etc I may pick foreman.

 

I estimate that a prime Holmes would beat a prime AIi 6 fights out of 10. However, I think Frazier and Norton would have posed just as much trouble for Holmes as they did for Ali.

 

Exactamundo! While I give Larry his due as being a great fighter and special champion, there are some serious holes in Larry Holmes' title reign. He avoided the best fighters of his era, and like you pointed out, he fought guys (Witherspoon, Williams) who, while they turned out to be to tough fights and good fighters, going into those fights they were inexperienced and appeared to have not much of a shot against Holmes. Holmes ducked Greg Page when Page was his mandatory; there's no way around his refusal to fight Page. Scott Frank, Lucien Rodriguez, Marvis Frazier - what about Pinklon Thomas, Mike Dokes, and even rematches with Witherspoon and Williams? Holmes DID NOT fight any and everybody as it is so commonly stated.

 

I think they're both bull. From the clips of sparring that I've seen of them, they were working with eachother pretty well with no one really beating on anyone and no one clearly trying to knock the other out.

 

110% with Larry on this and he did Ali a favour by not putting him down when they fought,the referee did Ali NO favour by letting him go to the distance when he was totally outclassed .
Ali should not have been in the ring and was way past his best..

 

I respect your opinion.

Too bad that fight never occurred....in their primes.

Boxing would have been the better for it.