1972 v. 1982 heavyweights

I think that at times is what made Holmes who he was.

The guys you mention, Weaver had excellent power but wasn't a seek and destroy type guy. Berbick wasn't a hard hitter, more of an arm puncher. Snipes had a hard right hand but again, wasn't a big hitter. Smith had some power but was very limited. Witherspoon had good power but not huge and he was still maturing a bit when he fought Holmes.

Holmes won all these fights, tho i will agree none were great finishers or really top notch fighters. Tho i talked about him whipping around the ring earlier he was far from a pure boxer and traded quite often in most of his fights. He was very good at it and had sensational recuperative powers. He was in very bad shape when he rose against Snipes but was back on an even keel in no time and in control again at the rounds end.

His willingness to fight back went in his favor against Witherspoon imo. Witherspoon had him in all sorts of trouble but Holmes steadily turned it around, throwing some heavy shots and put an aggressive Witherspoon looking for the stoppage back on his heels.

He did run a bit from Shavers at times when hurt. I'm not sure i've ever seen someone come back from a bigger punch than the one Shavers dropped Holmes with. Even after rising he was in dire trouble for some time but Shavers could not finish him.

I agree you have an interesting point, what would happen when Holmes is tagged by big punchers with the class to put noticably more pressure on him than the likes of the more limited fghters he was hurt by. Larry did have some serious trouble against far from great opposition.

I think part of the scenario's is that he seldom got people out of there quickly. He was an accumulation puncher who also traded a bit, so he was often in there with these guys for quite some time.

I fluctuate on Holmes H2H, often i can see him surviving a Foreman and/or Tyson/Louis in the early rounds and then gradually taking over. Other times i wonder just what would happen when they hurt him. Could they finish him? A terrible version of Holmes got through some rounds against Tyson. Peak he would have been faster, just as durable and sported a massively better offense. But Snipes, Weaver and co. were much lesser fighters than Foreman, Tyson and Louis.

It's always a fascinating subject. You can absolutely argue quite strongly either way.

 

I agree..in fact i have no problem with anyone picking holmes in his peak vs foreman because actually you can make an argument for both men winning,foreman could end the job that lesser fighters/punchers could not but if holmes fights careful could outbox foreman even with the chance of stopping him late by tko. What i saying is that you cant use jimmy YOUNG as example to make an argument for larry,they were different,holmes took much more risks.
By the way i cant see holmes surviving to tyson,he had the speed that foreman did not have,he would be the first one to knock Prime larry out

 

Jeez, pretty much agree with all of this. You might be right about Holmes - Tyson, but it's a tough one. Holmes would have to fight a similar fight to Holyfield in some ways, tying him up in close but also hitting when Tyson does. Contrary to what some would envision, he wouldn't just be able to jab him all night long. It would get heated in there. For me it all depends if Holmes can survive the rocky moments.

 

If this had been a match up for one year earlier in the respective decades,I would have FOTC Frazier stopping Holmes late on.

 

Frazier - Holmes would be gruelling. Big Book of Boxing, who did great Dream fights, had Holmes winning by a hair after hitting the canvas twice from memory.

 

I just can't see Holmes outpointing that version of Frazier.
Actually i think the only way to beat FOTC Joe, would be to stop him and Larry's not doing that.
That night, for me, he was not going to be outpointed by anyone.

 

Agreed ,1978 norton gave Holmes all he could handle,71 frazier was a real nightmare for ali and holmes type boxers,holmes did not have the power enough to worry him