1988 Larry Holmes vs David Tua?

peak 80-81 holmes would spear tua to a stand still. good fight though. old holmes would have his hands full. tua lacked a bit of imagination, maybe holmes could get inside tua's head, kid him and make him think and scrape through. tua was no tyson.

 

Id still favour Holmes...He is just all wrong for a plodder like Tua.

 

I have respect for what Tua was at his best but I think he still gets outclassed in dealing with a poor stylistic match-up here.

 

Holmes via wide UD.

'88 Holmes gets underrated because Tyson obliterated him.
Peak Tua probably even loses to the '95 Holmes (who deserved the decision against McCall), since quality jabs are kryptonite to Tua.

 

I go along with this.Tua would n't be as sharp as Tyson was, in not allowing a ring rusty Holmes get out of the blocks,in 1988.

 

Holmes would win comfortably on points. Tua has always struggled against decent boxers with good jabs and Holmes is durable enough to take the odd big hook to earn a decision.

 

I love Tua but this is not a good matchup for him. Larry would keep David off balance all night with jabs and lead rights en route to a UD...watch the Tua-Lewis fight and you'll see what I'm talking about.

 

ok, im probably gonna get shot down for this, but for me mercer was a far better fighter than tua....and look what old larry did with him...holmes via boring decision, bit like lennox vs tua...

 

Mercer could be lazy but at his best I'd agree he was better than any version of Tua I have seen.

 

A big hook was not the weapon needed against Holmes. Larry had a lifetime of learning how to cope with them in sparring with Frazier. Holmes would be respectful of his power, on high alert, and consequently dominate by keeping it at range.

 

mercer was hugel underrated sometimes, but perversley i sometimes think given his advanced years when he took up boxing, he was an overachiever....

 

I wouldn't pick prime Tua over the Holmes that lost to McCall. Bad style match-up.

 

Tua would take Holmes, on a controversial split decision.Holmes, this version, hadn't trained, and would not be properly prepared for Tua.