36 year old Larry Holmes vs prime Evander Holyfield

Holmes at 43 gave Holyfield a tough close fight winning at least 4-5 rounds. If he was younger and had more energy and could throw more volume then I think he could def win 2-3 more rounds that he needs to win the fight so I think he would win.

 

Evander boxed well within himself when they met. He's also a much better heavyweight than Michael Spinks who was (albeit harshly) adjudged the winner against a 36 year old Larry. He's also better than Carl Williams, a green Tim Witherspoon or some of other guys who'd been giving Larry hell in the year leading up to the Spinks fights.

Prime 1978-1982 Larry is a better heavy than Evander but after that he was slipping. If he was champ, he wouldn't even have fought Evander. Let's give Holyfield some due respect. There's not much between him and Larry when both were at their best. When Larry was a few years past peak, Evander should be favoured to take control.

 

Holyfield decision....next.

 

OH this is a good fight! Benton said Holyfield couldn’t do anything with Holmes and I agree. I think he is EH’s foil here he’s just too sharp with it too smart.Holmes is a nightmare for pretty much everybody and this would be a helluva trilogy but more like Fury vs Wilder with a clear “better” id love to have seen EVANDER come up in 86 and fight Holmes instead of Spinks he probably wouldn’t win (bit green) but I’d love to have seen it and with how Holmes treated rematches he might’ve entertained letting the CW champ come up instead of a third fight with Spinks.

 

I actually had him with a very, very biased card beating Holyfield (I watched it in very slow motion) don’t know how that holds up when I’m sober but it happened lol.

 

I'm a big Holmes fan as you know but there's a few important factors people are missing about this fight.

1. Holmes accidentally elbowed Holyfield late in the fight that caused a bad cut which turned the momentum around in the last few rounds.

2. Holmes in the 90s fought primarily off the ropes and he fought a defensive fight vs Holyfield trying to negate his offence. Holmes in the 80s didn't fight like that and I don't think 36 year old version who barely scrapped by Williams and clearly lost to Spinks the 1st time would be able to beat a prime Holyfield.

Final conclusion I think Holmes from 1977-1982 would be able to outpoint a prime Holyfield but certainly not the 1985-1986 version who at this time was not looking to fight the very best contenders and was going through the motions in his fights.

 

Agree, there's plenty of context to sift thru per the fight they did actually have. It's Holyfield for sure IMO.