Ali overrated says Larry Holmes

Dont forget Holmes was 31 and Ali 38 and Ali had not fought for 2 years prior to the fight Holmes won,Great fighter Holmes but hardly put him in tha same Class as Ali,or even Foreman and Frazier at there best.!!!

 

Holmes always looks so awkward when he tries to emulate Ali by 'dancing'. It's one of the small things that amuses me.

 

I think alot of this goes back, to when Larry was handling Muhammad Ali
with relative ease as a sparring partner in 1973/1974.

In Larry's book, he stated that he couldn't believe he could out-jab Muhammad Ali.
Could never figure what all the fuss was about.

 

Ive heard other people say Ali was overrated.He is not my fave fighter by any means but you cant knock his record.He beat pretty much everyone there was to beat and some of them were also great fighters.His fights are not for everyone but you cant say a man with a record like his who beat the opposition that he did was overrated.
He was certainly a better fighter than Holmes and beat better fighters than Holmes.Foreman,Frazier,Liston for starters.

 

But this is very much Larry's perspective.

Ali, and others, didn't share that opinion. In his autobiography he writes that training for Foreman he shadowboxed for 3 rds, skipped ropes for 3 rds and beat the heavybag for 3 rds before sparring, and still had enough to handle his sparring partners. And Larry was one of them.

In Hauser's book there's also an anecdote about how Larry talks big and says that even though Ali is the champ (so this is late '74 or early '75 in other words), he's the better fighter. This gets back to Ali, who then beats Larry up in sparring to show him how wrong he is.

 

So Robinson-Gavilan I should have been a draw too in your book? Interesting.

For a serious boxing fan, who can enjoy the sport without an extremely obvious agenda, you just have to look at the fight to see it's a narrow win for Clay.

 

Holmes is a bitter washed up fool.

 

I would think it would have to depend on the Boxing Commisioner.
On whether he or she felt an unjust verdict was ruled.

It did happen in Japan, in a very interesting fight in 1969.

In a 10-Round fight, fighter 'A' wins the first 8-Rounds, but
fighter 'B' scored '2' knockdowns in Round 9, and '3' knockdowns in Round 10.

Though fighter 'A' had won on the scorecards (by points), the Boxing Commisioner
ruled that fighter 'B' had won his 'two rounds' by such a large margin, that the fight
should be ruled a Draw.

 

Both of them at their best, Ali would decision Holmes.

 

I surprising punch I remember. All of a sudden Tyson lands that right to Larry's temple. Larry said later he was not hurt as much as it took his equlibrium. I thought Larry could have lasted longer.

 

How so? I think he's right to a point, Ali is overrated as in no fighter could match the almost god like status he's been given in general. Though I have noticed there seems to be backlash to this on ESB.

Washed up? The man achieved more than most and seems to have done better with his money than the majority of top level fighters. If anything he could give a few lessons to some ex-champs in how to invest for life after boxing.

I've no agenda against either man, but if you were Holmes what would your thoughts of Ali be? Seems if he's asked for an opinion he gives it, even if it's not what people want to hear.

Holmes would have been a tough match for any heavyweight in history, I don't think he's necessarily a level lower than some of the names mentioned here.

 

I just noticed this. No he wouldn't have . Fact there was no rematch , fact is George lost to Jimmy Young in a hot day , suffering a knockdown in the process again , just shows again that Foreman was suspect to heat exhaustion. Ali was tougher than Foreman , but under regular occasions , Foreman would have cracked Ali/Young's jaws after accumulating enough punishment. Foreman was simply a greater fighter . All Ali and Young could hope for under standard situations was a Byrd-Tua type of a victory , a paper victory which its only significance is the mere happening of the fight and the lasting of the distance , run for their lives was their only hope , no one beat young Foreman in standard situation.

 

I'm surprised that some conspiracy theorists have n't come up with the thought that Foreman faded in the Zaire heat,while Muhammad did n't,because Ali,utilising his long reach,was boxing from the coolness of Madison Square Garden,landing punches on George,who was in Zaire !

 

Personally,I never bought that "Holmes handled Ali with ease" stuff,in their sparring sessions. Holmes probably gave a good account of himself,but nothing more.

 

Larry did have a nice poem about Muhammad Ali, and his 'slow jab'.

In Larry's book, he did mention that any decent fighter that wanted to make it at
Ali's Deer Park Training Camp, first had to spar with Larry Holmes to get approval.

If Larry approved of the guy, then he got to spar with Muhammad.
All the fighters kept coming back, and telling Larry that his jab was so much quicker and
harder than Ali's.