Anthony Joshua vs prime Larry Holmes

Holmes has a claim for being a top 10 heavyweight. AJ doesn’t even enter the conversation of top 20.

 

What are we comparing it to; AJ Vs. Holmes ATG or H2H ??

 

30, even

 

AJ KOs Holmes. Larry got sent to space by an old one-trick pony in Shavers and by Renaldo Snipes for crying out loud. He struggled with an inactive and drug-riddled Cooney who forget how to punch, and had to go deep to the well to beat an ancient Ken Norton. AJ is a better at setting up his shots than Shavers, hits just as hard, has better killer instinct and finishing ability, and is light years better overall than any of the aforementioned guys Holmes struggled deeply with. When AJ lands a big right hand and drops Holmes, he will surely jump on him smarter than Snipes or Shavers did. It’s not like Holmes would have agreed to fight a dangerous opponent like AJ if it weren’t for huge sums of cash anyway.

 

Holmes would jab jab jab jab some more because why not, possibly best jab in heavyweight history aong with being accurate. AJs eyes would be swollen after. Holmes wins

 

Holmes would make AJ drunk then mug him.

 

Larry vs Usyk would be a much better discussion and closer fight

 

Ruiz fights nothing like Holmes though. If AJ has a stylistic weakness it is clearly to aggressive counterpunchers like Ruiz and Usyk. Holmes wasn’t an agressive counterpuncher, he was a savvy outboxer, and these are the types of opponents AJ has a record of doing very well against since he’s good on the front foot as a seek and destroy type of fighter with a knack for crushing right hand counters over the jab. AJ is, stylistically, an absolute nightmare for Larry since he’s somebody as skilled or more so than anybody Larry fought in his prime coupled with the power of Shavers (in two hands which doesn’t fade late either like Shavers’ power) which gave him so much trouble. The nearest counterpart to AJ on Holmes’ recored is probably Spinks, and AJ is much bigger than Spinks and packs a bigger punch. This thread is just so disproportionately in favour of Holmes here when AJ has a puncher’s chance and then some against Larry, who got cracked with big shots in his prime on a number of occasions. AJ losing to the fat Mexican guy is pretty funny but it doesn’t really have much to do with how he’d handle Holmes imo.

 

"Cooney forgot how to punch"

Don't tell me this another bizarre conspiracy theory from you thinking Cooney threw the fight ? I'm not sure what fight you watched but Cooney threw his left hook often.

I also like you say "ancient" and "inactive" but don't mention Joshua struggled immensely vs a 41 year old inactive Wladimir, and i also can't see a prime Larry Holmes been floored 4 times and beaten to a pulp by an obese Andy Ruiz.

Lastly Holmes dominated Snipes and Shavers outside of the knockdowns.

 

Holmes rattles AJ throughout the fight buildup and stops the fragile Brit late.

 

Larry easily.

 

Triangle theories are useless in boxing.

 

Nah, it was a real fight. I was just referring to how Cooney chose to box rather than fight. I like Holmes, he’s an ATG HW, should be in every credible HW top 10 no matter how you look at his career. I just think he’s overrated and wanted to argue Joshua’s case since nobody else was.