Anthony Joshua vs prime Larry Holmes

You left out Ken Norton.You left out Roy Williams.
Coetzee got stopped by Mike Weaver the same boxer who Holmes stopped.

 

AJ gonna eat jabs faster than Joey Chestnut eats glizzies. (mind you that's a rate of 66/12min, or 5.5 per minute)

 

I will at least favour Holmes over most heavyweights, including AJ, because of his total package quality, including mentally. AJ is not necessarily fairly regarded in that respect, but I would point out as an ages-old Holmes fan who has seen most of what there is on tape, that Larry doesn't likely walk in and dominate or easily stop AJ. He is a man who often found himself in absolute dogfights because he didn't easily handle fighters who were sometimes nowhere and I'm going to emphatically reiterate NOWHERE near AJ's physical or technical gifts. It's part of my love for Holmes but it's not a compliment toward him that he had a lot of those fights and gutted out wins.

I love the character it speaks to that when you're on top for a long time, it speaks to the fact that you're probably having really bad nights and bad stylistic match-ups and giving people a lot of chances to study every tiny flaw or subtle habit you have, and still winning because you're psychologically together enough to do so when it looks like things are going to go belly-up for you during a match. But let's not pretend Larry didn't have a very serious fight with Cooney (not vaguely as good as AJ) and Snipes (same thing) and WItherspoon (who I admit would have had a good shot against AJ, as Cooney to a lesser degree would have a reasonable enough chance against) and got through them with his hand raised but had some reasonable criticism about his level that some guys who either went on to not much, or didn't have that much experience, or had oddly so-so records coming in, were giving him these types of fights. Then you get the view of him (which I hold) that he's so great, and the irrational following thought that of course since AJ isn't so great as Holmes, Holmes would just have his way with him. I doubt he would. I favour him, but I don't think he walks in and handles him like a vacation either. He could actually get quite hurt on the way to a win. That's the real Holmes.

 

Guys come on Holmes was one of the most complete fighters in history compared to AJ who has chin and stamina issues and is very stiff.

How exactly would AJ win? Not a 12 round boxing match, he can try slug it out but can you see Larry being stupid enough to fight fire with a bigger harder hitting opponent

I favour Holmes 70/30 in this

 

i agree. However, Holmes, even prime Holmes, had a habit of getting sloppy. He would sometimes leave himself open, sometimes fight flat footed even when not throwing power shots etc. AJ's size, speed and power would pose problems and i think it would be a dog fight. But ultimately Holmes's movemenet, jab and work rate would win it for him.

 

I agree he did have a tendency of switching off like against Shavers but he still managed to ride it out, last time AJ got buzzed like that was against Ruiz and he couldn't recover and I think Shavers hit's a lot harder than Ruiz