Can You See Any Other Lightheavy s Beating Holmes?

Evander Holyfield fought his first pro fight at LHW. Therefore, another former LHW did beat Holmes.

 

Not far fetched to imagine someone like Tommy Loughran or Ezzard Charles doing it at that stage of his career.

 

Not sure about twice but if Holmes underestimated them like he did Spinks in their 1st meeting then i see possibly these names upsetting him.

RJJ
Michael Moorer
Chris Byrd = I believe he had some fights at Light Heavyweight in his early professional career.
Archie Moore
Ezzard Charles

I think tricky/fast fighters would have the best chance against a 35 year old unmotivated Holmes.

 

Not really. And Spinks was what would earlier be considered a decent sized heavy at 6-2+, 76" reach, 200 pounds when he beat Holmes.

 

In 1985 and 1986 ? Yes. I think Roy Jones and Ezzard Charles for starters would be two very good candidates to beat THAT version of Larry Holmes.

 

In fairness most people here seem to think that he only did it once, so a win and a bad decision woudl do.

 

Just clarifying, is this Holmes specifically when Spinks beat him, or Holmes at his best? I assume it’s the former?

 

In that case, Tunney & Charles at the very least.

 

Spinks was a well sized Heavyweight though by the time he fought Holmes, and also had a pretty good punch on him at that weight. I remember Cobb saying Spinks hit damn hard when he sparred him.

Can RJJ take the same right hand that Spinks did in the 14th round of their 2nd fight ? debatable but i would say no.

Like i said i can see the fighters i listed maybe beating Holmes once due to Holmes being unmotivated, but 2 would be a stretch even via a bad decision. Because Holmes went at Spinks pretty hard in the first 5 rounds or so of their 2nd fight, not every Light Heavyweight even if they're great could withstand that aggression/pressure from a fairly big Heavyweight like Holmes.

 

Billy Conn. Larry Holmes was uncomfortable in fights where he was the aggressor. Conn stylistically would have had Holmes frustrated much the same way Joe Louis was in their first meeting. Michael Spinks forced Holmes to be the aggressor on Sept 21 1985, Spinks won the IBF Title that night.