Could Larry Holmes have been undisputed if he tried?

If he goes for it in around 83 - 84 then yes possibly.
After that, he'd soon lose to Spinks so I doubt it.

 

Sure, of course. I’d favor him to do just that. He did beat the best version of Witherspoon anyone ever saw (though in fairness I had that one a draw) and because we never saw Spoon in that kind of shape again or with that focus, I’d pick Larry in a rematch without hesitation. I think all would agree too that he’d have beaten Coetzee like a drum.

Though they’re tougher fights on paper, I’d favor him to squeak by Page and Thomas as well.

 

He beat Weaver who he'd have needed to beat so the answer is clearly yes.

People at that time did not care about the moniker of undisputed. And if they did undisputed meant everyone thought you were the champ not that you held every belt. Why were Usyk or Beterbiev considered undisputed when they didn't unify any of the interim belts? Same logic.

 

Actually Holmes was supposed to fight another belt holder in Coetzee but the fight was cancelled.

 

I think Pinklon Thomas would have been a really good hard match for Holmes. Assuming both men are at their best, Thomas had several things that would have given Holmes trouble. The match never happened for several reasons. More disappointing is the lack of rematches with fighters like Witherpsoon, Williams, Norton. These are glaring omissions in Holmes' legacy. It is for these reasons I rate him below Ali and Joe Louis. Holmes gave up the WBC belt in 1983 after refusing to face Greg Page over monetary considerations. Page was Larry's no.1 contender. If your going to be a champion, you can go make your money all you want, but do you mandatories. Holmes didn't do that, and he began to feel he had done enough and should pick the easiest fighters for the most money. That's fine, that's smart. But it left a lot of unanswered questions about Holmes' true dominance when combined with his lack of rematches against fighters he went life and death with.
I dont think Larry would have been undisputed. He wouldnt have valued that over a smartly managed career. I rate Holmes as possibly the fourth greatest under Ali.Louis>Lewis>Holmes

 

For me personally when I made my post saying Holmes was undisputed meant he was undisputed against the early WBA champs. I think the later Holmesian alphabet champs were considerably stronger and more serious threats. With them the bigger problem was holding on to their belts. But the premise of TS's claim is that Holmes never was really undisputed and asking "could he have been if he tried". And for a large part of Holmes reign he was viewed clearly as "the champ".

 

Holmes was the undisputed king even with only 1 belt until 1983. Lineal and The Ring champion, plus he had the WBA lineage in his hands.

 

I think we're overestimating the alphabet a bit. I think Larry was undisputed, he was number 1 until the Spinks fight. It didn't matter what belt he had, he wasn't clearly dominant and could have had some better fights, but he was still the best. The Ring probably had him as No. 1 all along, and it's also worth mentioning his lineal championship...

 

He wanted no part of a rematch with Weaver and I don't blame him. Weaver gave him a life and death battle before he improved as champ.

50/50 in my eyes. And Dokes beats the 82-83 version imo.

As Dalton said, "Opinions vary"....

 

Prime Holmes could have beaten any pro boxer that existed in the 80's HW rankings.

Would he win? Hard to say. Tubbs could be a slippery counter puncher when he bothered to get in shape and train hard. Page was strong with good fundamentals and lots of energy. Thomas had a great jab and a good chin with decent defensive skills. All 3 had good jabs, really, and Holmes wasn't too fond of having to win a jab war or needing to take initiative.

I think at some point he might've become undisputed if he went for it, but it would be an extremely difficult fight. However, at some point he would eventually lose the belts and take an L because the division was just too stacked. You had guys like Bruno, Douglas, Ruddock, etc all these big talented guys popping up who might have beaten him before Spinks did, especially once Holmes started getting older. That 80's era was a minefield.

 

Yes. IMO the only better heavyweights ever to step into a ring were Ali and Louis.

 

You are forgetting Razor Ruddock