Yeah deal, but your claustrophobic yes or no will be addressed in detail and not one word of course. So explain it again, i answer the 4 questions, you answer them, then you rebutt my answers while i rebutt yours then that's it?
We'll do this more toward and over the weekend tho, i will be basically putting enough into it for it to have been entered into the previous ESB Classic forum competitions. It'll be like a mini story (or not so mini)
That is it. 1) We each answer the four questions. 2 ) Then we each get one rebuttal to how the other person answered questions in full quote context only. 3 ) And finally issue a closing statement, which is not open for a rebuttal by either person. Its a three step, three post thread. I have a wedding to attend, so Saturday is out for me. Firday morning is open, and Sunday is open.
Greg Page won the right legitimately to fight Holmes. And Holmes ducked him! It wasn't like Holmes was just taking a tune-up fight or making a voluntary defense. Greg Page was his mandatory. He was the number one contender. Page won an elimination fight to fight Holmes. And Holmes chose not to fight him! The fights Holmes had with Witherspoon and Williams turned out to be good, competitive fights; but going into those fights, Witherspoon and Williams weren't viewed as being big threats to Holmes. That was not the case against a Page fight. Greg Page was viewed as a big threat to Holmes, and he wasn't green and inexperienced like Witherspoon and Williams were going into their fights with Holmes. So, using the Witherspoon and Williams fights as a way to make up for Holmes not fighting Page can't work. There was obviously something about Greg Page that made Holmes agreeing to fight him difficult? You don't start making excuses and outrageous demands when you are fighting an opponent that totally unconcerns you. And the fact that Page would go on to lose to some of Holmes' old victims means nothing. Certain fighters beat certain fighters. And styles make fights. And a fighter like Page, an up-and-down type of a fighter, you never which Page was going to show up. And, if the fight between Holmes and page had come off when it was supposed to in 1983, who knows what would have happened? The bottom line is Greg Page was Holmes mandatory, and Holmes chose not to fight him. And don't forget Pinklon Thomas. He was another fighter that Holmes avoided.
It was the complete lack of consistency. Guys like Occasio beat guys like Young. IMO Larry fought LeDoux to help him out in a way, Scott's wife had cancer and could use some money, so Larry gave him the pay day.
:huh The below are our four points to put forth comments on, then rebutt each other, then a final summation, right? 1 ) As I said before Holmes not fighting Page does not even register on the radar screen in boxing history of fights that could have been made. 2 ) As I pointed out, Holmes opponents that he defeated also beat Page during the mid 1980s, so how good Page? 3 ) While I agree with you that Page deserved a shot for a brief 1-1.5 year window in time, Holmes took another fight to fight an undefeated fighter for more money. 4 ) Holmes as an older fighter fought Withepsoon in1983, Smith in 1984, and Spinks in 1985. Clearly, he fought some good fighters. I think all three names here are more accomplished than Page.