Devolution into Madness: Norton vs Holmes

I liked Larry's defense. He used the same move as Ali, pulling the head back and to the side from jabs, and was rolled punches very well by turning his head with them. He also had tremendous hand speed, especially with the jab. He belongs in that discussion.

I don't think his offense was all that impressive in this fight, though. There wasn't too much except the jab. But he did will against Kenny at mid-range in the last minute of the last round.

 

And underrated hand speed, I'd say.

But, yes, he had great stamina. But his stamina was probably largely down to his recuperative powers. They were legendary. Not on display here like against, say, Shavers, but he did well to regain control of the fight in the last rounds. That was a strong second (or perhaps third) wind.

 

I should have mentioned hand speed. He was one of the 3 quickest of his era. Not so much in combination but his punches were fast for sure.

 

I agree that he had a good stamina. Great stamina i doubt it

 

Norton was perfect of his feet and i think that he was "a bit"tired too.plus he was the old guy

 

Larry would control Forman not only with the jab which unlike Ali's was a harder more steadier jab and unlike Norton's was faster and more accurate. Holmes was an excellent ring general and superb at judging distance. His defense consisted more than just leaning back.
Now this would be a tough fight for Holmes but he has all the skill set to deal with a young Forman and unlike Jimmy Young, Holmes would force a late round stoppage.

 

I think he was a level above good. He's a heavyweight after all.

Lets ramp it up several levels boxeo -

Rate the stamina of the below. Lets use terrible/poor/average/good/very good/great. Simply choose one -

Larry Holmes
Joe Frazier
Joe Louis
George Foreman
Mike Tyson
Rocky Marciano
Evander Holyfield
Vitali K
Wladimir K

 

I agree that Norton was past his best. Washed up no, but past his best yes.

 

If Holmes is good Foreman would be poor. Holmes is more than one level above George.

 

Ok i give you very good but not great

 

Much better mate.

 

Holmes barely survived the right had bombs of Shavers and Snipes.

Prime Foreman could finish Holmes off if he hurt him as badly (which he likely would) as Shavers and Snipes did.

 

The general consensus is Shavers hits harder than Foreman. Shavers landed flush on a Holmes who got careless cause it was an easy fight for him up until then. I dont see Holmes getting careless with a young Foreman because that wouldn't be an easy fight. Anyway Holmes got up and had Shavers on the ropes by rounds end if I'm not mistaken.
Snipes fight ..Holmes got caught by a bomb he didn't see and got up very true. This was a past his prime Holmes. We're not talking about a past it Holmes as far as I knew.

 

IMO prime Larry beats prime Kenny every time. pvp? Larry was better after that fight and Kenny was better before that fight.
Lastly, did anyone notice their 15th round? Many say Kenny won the round but, IMO, Larry, knowing he had the fight won and?...knowing, at that point, that Kenny wasn't going to hurt him at that point basically went to toe with him. A great round! Both landed big shots but Larry, unafraid, blasted away.
I knew Larry had won after the bell, and he knew it too! Unless some inept judges might score it another way it was Larry all the way.