There are grounds for this kind of reasoning. But Holmes was definitely past it. his fight against Carl Williams proved that...he only won that fight because (like Witherspoon), Carl thought he had it in the bag in the later rounds and got a bit hurt for his troubles. Anyone can see the difference between the Holmes of the Cobb fight (the last fight of his prime) and Williams.
Yes they probably was just as fast, but Spinks was a better boxer, more awkward and harder to hit and harder to time therefore, and it made Holmes look as if he had lost timing, he probably had declined a bit by then, but I don't think he was shot to pieces by then
He would have struggled in the press conference, like everybody, but he would have done his fighting in the ring.
I agree, Larry really only started showing signs of fading with the Lucien Rodriguez fight. That said, he looked quite good against David Bey and Bonecrusher Smith (the latter better than Tyson did a bit later). So, he wasn't completely shot when he fought Spinks, but unquestionably not the same fighter whom ultimately kind of embarrassed Gerry Cooney.
To be fair, Fury wasn't a huge name back then, and not seen as a threat... which made his upset against Wlad 2 years later, all the more shocking.
Why? What is so absurd about what I said? You make out like my points are silly all the time and just say things like 'lol' or 'ok' without giving actual reason to why you disagree
yes he would struggle but probably win a close decision using his jab and right hand and mixed in some body punches..
The word "probably" really has no place in that sentence. While not shot to pieces he was significantly below his best by this point.
I'm not one to overstate Holmes as i believe he gets plenty of that from others but it's beyond any sort of dispute that Holmes very best was comfortably behind him. He was starting to slow a little bit by the time he fought Witherspoon and it was a bit more pronounced by the time he fought Smith and Bey. Holmes just wasn't one of these guys that just fell off the cliff when things went south. He aged gracefully and was still a decent fighter many many years later as we saw against Mercer but again he had lost his edge. In essence he looked "old" in the ring. Now your points on Spinks have some merit but we have to take into account Holmes age and slippage. Spinks stylistic traits and what he brought to the table were a bigger challenge for Holmes than the far slower and lesser skilled guys like Bey and Smith.Holmes could still outskill and outheart those bigger guys. Spinks tho was comfortably the slickest and most skillful guy Holmes defended against and with Holmes having lost a step he was made to look pretty ordinary at times. It was obvious Holmes was struggling to get off even when Spinks was in close proximity. He lacked spark and at this exact point was a "stale" fighter. His reflexes on defense and countering were terrible and it wasn't just due to Spinks speed and awkwardness. He'd also taken Spinks lightly as seen by his better showing in the rematch even if he still looked pretty average. So i'd be happy to accept it was a stylistically awkward Spinks and a stale past his best Holmes as fair context. I'd give him no chance of beating peak Holmes from 5 years earlier. Holmes was actually a fast heavyweight at his best and this would make all the difference. I see you said to someone experience can overcome age and other things (you said they set traps etc) but the fact is Spinks was a GREAT fighter and an awkward one and this wasn't going to be overcome. Also take note of SRL vs Terry Norris. As great as Ray was and as hard as he tried to set traps he could never find fruition against a guy with a suspect chin. Speed and youth won out and it usually does given context.
Regarding Holmes - Fury i have Holmes. He's not going to allow himself to be bullied as the far more fragile Wilder did. He's also more than willing to let his hands go and go to war in places when need be. Even if Fury's size did make it awkward Holmes would be willing to be the aggressor and he has the faster more fluid hands. I see him beating Fury to the punch often enough to win a decision. It might be ugly at times but he'd get there for mine. Lets use some common sense tho - after Fury fights Usyk (if it happens) we will know a helluva lot more about this matchup.
