How do we feel about Larry Holmes saying Tyson wouldnt have survived the Golden Era?

If Emmanuel Steward thinks a fighter is physically fading by age 23, then yeah, I do know more than him - about physiology, rather than Boxing. He was treating his body like a garbage dump & his life was wildly out of control in every conceivable facet.

But no, he was an old man at 23 & 24. Sure, Jan.

 

You can call it whatever you want but one thing is certain, he was the best player of his era and he proved that he would be someone in absolutely any era. I think he would be even better in some ways. Of course, it could happen that it would come across Liston in the 1960s or Foreman in the 1970s and we would never hear about it. It is almost as likely that if Joe Frazier had met someone like Georg or Sonny before Ali, we would remember him as the Olympic champion who fought Patterson in his debut... and I can't remember his name Joe Frazier fighting with Big George is a nobody but fighting Ali may be the best HW ever. If he had ended his career in 1971, today we would have a poll - Joe Louis or Joe Frazier. And if Ali didn't get his license back, he would probably have a forum thread like - was Joe Frazier better than Flooyd Patterson, and that would be ok.
To the point - Mike Tyson moved from the fight with Mercedes to Holmes' career, knocks out almost all of his rivals, wins in stunning style over Norton, Leon Spinks, sick Ali, becomes boxer of the year and everything that happened in the 80s, maybe he still wins with Cooney and people wonder if anyone in history was that good and then he is unexpectedly knocked out by Trevor Berbick which practically ends him as an outstanding boxer and Berbick becomes ATG defending the title a few more times because he is more motivated than JBD and the competition is not outstanding; ) real scenario? more than you think

 

Happens with most boxers for me tbh, the amount of nonsense they spill everytime they get interviewed is crazy.

 

Going off my memory. But he defended his championship
nine times not six......

 

Yeah, but not undisputed championship. He gathered all 3 belts after 3 defences of the WBC belt and it took 3 more defences to beat the reigning lineal champion Michael Spinks.

 

Yeah, fighters are notorious for saying their “best” or “toughest” opponents are guys they beat rather than guys they actually lost to or clearly struggled more against.

Tyson might not have been #1 in the “golden era”, but he certainly would have done more than “survived.”

Ali is the only person in that room I’d favor heavily over Mike….

 

Larry can be a curmudgeon.

Mike Tyson on a given night could …not would, could … IMO beat any heavyweight in any era who’s ever lived.

 

I just about agree with you. Only one I can’t ever see him getting past is Foreman. He’d have at least decent underdog odds with all the rest, Ali included.

To hear Holmes say you’d never have heard of him is laughable.