How Good Was Larry Holmes?

H2H larry was probably top 10 all time.

Possibly the best jab you'll see on a heavyweight, and his all round game was good though his chin wasnt the best it was good and he had decent powers of recovery and could get through rough moments better than some guys with better chins.

I would take Larry to outpiont Evander. Lewis had even more reach on his jab than Holmes and might well be able to negate that weapon and make his bigger size and better power count. I'd take Lewis to outpoint Larry. Lewis is a bad matchup for him though as he is basically a bigger version of Larry.

And if you want a fight in the car park, Larry was your man.

You can find the Cooney and Norton fights on youtube.... have a watch, well worth the time.

 

Larry was a great fighter who was never given the proper respect he deserved. He was always compared to Ali when he was champion, and then was more unpopular when he dished out a severe beating to a washed up Ali.

I think he would have beaten Evander by using his excellent jab and right know-how, and a fight with Lewis would have been a toss up.

 

I have Larry Holmes above Lennox. I don't think a prime Lennox beats a prime Holmes. So Holmes was boring to watch, he is still top five HW

 

He was damn good but he fought in a pretty bad era. An old Norton gave him the fight of his life, he hit the canvas a # of times but almost always came back, (except vs. Tyson) Although he was old when it happened, Spinks beat him the first fight. The fact that he was 48-0 going into that fight is very impressive

Holyfield and Lewis would be very tough matchups for Holmes. I'd favor Lewis to beat him by UD, maybe even late KO, as Lewis could punch! Holyfield vs. Holmes would be a fantastic fight, Holy had the speed, chin, and energy to give him a hell of a fight that could go either way.

I give Holmes huge credit for getting off the canvas after atg puncher Ernie Shavers crushed him with a perfect shot late in their fight. That was one of the best examples of a guy who should have been KTFO, but somehow managed to scrape himself off the canvas. Check it out on u-tube.

 

I'd say, top 5 of all time Heavyweights. and top 25 of all time period.

 

had proberly the best double front leg kick (whilst leaping off a car) in the game.

 

The coolest things I've ever seen in my life.

1. Evel Kneivel attempting the Snake River Canyon Jump. Did he fail? Sure. But he was told he could easily be killed or die during the attempt, and he yawned. The fact that he climbed inside a ****ing rocket ship a/la Wile E. Coyote, just to impress his fans? Evel was a god.

2. Ali showing up at the weigh in against Sonny Liston, and banging a cane screaming, and making a spectacle of himself, when at the times, that sort of thing just wasnt done.

3. Holmes drop kicking Berbick off of the roof of a car. **** Professionalism, and Sportsmanship. **** "Actions becoming of a Heavyweight Champion" or mindfulness, and etiquette. When you **** with Larry Holmes and **** him off, there isnt anything in a script that Vince McMahon could come up with to top this. Bar none, my favorite Holmes moment.

 

Holmes has moved from being the most underrated heavy of all time, to quite an overrated one the past few years. Posts about Holmes always go on about him being underrated - not anymore, loads of people talk about him as top five hw of all time.

As for Holy and Lewis, I would take both of them over Holmes. He wouldn't have kept getting up when Lewis landed on him. Holy's excellent combination punching (early 90s) and movement would get Holmes, provided he could get past the excellent jab.

Holmes was an excellent champ, but I think he gets a touch too much credit these days - almost certainly a result of him being previously so ignored.

 

make no mistake about it, larry holmes would have competed strongly against any heavyweight theres ever been.

 

Despite what I said, I think this is true. But I would say that's true of maybe the top 15-20 heavies of all time.

 

Great boxer and id rate him top 5 alltime heavyweight

1-Ali-obvious choice
2-Joe louis
You can make an argument for Jack Johnson- Marciano-Dempsey-Foreman-or Holmes for the rest of the top 10, even Lennox Lewis deserves consideration..

 

I rank him 5-6 alltime of the Heavyweights,

(My list only goes back to Louis).

 

Holmes is without a doubt the most under rated heavyweight champion of all times. His style was boring, and not being a huge knockout artist as a heavyweight hurt him...He wasnt flashy, he was were he came from..grew up in a working class area and he was a working class hard hat wearing fighter, he just got in the ring and went to work. All of his loses came after the age of 35 and three of the six came after the age of 40.

Top 5 heavyweight of all times. Im not sure just were, but I would put him above Rocky, and below Ali and Louis.

 

Totally agree.