How many of Larry Holmes losses did you think were robberies ?

I watched the second bout vs Spinks live. I walked away thinking it was the worst decision ever. However I’ve watched the bout several times recently and I clearly give it to Spinks. Holmes won a huge percentage of the rounds over the first seven as he aggressively tried to ko Spinks. In process Holmes exhausted himself. Spinks won most rounds after rounds 7 or 8.

 

I think you are just biased towards Spinks. Even if you think it was close it was then still close and clear for Holmes who close the show

 

Not at all. I was a Holmes fan. Watch the entire bout. Holmes dominated the first 7 or so rounds then Spinks took over as Holmes become exhausted. Close by clear win for Spinks.

 

Imo Spinks did better in the middle rounds but to me Holmes practically swept the early rounds and finished off the last two in a big way. There's also the fact that Spinks was hurt several times minimum, nearly floored hard toward the end, while Spinks didn't hurt him even once.

 

I still think you are biased.While Spinks made it closer, Larry closed the show leaving absolutely no doubt.

 

Fights as close as the Spinks ones were too close to call them robberies,imo Nielson supposedly got lucky,and Holmes was possibly worth a draw against McCall.

 

My point is that when you're lugging around an extra 20-30lbs, it has to hurt your cardio.

 

If he (somehow) drained down to 215 he would have been overtrained, listless, dead in the water and other such things.

Holmes, in his best second career performance, weighed 233 beating Mercer. A full 3 years later he was only 3 pounds heavier, at 236, when losing to McCall.

George Foreman was 33 pounds heavier when he won the title for a second time. There are countless examples at heavyweight. If it was advantageous to drain down to their early career weights they'd all be doing it. It's just not feasible at such a career stage.

You can almost make comparisons with lighter division fighters too. Duran made 135 for many years but picture him, at somewhat comparable career stages to Holmes trying to boil down to 135 or even 147 after beating Barkley. It wouldn't be pretty.

It's one of boxing's axioms unless talking about high fat content fighters who late career sort themselves out. Holmes at 215 definately wasn't that.

You would be bang on (obviously) if talking about a younger prime fighter who was simply lazy and hugely overweight. A Ruiz or James Broad for example. Even then they would have to lose the weight over a reasonable period of time to get the full benefits.