If Holmes beat Spinks in the 1st fight, how long he would've held world title?

I think that the end was nigh to be honest!

Tyson would have ended it, if somebody else didn't sooner.

 

Holmes had been on the downslide for several fights already and it wasn't suprising he couldn't let his punches go in the 1st Spinks go. His title was ready to be taken.

 

Apparently Tony Tubbs was talked about as his next opponent, which meant a WBA - IBF Unification. By that point in Holmes' career, a match with Tubbs would have been very close. Had he beaten Spinks and then Tubbs, he would have reached the mark of 50-0 and unified two of the three sanctioning bodies. Retirement would have been the best move at that point, but knowing Holmes that wasn't going to happen, so an eventual loss was inevidable

 

Holmes slipped visibly after 1983. Had he beaten Spinks, and avoided Witherpsoon, Thomas, and Dokes, odds are he could have made 1-2 more successful title defenses.

 

Just a thought, but Tubbs probably is not a good guy to be fighting when your hand speed is going.

 

True. This is all hypothetical. Of course Tubbs was 244 lbs against Witherspoon which coincides with the time frame that he would have met Holmes instead had that fight come off. But yes, Tony would have been a threat at that point.

 

who was the competition at the time?

 

The one guy that Holmes would've avoided at the time was a unification Heavyweight showdown (IBF/WBC) with the undefeated Pinklon Thomas, who was coming off of his sharp knockout win over former champion Mike Weaver. The two longshot fights that I think Holmes would've targeted would've been a Gerry Cooney rematch and a fight with at the time WBC Cruiserweight champ Carlos Deleon.

 

Michael Spinks had never fought as a heavyweight but was a great light heavyweight champ that was also getting into a couple of tough rumbles in his division but Michael Spinks was also one of the weakest choices of the available guys to dethrone Holmes. I think Larry would have had to step up in order to make money and would have had to fight a tough challenge to make real money and would have been beaten. Nobody gave Spinks a chance at the time including me.

 

I don't think Holmes did either which is largely why he lost

 

If Tubbs had been in good condition,he could have beaten Holmes at that point.

 

That's a big "IF" though. And Holmes looked pretty aggressive in the spinks rematch. my guess is that if both men showed up in "reasonable" condition it might have ended up being a razor thin verdict, similar to the Holmes-Williams fight.

 

Yea I dont put too much stock into Tubbs, he had quick hands but was never really in top condition and was never really a stand-out I think KO in 2 by Tyson pretty much states his standing. the Holmes fight at that point in time would have probably went the distance and would have more than likely been a close decision