If Larry Holmes was better managed?

I think he would have won the title in early to mid 1977. Foreman still wouldn't be on his resume though, it's very obvious Foreman never had any intentions of fighting Larry, even in the 1990's.

 

His managment was fine....

The promotional factions and politics of the time, are what sucked.....

 

..............Not a thing wrong with his management. World heavyweight champ, multi-millionaire..........not sure what more one could ask.

Holmes wouldn't have been quite ready in 1975-1976. He didn't turn pro until '73, and Shavers represented the first real top-flight opponent he had, which was '77. He was brought along exactly the way he should have been. They did well.

 

A fight between Holmes and Ali would have been tough if had occurred in 1975 or 1976. Ali still had enough juice left at that stage of his career to give Holmes a run. Holmes wasn't as seasoned as he would later become.

 

I too, think The Black Clouds career management was just fine. Holmes has 50 Million+ reason$ to agree....

But to answer the scenario. Holmes IMO was a late bloomer he would of blown a fight with Ali in 75/76. Possibly he could of beaten Foreman in 77, but it would of been a pick-em. Norton would of been too much before 1978; maybe Holmes could of beaten a 76 Smokin' Joe.

So I think other than perhaps suffering an early defeat or two if Holmes was given an earlier big fight, little would change from 78 onwards.

 

Even if he won decisively against Ali, that's no guarantee he'd win the championship on the judges' scorecards or even get a rematch.

 

Ouch!

 

In all fairness, Norton fought Ali 3 times. Granted, he may have been robbed in that third match, but it's not like he can scream that he never got enough chances. The Young fight was close from what I've been told. I have never seen this match, but I here mixed reviews as to what actually happened. Some say the fight was a robbery, while others claim that Muhammad derserved the decision. In either case, it was not a fight where the public demanded a rematch, so I'd say its rather moot.

 

That's precisely what I'm talking about. Don King, was Holmes' promotor for most of his reign. King was his biggest enemy in my opinion. His management ( which largely consisted of Holmes himself ), did fine.

 

Larry was thrown to the wolves at times like against Roy "Tiger" Williams he took that fight on 8 days notice. Larry had more trouble getting his money than anything. I think it was against Fred Askew, he was going to get either 1,000 or 10,000, but he beat Fred in the 2nd. When he went to get his check from King, King only gave him $200(0). For obvious reasons Larry asked Don about it, and King said "It was a 10 round fight and you only fought 2 rounds, so you only get two rounds worth of your check" (or something close to those lines). Larry had to tell King that he had kids at home to feed and he needed that money. Finally King broke down and gave it to him.

 

Killers??? This was not green Holmes up and coming Holmes. This was HEAVYWEIGHT Champion Holmes. Holmes was a bit over protected imo. He face FAR too few killers imo. Outside of Shavers and perhaps Cooney, there was nothing worth wild out there. There are infact more David Days or Marvis Fraizers than Shavers on Holmes record.