Is Larry Holmes' handspeed underrated?

If he weren't in Ali's shadow it would've been talked about more. :yep Unfortunate comparing and contrasting for Larry.

 

Lawrence Holmes has been underrated since birth, but the dude has always proven to over-achieve.... For a dude with a 7th grade education he sure made a **** bucket full of money and rightfully deserves his standard top-10 ATG rating as a ringer / champion.... His biggest ding against him is his personality and lack of charisma.... WORD!

MR.BILL:bbb

 

Yes. He is faster than Louis...

Larry was a relatively recent fighter so he doesn't get the ball licking that some of the older fighters do on classic.

 

Yeah, I can digest that....

MR.BILL:hat

 

He was pretty fast,for a heavyweight. Not as fast as a prime,or early 70's Ali or Floyd Patterson,but faster than most.

 

Not many folks recall this, but Holmes was already at 34 when he clobbered Bones Smith on HBO back in '84 (I have the tape) and very late in the fight prior to the TKO, Holmes threw a quick lead right to Smith's cut-up face and the punch had incredible speed, timing and accuracy for a supposed faded Holmes... Granted, Smith was slow and somewhat there to be nailed for Holmes, but Holmes still had fast hands in 1984....

MR.BILL:bbbhat

 

Holmes had decent handspeed but he gets over rated in terms of ability, Holmes lost to the best fighters he ever faced in his career, Tyson, Spinks (twice), Holyfield and was fortunate to get the nod over Carl Williams, Witherspoon & Smith (cuts).. Holmes was exposed by 2nd rate fighters like Snipes, Shavers & Bey so all in all i think he gets over rated, i actualy thought he was fortunate to get the nod over 36yrs old Ken Norton for the title... would Holmes beat the likes of Holyfield, Tyson, Bowe prime 4 prime.. no

 

Holmes in his prime had great hand speed. Few champs were faster with their hands.

 

I've heard fools claim Holmes was slow, however, you gotta' look the offender up and down and clearly see who you are dealing with... I've argued before in a bar with dumb drunks who think they know boxing... I just frown and scoff at these type of folks... Anyone who thinks prime Holmes was slow needs glasses....

MR.BILL:hat

 

Yes it is underrated.

Elite 4 Peak Heavyweight Handspeed

1. Ali
2. Tyson
3. Holy
4. Holmes

Note: List only includes Heavyweights over 200lbs, Patterson was a natural light-heavy & weighed only 190lbs at his best, so it's unfair to include him imo.

 

Yes and even as a fossil he could still do this.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UhDuYElHEA[/ame]



Best aging marvel as a heavyweight of recent times I would say. Lennox could have been that but he's smart for hanging them up while he was on top which is incredibly rare.

 

He had decent hand speed with the jab not as fast of a combo puncher as Louis but Larry had better retreat movement than Joe. Not a flurry guy like Ali and his hands were not as fast as Patterson,Tunney but Larry had one of the best rapid and solid jabs, I think Vlad has one of the best jabs at heavyweight and Holmes is not far behind. I think Ali had a faster flicking jab but Holmes was more powerful and had a solid thumb attached to it.

JJWalcott had a faster and more solid pinpoint power punch and Marciano very underrated in his awkward power punch execution

 

:huhHe got up to dominate them and neither were leading on any reasonable scorecard before Holmes got knocked down. In the first Shavers fight Holmes controlled it the whole night.

 

nice display by Larry but lets not forget this was a totally shot Weaver who was Ko'd by Melvin Foster in the fight before Larry. Foster was Ko'd in 5 of his last 6 fights before he KO'd Weaver to give you a barometer