January 22, 1988: Larry Holmes outpoints Mike Tyson (UD12)

Yep I forgot about that one, thanks! Wanted to copy it. For whats about Tyson, I don´t think he´d rank higher than Riddick Bowe in case like this. Something like that, but its another interesting thought.

Here´s your post:

"It would have been seen as a massive upset, not dissimilar to that of Buster Douglas beating Tyson. Although, the odds for Holmes beating Tyson weren't nearly as long as the odds for Douglas to achieve the same.

Bearing in mind that Holmes is widely regarded as a Top-5 ATG Heavyweight, it's difficult to imagine how much further up the ratings this one win could have taken him. Nonetheless, with Holmes at the stage he was at in his career by then, it couldn't fail to further cement his place in history.

Who would the two defenses be against? This would matter to Holmes' rating, as well, would it not?.

In addition, your scenario and imagined forecast on Holmes' revised rating does not take into consideration the hit Tyson's standing would have taken for his loss to a 38 year old, former champ; ring-rusty from a 21-month layoff and coming off two losses on the bounce.

Asides from this huge loss, Tyson would have wins over Tucker, Thomas, Berbick, Smith, Biggs (and presumably two more over Ruddock) on his resume. I think this might give cause for some to reconsider some of the claims of Tyson's own status and place in heavyweight history.

Despite many chants being made about Tyson's greatness - even at that early stage - he would have only been the undisputed champ for less than 6 months, before losing it to Holmes; making no further impression on the division, until he got out of prison. His post-prison record would do little to address the devastating impact of the Holmes loss."

With the above in mind, I can't see Holmes automatically taking the number-2 spot, on the strength of him beating Tyson in Jan '88.

Of course that came to my mind also. Some of its origin was a little debate of how close Larry survived that round and got stuck with his glove before getting tagged finally and staying on the ground.
But I also think that Mike didn´t have to invest too much energy to get to Holmes and would have chased him for too many rounds. So even if Larry was able to accomplish a Tucker or Bonecrusher like finish, that 10-7 round 4 would have cost him the fight anyway. So yes, its 100% hypothetical from the start, Larry did no way look like winning fight, whatever would have happened in round 4.