Just Watched Holmes v Mercer, Question?

Prior to Tyson nailing Holmes midway through the 4th, which became the first of 3 successive knockdowns, Larry at no point appeared hurt by the shots Tyson landed. Tyson did land some flush shots to the head particularly at the close of the 3rd round. Therefore, I see no reason to believe Holmes could not have conceivably lasted the distance fighting in the manner he did. Any heavyweight in history would have hit the deck from that initial knockdown shot. Only a prime Ali or Holmes could have recovered from it without getting KTFO.

 

i think he may of done a bit better but i think he would still of lost by stoppage

personally i would of loved holmes to of pulled the shock win

 

He might have done better, but he would have gotten kayoed nonetheless. And against Mercer, it was more of a styles thing that allowed Holmes to do so well. He didn't really outbox Mercer in the typical way; he sort of just shut his offense down, smothered his punches, and whacked away at him while lying against the ropes. Holmes fought ugly and won ugly. Against a crude, unpolished guy like Mercer he could do that.

 

Holmes fought a 15 round exhibition shortly before entering training for Tyson. If you factor in all that, how much rust did he realistically have? About as much as Mayweather or ODLH or all the marquee fighters of today have between their fights? The fact is Holmes was older slower, and fighting a guy who was very fast and aggressive. He could have trained for three years and he still would have lost, but maybe not as quickly.

 

Holmes was at an age where too much activity may have been worse than the layoff.
I mean, he looked pretty bad in 1985 after he fought Smith (12 rounds), Bey (10), Williams (15) and Spinks (15) all within a 10-month period. At the end of that he looked badly jaded.

Maybe some tune-ups against third-raters would have helped him do better against Tyson, but the result is inevitable at that stage of his career, whatever he did.
He would have still had the "mental rust" of having to step up against a good dangerous fighter for the first time in several years, and the mental handicap of knowing he was past it.

 

When Holmes fought Tyson he had not fought for 2 years or won a fight in 3. His heart wasn't in the sport at that time... 1988. He took Tyson lightly and didn't train well. He even recorded an album when he should have been training.

When Holmes fought Holyfield in 1992 (age 42 1/2) he had won 6 fights in a row (3 by KO) including a dominate decision win over a previously undefeated Ray Mercer. Mercer had stopped the previously undefeated Tommy Morrison in 5. Holmes was loving boxing again at this point. He was much better prepared for Holyfiled than he was for Tyson.

When Holmes fought McCall in 1996 (age 45 1/2) he had won 7 fights in a row (3 by KO) and had beat the likes of Jose Ribalta and Jess Ferguson in clear decisions. He lost a very close fight vs. McCall. The scorecards were 115-114, 114-113, and 115-112 for McCall.

 

Tyson would have probably stopped any version of Holmes whom actually never won the vacant WBC title vs Norton , avoided the big threats , didn't try to avenge his amateur losses to Bobick and Wells , thumbed Shavers and was such a lousy fighter as was seen in the Spinks (1 and 2) , Cooney , and other fights of his.

 

I've heard on a couple of podcasts that Holmes spent his first retirement snorting coke with a band. no ideas if that's true or not.

 

I think the thing people tend to overlook with Tyson was his speed and how fast he was.

 

He'd definitely do better than he did, but I don't see him coming close to winning.

Seeing any Holmes winning is a tough gamble, although definitely possible.

 

Larry seemed to think he would have. He claimed Tyson always ducked a rematch. Not sure I buy it though.

 

Holmes did well against Mercer no doubt. Ray did blow hot n cold .I always fancied a Mercer Tyson fight .Ray was a nutter and would of have Mike hell !! A real war

 

I tend to chalk things like down to fighter's sense of arrogance. Holmes probably believed he deserved a rematch because he wasn't at his best, but in reality, Tyson had moved on and couldn't give a **** about levering an old man twice.

 

The Holmes that beat Mercer definitely does better than he did in 88. More prepared and a few comeback fights under his belt would show in the fight.
I stll see Larry getting kod, Tyson was sharp and wanted the Holmes victory, he needed to get him out of the way so it boiled down to just him and Spinks left.
So sayin all that, imo, Holmes does reasonably well, managing to hold on to Tyson in his blasting attacks and at times ramming his Jab in to his face.
Tyson gets a little frustrated and we see after the bell shots and elbow in the mush.
Holmes is doing well but he's living on borrowed time.
At some point, round about the 7 th , with Holmes maybe getting a little to confident, Tyson booms over a killer right hook.
Holmes rises but is blasted back down, another slow rise on Bambi legs and Tyson shoots him down again.
The scores actually reveal Holmes leading on the cards, Tyson calls him a legend.