good example. from what i've seen (never sat down and watched the whole thing) of the cobb fight, he was ****ing ridiculous in that. still cobb was far from a hall of famer
That bout made Howard Cosell swear off of boxing. He really liked Cobb in the prefight interview. Howard was appalled at the one sided beating Cobb absorbed. even calling out to the referee to stop the fight. Cosell never called another fight.
Larry had a bicep injury when he entered ring v Kenny Norton. That, Shavers & Spinks, i'd also throw in the Cooney bout. But go with Norton, fighting with injury, pulling it out last round.
I would say Shavers I and Norton. Those versions of Holmes could've beaten any HW champion past or present....Not Would've mind you but ceratinly could've.
Beating Roy 'Tiger' Williams, after breaking his right hand in the 2nd Round. Going 6-Rounds in a 1973 sparring session with Jeff 'Candy Slim' Merritt, without head-gear, when nobody would go in the ring with that 'nut'.
His most dangerous all-around opponent in his career was Norton and I feel he probably won 10 rounds of that fight. Shavers was a force but didn't have the variety of weapons Norton had. Cooney was a bit green and not cause he's Irish, but because he hadn't really been battle-tested.
I'm getting tweaked on whiskey tonight and I have my '84 tape of "Holmes-Smith" rolling right now. Smith was green, yet game, while Holmes was slipping, but still a bad-ass on the throne... MR.BILL:bbb
it was not his best opponent, but his best performance was Cooney. Both guys were pumped up and Gerry was thought of as a real challenge. Great fight for Larry.
Just because of the hype, timing and my age bracket, I rate "Holmes-Cooney" in my top-10 ATG heavyweight title fights.... :good MR.BILL:hat
Don't sell Weaver short, he gave Holmes all he could handle. & you didn't see Holmes calling him out after Weaver won the WBA title.
No fault of Holmes...... Holmes had a big money fight with Ali in late 1980 going and a proposed huge fight with Cooney on the horizon. Weaver won his paper title from Tate in March 1980 and only defended it 2 X against "Coetzee and Tillis" before getting reamed by referee Joey Curtis in DECEMBER 1982..... Weaver was NOT an active champ.... Reason being, he had managerial problems and was battling **** in court.... Holmes kept a high profile and fought on a regular basis all through his title reign....... :deal MR.BILL:rasta
Yeah, but if there's any truth to the old saying" Winning a Championship, makes you a better fighter" A Holmes - Weaver unification match, shortly after the Cooney fight. would have been a barn burner!!!