Exactly! Holmes was smart enough to see Ray's weaknesses in his prior outings and pretty much hand picked Mercer as the Top 10 guy that would catapult him into a title shot. The Spoon fight was fairly close but while I thought Mercer eeked it out against Lewis I also thought Spoon should've been given the nod over Mercer. Mercer's kryptonite was the 80's heavies with skills
My favourite was Larry Holmes vs Evander Holyfield or his fight with Ray Mercer. I like seeing fighters slowed down and a bit older it makes it easier to see the tricks and skills they’ve developed over their career.
Really? It may have been his best until Mercer. I sympathize with people whom assert the Shavers I fight as his best. Larry was just completely owning that ring, a bit like Salvador Sanchez in that he had a high ring IQ even relatively early in his career.
Shavers 1 or Mercer, I think. Just a clinic. Shavers was not a great boxer, no, but still got a W and a D against Jimmy Young, and while Young was a bit green when he lost to Shavers, the draw came around the time when he was at the top of his game. Holmes just shut Shavers out completely. Mercer is actually such a good one that it's a bit unreal. A guy in his 40's that's been pro that long and had that many tough fights just has no business beating Mercer as easily as he did.
Another vote for Cooney - Gerry was good enough to make it competitive and had a dangerous left hook, but Holmes nullified everything he could throw. It was a boxing clinic. Runner up was Mercer; wily veteran showing his Plan B game when youth and quickness weren’t in the arsenal anymore
Mercer is a very good win especially considering Holmes' age. That said a good boxer was always problematic for Mercer, his entire career long.
Ali. Trouble was the opponent showed up with nothing. But Larry was 100% prepared for the fight. Great condition and there were people out there taking Muhammad in the upset. revisionism has seen lots of folks thinking Ali had no chance---but that was hardly the perception at the time. So people would look at the foreman fight and thrilla in manila to think Ali could magically pull out one more great win. Now if anyone could--it was Ali. But those subsequent bouts > Manila sure didn't show those A+ performances. Larry threw the best left hooks of his career in the fight. Not those windshield wiper swats. And he sure did not fall for any of the Ali antics or tricks, did he? Larry was so very well prepared for the fight and that version was always going to be a tough fight for Ali.
I actually thought Holmes did a lot better against Holyfield than Foreman. I scored Holmes fight against Evander 7-5 for Holyfield. Were I could only give Foreman 3 or 4 rounds max against Holyfield
I was convinced that Holmes absolutely would have won that fight had he been 10 years younger. I was not convinced that Foreman would ever have beaten Holyfield.
I am still impressed with the Norton fight to this day because it was one of the best HW fights ever. Very competitive, both guys in shape, confident, and truly wanting to win. Those are the ingredients for an absolute classic, which it was. That is Holmes' best performance in my book and credit to Norton for not ducking and defending his belt against a worthy, prime, world class fighter. The two fights competing for the #2 spot are the Cooney and Shavers 2 fights. Cooney was a pretty scary guy in hindsight and a manager's nightmare. Tall as a giraffe, hard hitting, good body puncher, undefeated, decent skills, demolished 3 well known contenders with ease, and had the scariest hook the division had seen since Joe Frazier. The only marks against him were that he lacked experience and there were questions about his endurance. On top of all these issues, there was a racial element that annoyed Holmes and people acted as if he were the underdog. Lots of mental pressure to succeed, but Holmes did not crack and rose to the occasion. It was a good, classic fight. As for Shavers 2, at first you could see this becoming a disappointing blowout like their last match. But bit by bit, Shavers was keeping Holmes honest and landing some good shots. Then the big one landed and Holmes' title was hanging by a 1 millimeter thread! To this day, I am in awe of the courage and grit Holmes displayed somehow not only getting off the floor, but winning by stoppage.