Larry Holmes decision to fight Mike Tyson.

He was too old anyway, it was just the biggest purse he had ever been offered, it was greed and stupidity, he was scared in tat ring.

 

Prepared or not, Larry'd still get destroyed by Mike in 1988. Maybe Holmes thought he'd last full distance (Smith and Tucker did it in 87, and Tucker had good jab), but he was wrong.

 

Tyson-Holmes was thisclose to happening in 1986 but HBO wanted Mike in the heavyweight tourney so the bout was put on the shelf. Holmes knew a fight with Tyson would happen once Tyson unified the belts. A deal was struck with Cayton and Jacobs to be the first to get a crack at the title once the smoke had cleared. Biggs got there first for different reasons.

But there was no way an ill prepared Holmes would take a fight that would go down in history. Holmes was prepared. He fought a 15 round exhibition to stay in shape. If Holmes felt he needed a warm up fight he would've taken it. Someone with that much experience and ring savvy would know better.

Also, Holmes fought those "warm up" fights in his comeback, not to stay busy, but to take the Foreman route to getting a title shot - fight cans and then a ranked contender. How much better would Holmes get fighting jobbers like Tim Anderson? I don't buy that he was ill prepared, a chap ass, proud egotistical man like Holmes? Nah, no way!

 

Holmes fought for the paycheck as he just lost a couple million on a property deal in Easton if I'm not mistaken

 

What i find interesting about this fight is tyson fans want you to give him full credit for beating holmes since he's easily the best opponent tyson beat (based on resume).

But many of them dont acknowledge that the fight may very well have ended differently if holmes was better prepared, wasnt coming off a loss or layoff, or was closer to his prime. Kind of a strange way to look at it, but lots of fans tend to shift the goalpost to defend their favorites.

Either way, Larry has already given his reasons for taking such a dangerous fight after retiring: money. He said in multiple interviews he told King no but as soon as he saw the suitcase full of money he said "where do i sign?". Larry wasnt broke either, he had a succesful business, investments, and money saved up from his fights. But whose gonna say no to a million bucks for 30 minutes of work?

 

LOL@the revisionism ....

Larry Holmes was on a similar level in fighting ability similar to WK when he faced AJ, no ifs or buts except Tyson was not kissing the mat and going life and death with a oldtimer. WK barely got by a professional janitor, got clowned by a one trick pony, had long lay offs and was even older.......Holmes had a formidable 2nd career , giving ATG Holyfield a close fight and held his own against the Atomic Bull plus he defeated undefeated Gold Medalist Mercer without breaking a sweat.......and never was stopped again .

Yes, Larry Holmes had plenty left in the Tyson fight and after.

If Old Man WK continue to fight he will get counted out at least a couple of times and that is being generous.

 

uhh what does klitchko have to do with anything??

 

I'm a firm believer Holmes saw the money that was offered him for a fight with Tyson and jumped at that opportunity. He wasn't ready to give a good account of himself when he fought Tyson physically and it showed in the ring that night. It just was a money grab( honestly who could blame him) Holmes around the time he fought Mercer would've done better than the Holmes that stepped in the ring that night. (Not saying he would've won, but by the time he fought Mercer, he had learned what his body actually was capable of) And it probably was a very shrewd and calculated move on King to entice Holmes to fight when I'm sure King knew It was Very high reward very low risk against a name opponent for Tyson.

 

It wasn't remotely close to the biggest purse he'd ever been offered. As a matter of fact is was less than 1/3 of that.

 

Yet god help anyone thinking Tyson was above 20% of himself against Douglas or Holyfield. It's different then.

Holmes fought for the money. Deep down he probably thought he had some sort of chance too, don't most boxers? Particularly ex greats.

Holmes had been steadily declining since Witherspoon and was a shell of his previous self by the time he fought Spinks. Tyson's showing was excellent as Holmes was still durable and Wiley and fought quite defensively. Tho way past it he could still make a nuisance of himself against some good fighters.

 

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His age when he fought AJ, but Wlad`s body was in great condition compared to Larry`s. Holmes was flabby vs Tyson.

 

Never heard this, but if true, it makes sense. Holmes was probably one of the the most business-savvy HWs we've had in recent history, and I don't think he liked any red ink in his ledger ...