Larry Holmes...did he miss out on Greg Page and Pinklon Thomas?

Page lost to David Bey in 1984 lowering the demand for Page vs. Holmes. Had Page beaten David Bey, maybe we see this fight next. Losing to Bey means Holmes would have easily defeated Page. Instead, Holmes fought David Bey in March 1985.

Holmes fought James Smith in 1984. I suppose Holmes could have fought Thomas instead of Spinks in 1985.

Thomas lost to Brebick in March 1986 and may have had drug issues, so its plausible Holmes who pitched a shut out over Berbick might have beaten Thomas in 1985 tying Marciano's record.

IMO 1984-1985, Holmes TKO's Page.

IMO 1984-1985 Holmes vs. Thomas probably 50 / 50 I'll go with Holmes on a split decision, as Spinks had a tougher style to match up with for the aging Holmes, whereas Thomas was easier to hit and not always as focused

 

Holmes stops the overrated wanna be Ali Page.
Unanimously decisions Thomas who simply isn't good enough to beat Holmes. Two jabbers and Holmes out jabs Thomas and controls the fight.

 

Holmes KO'd Snipes in 1981. Page beating Snipes via decision doesn't help his case that much, it was WBC politics and Holmes moved to the IBF. Do you know why? I'll tell you. A specific wired hared promoter, who didn't think much of Holmes early on was pulling the WBC Strings with Page. Had Page beaten Snipes more impressively or beaten Bey he has a much better case to meet Holmes.

Holmes preferred the IBF by 1984. The politics of the times were a mess were until Don King ( A specific wired hared promoter ) offered money to unify the division with Tyson under his contract. I think you would need to be watching boxing in the early 1980's to get a feel for the power struggle of the times.

Page's record from 1984-1986 was three wins, five losses. Holmes would beat him.

Holmes who fought a sharper Witherspoon than Thomas did.

 

You'll have to ask his promoter or the sanctioning bodies that be

 

Sure, he deserves criticism for not facing his mandatory. And Thomas was definitely a challenge he should have accepted. Rematching 'Spoon and Williams are other fights that were missing. I don't know what was in the works and what wasn't, but guys like Weaver, Tubbs and Dokes were out there as well. Sure, they had some losses and some less than convincing performances, but so had the guys Holmes actually did face.

You can't face everyone, but all in all quite a few of the top names around that time are missing from Holmes record.

Larry's reign post Cooney was somewhat reminiscent of Ali's post the Norton rubber, although with substantially more fights. But there were mandatories and rematches passed over in favor of inferior competition in both cases.

 

You can make an argument either way .. Holmes defeated Berbick who thrashed Page but the best Page ever would have been a handful for an aging Homes in 84. Thomas in 84 would have been very tough too .. both bouts could have went either way at that point but Page and Thomas didn't maintain any real momentum so overwhelming attention for them wained ..

 

Yeah he missed out on them they certainly would have added to his legacy of dominance and lets add the prime Michael Dokes to that...he deserved criticism but to be honest some of that was political

Yes Page was up and down with issues but there was no denying a motivated ON Page was top tier material who would have been a great fight with Holmes though Holmes had seen the "Ali" style as a sparring partner Page had something Ali did not really have KO power.

Thomas was top tier talent who deserved a Holmes shot but when he was on the scene Holmes was slowing down a little and showing cracks...battle of the sledgehammer jabs

I really felt we the fans missed out on a WBA-WBC showdown between Holmes and Dokes before Coetzee KO's Dokes it would have been a great "boxing" match Holmes smarts vs Dokes talent

 

From what I`ve read bout it Larry Holmes was getting ripped off pretty bad by Don King for most of his career up to that point. I don`t doubt that at all. Did Larry Holmes dump one of the belts and Champion the New IBF? Were the fighters that were supposed to be better Don King fighters?

I`m not sure but I think it may have been about Larry getting his freedom and all his $.You can call that politics if you want. I don't blame Holmes. I doubt it had anything do with guys like Greg Page etc. Larry ended up facing some better fighters like Witherspoon and Carl The Truth which were anything but easy.

 

Page and thomas wins.it is why Holmes avoided them at that time

 

To me Holmes was the real champ until 1983 maybe early 1984

 

Witherspoon and Williams were green fighters that were supposed to be pushovers. Page and Thomas were established world class when Holmes passed on them. Furthermore, he didn’t grant either a rematch when they turned out to be better than expected.