Larry Holmes failing to take on # 1 contenders

We already know why the Coatzee fight fell through, Q.

Money, pure and simple.

 

The Kiddy Parade, one fighter with more than 16 fights Snipes(22), the rest 10 to 16 fights. We would be up set if Wald/Lewis/Tyson picked on prospects.
A few of his other fights were too easy when better men were there.
One must never forget Holms belonged body and soul to King.

Lots of folks back then did not respect Holm's for that reason. Me too.

 

The Dokes fight was hard to make. WBA vs IBF or WBC...not easy with Don King. You are correct. The money offer was not right for the Coetzee fight.

Holmes fought Smith, Witherpsoon, and Spinks as an older fighter. Spinks was lineal champ, which is above #1 ring rated. Smith was #2 ring rated, and Witherspoon was a two time alphabet champion, which also exceeds Thomas or Dokes.

 

Considering Holme's activity and having a second career, I don't see how anyone can fault him for not fighting a handful of fighters over a short period of time considering the total length of his career.

 

This topic has already been beaten to **** so many times. Holmes faced most of the best challengers of his era, which lasted through 7 years and 19 world title fights. There were maybe 3 guys that he probably should have faced, but none of them could stay on top long enough for any real momentum to materialize for a title unification, and politics had every bit as much to do with it as Holmes chosing not to fight them. Also, the ring ratings meant little by this point, as mandatories are determined by the governing organizations and not some media venue....

 

From 1984 to the end of Holmes' reign, he held the IBF fragment of the title. Can you produce some sort of IBF rating sheet from that period indicating if Thomas was the IBF's mandatory?

 

By who's standards? The Ring's? His obligation from 1978-1983 was to the WBC. From 1984-1985 it was to the IBF. It wasn't the Ring's title he was defending, therefore they weren't mandatories. The only mandatory contender he never really faced was Greg Page. Holmes was held accountable for not fighting him and had his WBC belt stripped accordingly. Other than that, I can't think of any other mandatories that he didn't give shots to. As for the other belt holders, unifications are not always easy to make, and most of those guys couldn't hold on to a title long enough to establish a unification anway. Christ, the WBA title changed hands about 6 times within a 7 year period since Ali retired, with only one of its holders having a single defense ( Dokes draw with Weaver ). Tyson was able to unify the belts because he had Don King's full support who made the fights. Things were dicey between Holmes and King during the mid 80's and they eventually had a falling out leading to Holmes promoting his own fights.

So I ask you, what mandatory fighters ( other than Page ), did Holmes fail to fight for " five years "?

 

If you're going by ring magazine ratings then I agree, Smith probably wasn't rated. But once again, a champion in the 1980's was not going to get stripped of his title for not facing who the Ring had rated. Holmes held the IBF in 1984, and I'm not sure if Smith was the mandatory, but it was the IBF's demand that Holmes was accomodating, not the ring magaizine's.

 

Thomas had actually been promised to fight for the soon to be made IBF Title, but when Holmes was stripped of his WBC title it was given to him without having to fight Thomas. Little wonder there.