Larry Holmes Jab

Well. He DID thumb a few opponents in the eye. In fact I believe that’s what ended Leroy Jones’ career. But that said I agree that Larry Holmes had one of the best heavyweight jabs of all time. Sonny Liston and Wladimir Klitschko also belong closely in that fraternity

 

Holmes had both a great jab and a renowned thumb. There's plenty been written on both.

I don't overly think he was thumbing on purpose, he had a habit of throwing the jab with an open glove.

 

ATG but overrated jab. Liston’s and Ali were better and more versatile for mine.

 

He had both. A great jab with the thumb.

 

Though both Louis and Ali had amazing jabs, Holmes was only rivalled by the great Sonny Liston in that department imo.

Like Liston, he almost always stepped into it, so it had the full weight of his body. Sonny's was more of a followed-through punch though, and it could stop practically anybody from doing what he didn't want them to do.

Larry's was sharper, and he landed it more often.

I can't choose. Watch the Holmes-Berbick fight for a great testimony. With Liston well, hard to pick. Though Sonny didn't rely on the jab as much as Larry, it always was the equalizer before Ali came up on him.

 

For me Holmes had the best jab bar none in the history of boxing and its not close

 

One of THE best jabs in heavyweight history imo.

 

What Shavers said is very accurate: Ali's jab was stinging and irritating because it was very fast and he flicked it at you like a wet beach towel. Holmes could also flick and threw his jab fast but put more weight into it and sometimes used the top of his knuckles (more like a nunchuck).

Ali has more versatility however. Ali could throw an up jab, a flicker jab, a pawing range finder, to stop a guy dead in his tracks before landing a right hand for a 1-2, controlling the range, to simply touch the opponent and score points, etc.

Holmes jab had more power to it but had less functionality. It was primarily used to disorient and disrupt an opponent while simultaneously keeping the fight at mid or long range where Holmes preferred. Due to the speed and timing, it was very hard to dodge and get out of the way of, but it could also be repetitive. If someone could get the range and timing down (like Shavers, Norton, Witherspoon, etc) Holmes struggled heavily and went life and death. This is because Holmes heavily relied upon the jab and he didn't have a whole lot to his game outside of it. Ali could actually fight at mid range, throw combinations, counter while stationary, and had plenty of other punches in the book if he had a hard time getting the jab off (although he also got irritated and bothered when this happened). The only other noteworthy punches Holmes had were his very accurate and straight right hand as well as a fairly powerful uppercut, but when taken out of his comfort zone popping the jab, he was only above average in many departments (although he did show tremendous heart and always did what he could)..

 

Larry understood the jab better than a lot of HW champions. - I can’t think of anyone besides Wlad and Ali who were so dependent but also capable with the jab, though while not known for it particularly because everything was top tier Louis most likely applied his better then all of them.

I think Liston had a good jab, but I don’t think he was as dependent on it and still not the same tier I see him as a very balanced fighter though, like Joe Louis where he was just very good at everything.

 

Wlad had the greatest jab of any heavyweight I have seen in my 86 years.

 

Overrated jab. Ali, Liston and Wlad were better. People just hype up Holmes jab because it's the only great thing about his offensive repertoire

 

Similar to Frazier and his left hook, Larry was basically a savant with the jab. He put more focus and usage into that punch type than most other fighters.

It stands to reason that greater dedication to a single punch type can lend to elite proficiency.

Others fighter might’ve been of comparable quality to Holmes when they did actually jab - but they didn’t jab as often - integrating the jab better into into a greater and more varied punch arsenal.

Max Baer, for example, appears to rate highly for his right hand and the power it carried, and it was a punch he clearly accented on and used a lot - but at least imo, there wasn’t a lot else to rave about in Max’s game. Certainly Max himself didn’t have much of a jab to speak of.

If a fighter was to accent that much more heavily on any given punch type, a top shelf jab might arguably be the best punch to have as your choice weapon.

 

As the saying goes.. The Jab is the most underrated punch in the sport.

I will say this in credit to Holmes.. Beware of anyone who is throwing jabs from the waist.

 

Also seen a lot of fighters with excellent jabs who inexplicably abandoned them at some point during a fight - and you could see the negative difference it made to their overall game.

Noticed this happened with later career ODLH - which might’ve been due in part to fatigue issues - because a consistently applied, quality jab still requires some decent fuel to maintain.