Larry Holmes - June 11th 1982 - The perfect Heavyweight?

I agree Holmes peaked in 1980 .. by 82n he was 32 and a tiny bit past his best ..

 

What great evidence?

 

Tyson being stopped by Douglas and Holyfield and Homes coming off the floor to beat Shavers.

 

Other than the one time he was stopped by Tyson, didn't Holmes beat every guy who knocked him down?

His ability to recover is impressive. That KD by Shavers was nuts. Holmes was half dead on his feet when he got up, surviving on pure instinct, makes it to the end of the round, and then comes out at the beginning of the next round completely recovered somehow and proceeds to use Earnie's head as a speed bag for the rest of the fight.

 

Holmes got up from a knockdown in a fight that he was totally dominating and carried on dominating after he got up. Tyson got a bad beating all night long from Douglas, eye totally shut and talking punishment like never before but he never gave up and his first instinct when he was heavily knocked down was to try and grab his mouthpiece and get up even though his brain must have been scrambled.

Yeah so that ain’t great evidence, antman cos I reckon Tyson showed more heart in the Douglas fight than Holmes did against shavers or at the very least no less than Holmes did

 

Yeah I agree. In fact I think the best that Holmes ever was was when he beat Ali in 80. Sure Ali was just a zombie in that fight but I still think the Holmes that entered the ring that night was the best prepared physically and mentally that he ever was. This was the one fight he wanted to win above all other maybe in his entire career. He was leaner, meaner and better prepared than he ever was. Could be wrong but I think he trained so hard for that fight that he came in lighter than in most if not all his previous title.defences

 

He's on about Cooney vs Spinks, Fergs.

I dunno! 5.22pm and you're off your chops again!

 

I think Larry's peak ended after the Cobb fight so yes, the Cooney fight was Larry at his best. His peak was roughly 1979-1982.

I think h2h Larry was best from around the time of the Ali fight to Leon. I don't think any of the heavy champs who came after Holmes could have beat the guy who dominated Berbick and stopped Neon Leon, much less the guy who fought Ali.

 

Holmes during the 80-82 years was a top 5 heavyweight of all time easily.

 

I actually thought Holmes looked sharper against Shavers in their 1st meeting, his combinations and jab never looked better. And apart from 1 moment in the 2nd round, he won every second of that fight with a flawless boxing exhibition.

 

14th?? Cooney and Spinks only went 5 rounds. Though Cooney did rock Spinks in the FOURTH.

Oh sorry I think you thought I meant Spinks flattening Holmes! Apologies for me not being clear.
Spinks may have beaten Holmes but he could only dream about flattening him!
No man alive could do that to Larry…except Prime You Know Who…