Larry Holmes right off the couch (no training camp) vs Primo Carnera

Preem wouldn't even qualify as a sparring partner for Larry.

 

Much like the Mercer fight where he lounged in the corner and delivered a lesson, Professor Larry kicks back on the sofa, kicks his feet up, boxes Da Preem silly with his left jab while sipping on a cold bear with his right hand and giving commentary all the while.

 

He jabs Carneras face in right off the couch. As a matter of fact i reckon the fossil remains of Holmes that fought Butterbean would give Carnera a good schooling

 

As usual, it seems like I'm going against the grain.

A year layoff with no training against a guy that's had a good and full camp? Terrible idea, and I don't think even Holmes' talent carries him through this. There's a reason why springing a short camp on an opponent is an underhanded move, and there are countless examples in boxing history of fighters taking a fight at short notice and getting blown out. I've noticed if I don't train for a couple of weeks my body starts to really feel it when I get back in the groove. And that's not even close to what fighters do to get 'fighting fit'. A year without training is gonna leave him like a pudding. That's without considering the loss of reflexes and sharpness that a camp hones.

All things being equal I'd pick Holmes over Carnera with no hesitation, but fighters have camps for a reason.

I think Holmes would do well initially, and give Carnera no end of trouble, but after 4-5 rounds the lack of conditioning starts to creep in and it starts swinging more and more Carnera's way. Holmes was not a KO artist that could blow Primo away, and a good version of Primo was durable and could fight at his pace all night long.

I think the late rounds are all Carnera and that he wins a UD.

 

Make it a 6 rounder and Holmes wins comfortably.

 

I think Holmes has a bad time, but gets the KO to win.

 

Holmes at that stage would have been battered by Uzcudun.

 

Holmes stoppage for me.

 

I hate to say it but I think Primo could he have him self a win over an ATG here.
Has Danny Williams did!

 

Well recently Duhaupas stepped in at very little notice against Povetkin and got absolutely malleted. Duhaupas is a big durable guy that took everything Wilder could throw at him for 11 rounds. I know in kickboxing Aerts stepped in at 5 minutes notice against another top kickboxer and iirc he also got stopped. And Corrie Sanders had a terrible camp before Rahman and you could see it. He was effective early but as the rounds wore on his lack of roadwork and sparring really began to tell and he got TKOd. And damn, I remember getting into fights at school after athletics season was long over and I hadn't ran for months, and I was shocked at that lungs burning, lead arms feeling that came over me super quickly. It really sucks. I think that unless you are Harry Greb and are fighting and sparring every day, you lose that fighting edge really fast, and that having bad conditioning is even worse.

Now some actual boxers could come along and say that they hardly trained and did well, and I'll point you to a guy that could have been a champ if he'd trained properly. I'm sure other posters can think of more examples.

Now for sure Primo isn't going to make up the talent gap by having a good camp, but a year off doing nothing is going to suck for Mr Holmes, especially over 15 rounds.