Larry Holmes vs Povetkin

most definitely, but that wasn't my point.

 

Povetkin's career trajectory is a strange one.
He was really impressive early on, taking on contenders in his first 15 or 16 fights, and within 3 or 4 years he earned himself a ranking to challenge Wladimir - which he declined (and unsual move but a wise one) - then went on a so-so run against a mixture of opponents for a period of several years, with a mixed degree of impressiveness and eventually got a belt, then a unification match with Wladimir where he was severely out-wrestled ! - and since the loss to Wadimir through his mid-30s he has generally looked better than ever.

 

It's called The Teddy Atlas Effect.

 

Not sure of that, Chambers lost some weight going into the Dimitrenko fight, but he was equally brilliant in playing stalker and beating up Calvin Brock before losing to Povetkin. Those right hands is what ended the Banker's career.

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Dimi was as good as Cooney in the overall sense.... equal size, equal speed, with both ordinarily skilled but fundamentally sound. He didn't have Cooney's x factor power but he was no feather duster himself.

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So I think Chambers has a shot if he can avoid the left hook which is a possibility, Chambers wasn't a dummy, he was only stopped once, in the 12th round of a bout by one of the most aggressive late fight surges Wlad ever put together.

 

Okay good post. But I think dimetrenko lacking Cooneys power and aggressive early round attacks might have been the Crux of the whole issue. That and I think Chambers improved after fighting Povtekin.

 

Dimentrenko always sucked. With that said, Chambers from the Povetkin fight was smilar but a little better than the version of Young who Cooney got, and Young did okay until the cut opened. Chambers potentially could win if he were in condition and avoided early damage from Cooney who was not a 12 round fighter--same reason Chagaev could win.

 

Could be, it's a fight I wouldn't mind seeing nor would I place much money on.

 

Not necessarily. He was favored over Chambers and at the time, was talked off as a good prospect and potential future rival to Wlad. The Chambers showing up in shape and giving him a boxing lesson was a bit of a shock. They tried to rebuild Dimentrenko but he never returned to form, he lost all confidence after that thrashing. Sosnowski was a solid win people didn't expect him to pull off that convincingly. Sosnowski had just gave Vitali one of his harder post-comeback fights. But yeah, he's a gate keeper to the real contenders now.

That's my viewing on Cooney, dangerous early but not a 12 round fighter. I like Chageav and Chamber's chances of outboxing him and taking decisions. Both are fairly good at avoiding slower big men and outpointing them.

 

Chagaev could take him out late.

 

I don't think the Ruslan Chagaev who fought Povetkin in 2011 should be favored over a prime Cooney. Ruslan was 33 years, hadn't been fighting much lately, and appeared to have taken a step back. Being 5'11" wasn't likely going to be advantageous to him either. Sure he managed to barely outpoint Valuev but that was back in '07 and Valuev had no movement, no aggression and not much power for a big man. Eddie Chambers was quick and beat a few decent big men but again the version who fought Povetkin wasn't ideal either and Eddie had no power and was likely too small. not saying its impossible that either of both of those men could beat Gerry Cooney but I probably wouldn't favor them to do it.

 

as amateurs povetkin might win, his style served him well there, but as pro, with huck as his best win... no way does he go 12 round with the assassin

 

A tough one.

My answer.

In the amateurs, Povetkin easy.

Age 27-32 as professionals, Holmes.

Age 33 and above Povetkin.

So it depends on when they fight!

 

I tend to agree with this

 

Ehhh peak Tim Witherspoon and Gerry Cooney are on Povetkins tier imo and you could possibly make a case that they would be slight favorites over him

 

Holmes late stoppage. I don't see this as being a great challenge for him. Certainly not a Norton or Weaver level challenge. No.