Larry Holmes vs Riddick Bowe

Exactly! I don't see how this can be made any clearer to the guy. The forest is right there, but where are the trees? LOL

 

Ohhh, ok, here we go.....At least you are open to the possibility at least that Holmes might have been a tad more deserving of a title shot than was Foreman. In the context of this thread, this a huge step forward!

 

Are you going to continue to choose Holmes poorer competition and compare it to Georges??? I think Ive made my point. Obviously you go to boxing records and copy their records down, make a list and say whallaaa, this is why so and so is better. I already told you countless times, what I thought about the fighters Holmes faced as compared to Foreman. Regardless of them both fighting some club level fighters, Foremans foes took on more of the tailor made or hand picked variety, in the same sense a guy like Peter MCNeeleys opponents were chosen, so he could have some sort of advantage and have such a padded record. Get the analogy I was trying to make before?? Bruce Tramplor who led the matchmaking for Big Georges comeback, is considered the best in the business. He rarely makes bad calls in picking opponents. The fact he still struggled with usual stand in front of you opponents like Morrison, Shultz, tells you how tough it was to pick fights for Big George.
We can use some of your logic and say look what Holmes did to Mercer and what Mercer did to Morrison and what Morrison did to Foreman.:huh

 

Larry Holmes and George Foreman are on par with greatness...... Both of my boys are secure there.... Aside from overall competition, both fought some great fighters and fights.....

Still... Had both Larry and George fought each other in 1999 like I was pumped and psyched for, I'd have leaned towards Larry Holmes to outbox George Foreman in a slow-paced 10 rounder on the jab alone........

MR.BILL

 

I agree. It would have been much more interesting if they fought in 1992 or so.

 

SO what are you saying, that Butterbean and Ferguson were better than Savarese, Rodriguez or Coetzer?

 

No I was using an obvious example how inflated records and hand picked opponents can make a record look much better than it actually was, but I guess you didnt catch that either.:blood

 

No, Butterbean was a complete joke, and Ferguson was nothing special. Holmes indeed fought his share of bums and losers, but he still earned his shot against Holyfield and Foreman didn't!!!!

 

No, I'm simply concuring that a case can be made for it, but do not necessarily agree.

 

No, quite the contrary. I have taken the BEST opponents of BOTH men's comebacks and have drawn what I feel to be reasonable comparisons.

No, quite the contrary. I lived and breathed every moment of those days and watched both of their comebacks on such venues as the USA cable network, hosted by Sean O'Grady and Al Albert. It's needless for me to say who I was more impressed with, and along with watching Holmes and Foreman, I was also fairly familiar with the " who's who " of the division. Believe me, Smith, Weaver, Ferguson and Ribalta were shells when Holmes fought them. Adilson Rodriguez, Pierre Coetzer, Lou Savarese and Alex Stewart were definately better opponents both status and ability wise at that particular time..

Why don't you own up to your claims, and tell me who Holmes fought that was better and why? Just to pull one example out of the hat, Lou Savarese was a 6'5" 230 Lb contender in his prime, who was unbeaten in 36 fights and had KO'd 30 of those victims.. In his most recent fight prior to meeting Foreman, he had basically sent USBA champ Buster Mathis into an early retirement at age 26.. Now granted we could make a case that Savarese had a bit of a padded record.. Fair enough. HOWEVER, what the **** had someone like Jesse Ferguson, Butterbean Esche or Mike Weaver done that trumped what Savarese was doing at the time??

Your lack of background on this time period shows rather transparently here. Tommy Morrison switched his fighting style from his usual crouching position, to an upright stance in which he proceded to circle and dance around Foreman all night. This was a one time stunt for Morrison and the reason why he survived the distance. And Axel Schultz was hardly a " stand in front of you " type opponent.

I am not applying this logic and frankly don't believe in the while " if fighter A beats fighter B, he shouldn't have any problem with C, because B beat C...

 

At that point in their careers, Bowe would have won...in my opinion.

 

I dont think you lived and breathed it, or you would know the fighters and their different styles. Do you want me to break down each fighters fighting style that Holmes faced? I dont need to for Foreman, they were all the same, chosen because they would be there for George to hit. You even said it yourself that Morrison changed up his style for the Foreman fight, my point exactly, he was chosen for the very same reason Savarese was chosen, who you seem to think was one of his better wins (you keep saying he was undefeated??? who cares, point in case my analogy to padded records by using McNeeley as an example). They both were chosen because they stood in front of their opponents. Morrison changed his style to a boxing stlye, because he knew it was an easy way to beat George.
Holmes could box and mix it up a little, therefore he could face a more diverse group of fighting styles. why do you think George avoided him when the fight was presented between him and Holmes?

 

I would have loved to have seen a fight between Chris Byrd and George Foreman sometime during the mid 90's, that would have been comical!