Fellas, As of late I have read a lot of hub-bub over Larry Holmes' boxing skills and the quality of his opposition from 1973 to 2002. While its true fought he some bums, stiffs and softies leading up to his 1978 title win over Kenny Norton in Las Vegas, no way in hell can anyone really diss Larry Holmes' overall competition if you size up his entire career. Opponents like: "Rodney Bobick, Earnie Shavers, Mike Weaver, Leroy Jones, Scott LeDoux, Trevor Berbick, Leon Spinks, Renaldo Snipes, Gerry Cooney, Texas Cobb, Timmy Spoon, Bones Smith, David Bey, Carl Williams, Mike Spinks Mike Tyson, Ray Mercer, Evan Holy, Jesse Ferguson, Ollie McCall and Butterbean" were all very capable fighters in their own right regardless if some of them challenged Larry Holmes with less than 20 pro fights. Now, naturally some guys had more talent than others listed above, but some of the lesser talented guys had wicked or damn good power and could KO a horse if they landed a shot. To say Larry Holmes fought a sorry crop of opponents during his career is way outta line. In my book, once you've looked over the whole pro record of Larry Holmes, you gotta respect what he managed to do and accomplished as a ringer. NOTE: I've got "Holmes-Weaver" from June 1979 rolling and Larry Merchant said team Holmes was willing to fight the dangerous Mike Weaver in New York while taking the risk of losing a (3) million dollar payday against Ernesto Shavers in the fall out in Las Vegas. In today's world, fighters don't dare take risks like that. Yes, Holmes had a few rocky moments against Weaver and almost blew his bigger payday down the road with Shavers, but these were the type of moves that made Larry Holmes great. Larry Holmes is a top-10 ATG heavyweight champ for sure, but I place him in my top-5 while keeping a straight face. bbb:thumbsup MR.BILL:hat
You know, a lot of fans booed the refs call to step in and save Mike Weaver from Larry Holmes' attack in round 12 of that epic fight in New York, but the ref did Weaver a favor. Weaver was tired, dizzy and hurting from the effects of the overall fight. Oh, Larry Holmes ate some leather too, but like the solid champ he was / is, he roared back to put the ass-whippin' on Weaver and end the fight in the 12th rd.. I'm gonna roll "Holmes-Shavers 2" right now. :bbb MR.BILL:hat
holmes was a great, great fighter. a sound boxer who was exciting to watch because when the chips were down he could fight like a wild *******.
Holmes was great! Didn't get the respect cause he didn't have that charisma thing going. When I saw that basest ass Moro in the ring THAT was charisma he'd have cleaned a peak ali's clock. Larry rocks
