Let's talk about Holmes-Witherspoon

Excellent fight and round 9 was purely great in its own right.

In that round Holmes again proved how dangerous he could be when hurt.

I’d say Larry came close to evening up the 9th round - both guys fought themselves to a virtual standstill near the end of the round.

Dundee was def. pumping for Tim and was a little bit guilty of talking him up beyond what was happening.

Dundee got too excited about Spoon becoming cocky and doing some showboating - stuff that doesn’t actually score points.

Meanwhile, Holmes kept it real and continued plying his trade in no nonsense fashion.

Close and entertaining fight but a fight that Larry still won clearly imo.

 

Honestly I think it's overrated as a controversial decision.

For me Holmes clearly won in a competitive fight.

The commentators were horrible TBH they were so biased towards Witherspoon. And Dundee fanboying over Witherspoon when he switched southpaw, despite not landing anything of substance looked unprofessional as a supposed neutral commentator.

Overall I thought Holmes clearly won most of the first 6 rounds with his jab as Witherspoon didn't do alot in those rounds.

Witherspoon made a nice comeback in the middle rounds with his inside fighting and body punching.

But after the memorable 9th round where Witherspoon badly hurt Holmes. I always felt when Holmes turned the tide late on in that round, halting Witherspoon's attack with a big right hand as he was coming in.

That seemed to halt Witherspoon's aggression and momentum for the rest of fight.

And in the final 3 rounds Witherspoon was doing a bad Ali impression. And gave away vital rounds in the championship rounds in a fight that was up for grabs at that point.

So Witherspoon dared to be great but he wasn't willing to go that extra mile in the championship rounds to be a great. And that pretty much sums up his career a near great but just fell short overall.

A great technical fight one of the best Heavyweight fights of the 80s but Holmes clearly won it for me in a competitive fight.




Larry Holmes vs Tim Witherspoon

1 Holmes
2 Witherspoon
3 Holmes
4 Holmes
5 Holmes
6 Holmes
7 Witherspoon
8 Witherspoon
9 Witherspoon
10 Witherspoon
11 Holmes
12 Holmes

115-113 Holmes

 

Great fight and tested Holmes like Norton.
Seen the fight a couple of times and I give it to Holmes slightly, but could go the other way.
Shame there was no Holmes - Witherspoon 2 .

 

History could of been interesting if spoon won .would he be be more motivated it he was champ ?? Possibly .held the title for a few years ? Been the man at HW ? Met Tyson for the top spot ???

 

Controversial opinion, but Holmes vs Witherspoon and Holmes vs Norton > any Muhammad Ali fight.

 

Yes they were gr8t fights, & Manilla you can argue both being enough past peak to disqualify it...

But not FOTC?

 

lol

 

Was this fight the last of Larry's prime?

 

Considered just past his prime.

 

FOTC was better. Otherwise, I can't argue too much; Holmes had some REALLY good competitive fights while still in his prime, and I'd argue his Mercer win and Holyfield loss were both also great fights in their own right.

He had some boring fights. Holmes vs Cobb was the HW version of Shakur vs. Teo; one guy literally couldn't touch the other.

edit: If you want to argue that Holmes vs Norton was the best technical HW championship fight ever captured on good film, I won't argue with you.

 

I agree, the Mercer and Holyfield fights are classics. His fight with Cobb was fun in the same way Vitali vs Briggs or Ali vs. Terrell was fun; it was a one-sided beatdown. And he threw a lot of punches in that fight, so I don’t think it’s comparable to any Shakur fight.

 

I still think the best thing about the Holmes Cobb fight was Holmes going to see Cobb the next day to complain about how much his left hand hurt (obviously joking around as a way to try to make friends with Cobb; also I think just to check on him). I'm sorry but that's absolutely ****ing hilarious.