Just how far gone was Holmes at this point? The man had amazing longetivity, but did even he have much left in 95', 23 years after he started boxing? Was it a legitmate win for McCall, did he get lucky, was Holmes just too faded at this point... What? How'd the match go, by the way? I've never seen it myself.
holmes was just outhustled. mcCall came to him and just pushed him back his jab didnt have the same effect becuase of holmes rope a dope tactics that he used later on he could get squiahed against the ropes and couldnt do anything back....not a robbery but a good shownig from both men
I think the win for McCall and scoring were fair. Holmes dominated the early rounds with his jab, looking sharp while McCall had his usual slow start. But McCall's iron chin and superior stamina meant he was able to outlast Holmes, same thing that happened in most of Ollie's big wins. He landed enough shots over the second half of the fight to win against a rapidly-tiring Holmes, and I think it was a big attack around the 9th round in particular that seemed to really let the air out of Holmes's tyres (so to speak). I haven't seen it seen the original showing though, back in '95. But that's what I remember of it. McCall Bruno was pretty similar, except Bruno was able to get more rounds in the bank than Holmes early on, so the McCall comeback in the second half came too late. Really though, most credit to a 45-year-old Holmes for competing well and hanging in there. Against a fighter without the same chin and stamina, he would've won. By the time he was fighting Nielsen in '97 though, I really thought he looked gone.
The Holmes/McCall fight was a very close fight. Larry started strong but faded down the stretch. Over the first four or five rounds, Holmes was really pumping that left jab of his; really putting alot of power behind it. When Larry started to go to the ropes, McCall was able to blast his way through and do damage. In the 9th round McCall really hurt Holmes against the ropes; he even cut Larry under the eye with one of his punches. After that point, Larry was just fighting on fumes. But I thought Holmes looked really good for a 45 year old fighter.
Oh, so it was the 9th round? Thanks for the confirmation. And yes, I still thought Holmes had something left because he looked competative. Like I said, against an opponent without the same chin and stamina he most likely would've been able to win.
