Muhammad Ali Vs Larry Holmes Fighter Comparison

This only applies to the younger Holmes. The older, less mobile 40+ version duked it out at mid-range and close-range a lot, although I guess that's mostly because he had to. Can't exactly dance around when 40+ and 20lbs+ above your fit weight.

 

Reading your post, this occurred to me:

If I wanted to teach a fighter, I’d want to teach him to fight like Holmes.

If I wanted to create a fighter, I’d probably create Ali.

 

Actually he did it quite often earlier in his career. He didn’t necessarily do it from bell to bell often, but he planted his feet often and went to war. And he was also a consistent body puncher throughout his career — often it was a shot here, a couple of shots there, but there’s hardly any title defense where you can’t find some good body work by Larry.

 

Well Old Holmes wasn't exactly slugging it out with Mercer or Holyfield was he? He fought them at close/mid range but in a cagey way. Against Mercer, he often took a sideways stance only offering the shoulder as a target or fighting off the ropes.

In regards to Ali, I'm referencing the brutal ring center war he had with Frazier in Manilla, aggressively fighting on the front foot in the 3rd Norton bout, exchanging with Chuvalo, or exchanging with Mac Foster. I don't recall seeing a younger Holmes do that often. Holmes certainly didn't try mixing it up with Shavers, Cooney, Smith, etc (not that I blame him!). When Witherspoon had him hurt, he covered up and backed off and tried to make it a boxing match again. I only recall Holmes going to war with Norton and Williams, and in both those fights it was more of an ebb and flow back to "boxing", not consistent exchanging for long periods of time.