Old Larry Holmes (Mercer fight) vs David Tua

Tua ain't got a chance.

 

Mercer could bang, but not on Tua’s level. Holmes is so much shrewder, though. If in rare peak form I can perhaps see Tua knocking Holmes dead, but honestly, even in his 40’s Holmes was more consistent.

I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt & say he decisions Tua.

 

I think Tua stops him. If Holmes tries to go the ropes vs Tua, good luck. IMO the young Tua wears him out and stops him.

The same tactics that worked on Mercer (going to the ropes) will not work vs Tua. Of course we are talking the young in shape Tua who could maintain a high work rate. We are not talking about the overweight Tua with a low work rate.

 

I don’t think he’d need to I’ve never seen Tua bypass a good let alone legendary jab. It’d be about the performance he put in against Lewis.

 

Holmes, easlie

 

Tua was genuinely worried about Lewis's straight right hand. If Lewis had an above average right hand like Holmes instead of the ATG right hand that he did have, Tua would have gotten past Lewis's jab. Holmes can't punch like that to scare Tua. Once Lewis nailed him with a big right hand early, all he had to do was jab and move. But it was the threat of the right hand that allowed him to jab at will.

 

No it was because he took everything on his guard instead of moving his head.

 

If "that" Holmes can outduel Mercer and avoid the game ender, he would dominate Tua. Tua's only chance is by ko and let's be real, Holmes was only stopped once.................by the terror that was a prime, inhuman version of Iron Mike. Had never happened before and that was never duplicated again.

Tua has been dominated on the outside by boxers nowhere near as good as Holmes but caught up to them because ultimately those guys were more fragile than Holmes. There's nothing fragile about Holmes (even old) to exploit.

 

Tua was a far better body puncher than Mercer though and Holmes wasn't really a mover in his 2nd career he like to sit on the ropes and counter punch. Jesse Ferguson almost knocked out Holmes in the 2nd round of their fight, i can just imagine how much trouble Holmes would've been if that was Tua in there instead of Ferguson.

The fighters who gave Tua problems jabbed him from the outside and moved consistently they didn't sit on the ropes. I think a prime Holmes would school Tua but the 90s version of Holmes who sat on the ropes i'm not so sure although he would still give Tua problems with his jab.

 

precisely. Old Holmes can't move like a young Byrd and i would argue that the 2000 version of Lewis (still prime) moved better than stationary old Larry. Not to mention Lewis's devastating power which made Tua hesistant.

 

I'm going to show you a clip you may not of seen before go to 8:39 for reference that's Holmes getting clocked badly by Ferguson laying on the ropes. Now just imagine if Tua had Holmes wobbling all over the place like that.

This content is protected

 

Holmes by wide UD. Holmes was even more skilled than Lewis and had significantly better jab while, of course, he didn't have his power. But Chris Byrd was smaller than Holmes and much lighter hitter and still outboxed in-shape version of Tua very comfortably.

Add here that Mercer was bigger, more skilled and much, much smarter compared to David and Holmes beat him quite easily.

Holmes by wide UD

 

I think the consistency part needs to be underscored. Tua could look like a boss at times and seem disinterested at others, and that could have to do with how much intelligent resistance his opponents put up IMO … he was easily puzzled.

Now if the fight takes place in 1992 when Larry beat Mercer, it’s Larry easy by whitewash because Tua had just turned pro. I think 1992-96 Holmes is a handful for the Tua who was just coming into his own in 1996 — yeah, he blasted out Ruiz but before that there’s not a lot of ‘there’ there on his record. Just a guy easing up the ranks against journeymen for the most part.

But if we look at Tua having trouble with Izon, Rahman, Maskaev — not to mention Lewis — I don’t see a guy who can cope well with Larry’s guile and ring IQ. I think Holmes outfoxes Tua for a UD.

 

You’re basing a lot on one sequence in one fight. Holmes also gave McCall and Holyfield fits, and schooled Mercer (who was WBO champ at the time but had to give up his belt to fight Larry in a bigger-money fight than he’d have gotten to fight Moorer as mandated).

Renaldo Snipes and Earnie Shavers knocked him down and he recovered. Witherspoon rocked him and he recovered to win the last minute of that round knocking Tim around. Weaver hurt him and, I think, knocked him down (even though ruled a slip) and Larry came back.

You might note that Jesse Ferguson did not finish Holmes. Only Tyson ever did so, and that was peak Tyson vs. a Holmes off for two years with a hasty four-week training camp.

One segment saying ‘oh he got rocked in one round by Ferguson’ doesn’t outweigh everything else in my eyes.