Prime Larry Holmes vs Evander Holyfield

Eddie Ezzard · Mar 11, 2018

JohnThomas1 said: ↑

The thing i think has become overplayed by so many is the whole Holmes style thing. There seems to be a belief that he was invariably on the outside piling up points and jabbing his opponents to ribbons. This is a long way from true. Holmes was caught up with many times in many fights and fought flat footed a lot more than claimed.

Weaver, Witherspoon, Norton and many others had plenty of exchanges with Larry and were anything but (just ) kept at the end of the jab and comprehensively outboxed thru the course of the fights. He was in trouble against a handful of guys that were notably lesser fighters than Holyfield.

The thing is Larry was actually quite good when exchanging. He had a good chin, excellent powers of recuperation and fantastic heart and determination. He also didn't mind going the hammer and had quite a bit of a temper inside the ropes.

I don't see Holmes jabbing Holyfield to death and cruising around comfortably on the outside. Holyfield would make him fight more so than his previous opponents as he is a top level fighter and has plenty of skill. There would be exchanges, lots of them.

Tho Buster was out of shape have a look at how ridiculously sharp Holyfield was against him and how easily he dealt with his jab, an extrmeely good one. Even when Douglas was fresh and sharp Holyfield was the far better fighter.

Holyfield could box extremely well as seen. Benton's plan was to have him box and await the openings. I could see this Holyfield giving Holmes a great fight and sharing wins in a trilogy. Benton would have an A+ strategy in place and Holyfield looking to brawl would not be a bad thing anyway. He has good two fisted power and Holmes is in no way a puncher. They would have some extremely exciting exchanges at times, many more than most would expect imo.

Norton was still pretty good but i don't see him being as sharp as he was in the earlier Ali fights.
Click to expand...

Great post. Every word makes a contribution to a compelling argument.

Must have been a helluva lot of typoes for an Aussie to do that.

JohnThomas1 · Mar 11, 2018

Eddie Ezzard said: ↑

Great post. Every word makes a contribution to a compelling argument.

Must have been a helluva lot of typoes for an Aussie to do that.
Click to expand...

Shisha · May 4, 2019

Holmes on point

he grant · May 4, 2019

Agreed .. Holmes on points ... he made him look pretty bad at age 42 for more than a few rounds ...

Unforgiven · May 4, 2019

Holmes wins on points.

HerolGee · May 4, 2019

Holmes points narrow split.

JohnThomas1 · May 4, 2019

Both at their best they would split a trilogy.

Flash24 · May 4, 2019

Wass1985 said: ↑

I think it's a little unfair on Holyfield to say that because he didn't wipe the floor with Holmes when they did fight that he wouldn't have a chance with prime Holmes.

For starters I think Holyfield carried Holmes a little and didn't go all out on him, secondly Holmes in his prime was a lot more aggressive and come forward, this would leave him more vulnerable to getting tagged. I reckon it would be a very close fight in the end.
Click to expand...

I understand your point the fight would be closer than generally thought. But Holyfield took it easy on NO ONE! And if he could've knocked out Holmes he would've.

Log in or Sign up

Prime Larry Holmes vs Evander Holyfield

Prime Larry Holmes vs Evander Holyfield

Holmes By PTS

Holmes By KO/TKO

Draw

Holyfield By PTS

Holyfield By KO/TKO

Eddie Ezzard Boxing Addict Full Member

JohnThomas1 VIP Member

Shisha New Member Full Member

he grant Historian/Film Maker

Unforgiven VIP Member banned Full Member

HerolGee Loyal Member banned Full Member

JohnThomas1 VIP Member

Flash24 Boxing Addict Full Member

Log in or Sign up

Forums

Prime Larry Holmes vs Evander Holyfield

Prime Larry Holmes vs Evander Holyfield

Holmes By PTS

Holmes By KO/TKO

Draw

Holyfield By PTS

Holyfield By KO/TKO

Eddie Ezzard Boxing Addict Full Member

JohnThomas1 VIP Member

Shisha New Member Full Member

he grant Historian/Film Maker

Unforgiven VIP Member banned Full Member

HerolGee Loyal Member banned Full Member

JohnThomas1 VIP Member

Flash24 Boxing Addict Full Member