Rare Footage of Larry Holmes vs Nick Wells!!!!!

Love to see more fights found like this.

 

Wow. This has to be the most incredible footage in this forums 20 plus years history. I never thought i would see this.

The first knockdown looked like it came off a left hand. The second one came off a right hook.

In both instances, Holmes hands were down. His right hand was really low in the first knockdown which is why he got caught by the southpaw left. You can't get away with this stuff unless you have the reflexes of peak Ali or RJJ, and obviously Holmes did not.

Wells is an interesting character. I have always wondered why he didn't make it as a pro given that he was a leftie in an era where they were rare. And he could punch.

Holmes deserves a ton of credit for coming back from not one but two ko defeats to the same guy. Amazing resilience. Holmes is definitely a guy whose amateur accomplishments are above average at best, and who somehow turned himself into a great pro.

 

Wow, what an incredible emergence. I never thought I'd see it. The quality of the footage is mind blowing.

 

Usyk beats Holmes

 

If Nick Wells could stop Holmes, imagine what Marciano would do to him?? Marciano KO 1 Holmes

 

If Nick Wells could stop Holmes, I shudder to think what Marciano and Schmeling and Carnera would do to him

 

Tremendous footage, but you can see that Holmes is very raw here. He developed from a raw unpolished amateur into a fine pro. You can't draw a lot of conclusions from this given his early stage of development. What I do like is that he kept getting back up and fighting, and never quit, something he would show when decked in the pros, winning when the referees gave more leeway for him to recover and come back. He got dropped in the Olympic Trials too by Bobick. But look at the different trajectories their careers took after they turned pro. Certain fighters do develop and improve, and clearly Holmes, like Jack Johnson, and Jack Dempsey, greatly improved with time and experience.

 

Never saw this , very cool ... Wells was actually a bit younger than Holmes but far more experienced ... I think you have to gage it as you gage many amateur losses in conjunction with the pro career, achievements against level of opposition to come later on .. Larry managed to go on to do ok.

 

Wow was Holmes raw here. And making mistakes he'd never have made later in his career. Throwing wild body shots in a shootout, with his hands down, while his opponent is throwing at his head? As a pro, he had fantastic survival instincts once hurt. Here, he was garbage, did everything wrong once hurt.

He's an interesting example of a mediocre amateur who developed into a great pro. Probably due to his late start. It can be hard to compete at that age when the guys you're fighting have been doing it since they were 12.

Usyk had a bit of a late start compared to some others (I think it was 16?), but he'd been heavily into sports that helped with footwork, I believe soccer, wrestling, and Ukrainian folk dancing.

 

That video tripped me out.

Great find.

 

based on what

 

Chagaev beats Holmes!

 

Anyone know why Nick Wells didn't make it as a pro?

 

Ukrainian folk dancing??