The Greatest Fighter Larry Holmes Could Have Beaten?

I think that would have been a very enjoyable fight! And I think Foreman could win it if he gets to Larry's "take a break" middle rounds.

Instead I see Holmes jabbing the yee-haw out of George, moving and tying him up expertly whenever the latter gets set. Of course, you and I know well that George can be devastating even with a glancing blow, and there will be those (and Holmes will at least have his knees shook several times). But I see Larry frustrating the hell out of him, by the seventh round there's no time to take a break, his right is getting in consistently and Foreman can't shove, bully, or position Larry the way he did Frazier and Norton. The fight is over in the 9th, with Foreman finally getting backed up by a sneaky right and taking heavy hail-of-rights punishment.

Just my opinion. Prime Holmes had a higher ring IQ than, say, Norton-era Foreman, plus he moved significantly better than 1974 Ali.

OK, that was Holmes fanboyism at a ridiculous level. Sorry, my friend.

 

Anyone not named Ali, Frazier Foreman or Lewis

 

He would beat Lennox, while Louis,Marciano and Frazier are 50/50.
He would beat Tyson and Dempsey in his prime and I think he would beat Liston.
Larry is the guy you can not bet against, he can lose but he could surprise you.
Prime Ali would beat him like a drum tho.

 

More or less anybody on the right night.

 

"Could" brings out the "if they fought 100x" scenarios that allow for freak occurrences to happen, like a quick stoppage on cuts against someone who he would otherwise have real issues with -- maybe he gets crazy lucky and opens up massive cuts over both of prime Tyson's eyes in round 1 or something.

So, I'll do this a little different.

Best heavyweight I think prime Holmes is fairly likely to beat -- Evander Holyfield. Holyfield did nothing in their actual fight to make me think he'd have been able to handle Holmes with his legs, full hand speed, and full stamina restored to him. Also, Michael Spinks -- Holmes was hurting him in their fight but just didn't have the speed anymore to catch him often enough. Restored to prime, I think Holmes might actually stop him.

Best heavyweights I think prime Holmes has an even shot against -- post-exile Ali, Pinklon Thomas, Tokyo Tyson, Foreman (either version), Riddick Bowe.

Best heavyweights I think prime Holmes has maybe a 25%-30% shot against -- Joe Louis, Lennox Lewis. His habit of getting tagged by straight rights is a rather large liability against these two. The same might actually go for Dempsey.

Best heavyweights I don't think he's got much of a shot against -- pre-exile Ali, pre-decline Tyson. To be fair, I don't think anyone's got much of a shot against these two. Also, prime Frazier -- it's not so much that I don't think Holmes could pull it off, it's that his comments show that HE doesn't think he could pull it off, and he thinks he'd beat everyone else who ever fought, so I'll just take his word at it.

 

Peak Larry Holmes on his night can beat any heavyweight in history.
IMHO a better question would be if there is a heavyweight that Larry Holmes couldn't beat

 

Ivan Vasilyevich Drago!!