Top 5 Larry Holmes wins

Purely best wins, not best performances:

Norton
Witherspoon
Cooney
Mercer
Shavers

I could easily see Snipes, Berbick or Weaver ahead of Mercer & Shavers.

 

Shame he never faced Pinklon Thomas.

 

Yeah, it would have great to have seen him against page an Dokes as well.

 

1. Norton, this is Holmes best win, and in my opinion his best opponent.
   
2. Shavers, first fight. Shutout. 2nd fight was also a shutout minus 1 unholy knockdown….
3. Cooney, at this point Gerry was a legit dangerous fighter and fought well against Larry. Only criticism of Holmes here is that I believe he could have jumped on Gerry and stopped him in the 2nd if he had tried.
   
4. Weaver, turned out to be an excellent fighter himself, one of Larry’s best displays of heart and fortitude.
   
5. Witherspoon, could arguably be switched with Weaver, as far as quality of the opponent, also turned out to be an excellent, if inconsistent fighter. I did not find this fight as close last I watched compared to when I was younger, see it now as about 8-4 Holmes.

Honourable mention to the Berbick, Leon Spinks, and Mercer fights.

 

The Mercer win was fantastic because he was past his best and Ray was close to prime. One of my favorite performances ever by Larry.

 

Witherspoon - took on an inexperienced but tough and talented guy and used his wiles to turn the tables. Considering Tim's later accomplishments it is a great win. I am not sure of the circumstances of a return not happening but would have enjoyed that! For me a classic case of a fighter throwing a fight away in the championship rounds so I don't think we need to feel too bad for Tim.

Cooney - this was such a media circus and Larry must have felt so much pressure facing a huge and huge punching younger man that this must count as one of his best performances. Grace under pressure for sure.

Norton - just a great fight where he showed he could dig deep when it mattered. Another fight were it is shame there wasn't a rematch but Shavers put a stop to that.

Mercer - must be one of the best performances by a fighter on the comeback trail. I feel this completed Larry's transformation from an underrated champion to a legit elder statesman and ATG in the minds of more casual fans.

Shavers 2 - along with Snipes I can't imagine that many champs getting up from that punch. If anyone doubts Larry's guts just watch this.

 

I genuinely believe there was a point where Larry just went "f*ck it" and went for the money and the easier route. I feel dealing with Don King does that to a fighter! A shame for us fans but there it is.

Out of those mentioned I feel Dokes may have been the trickiest for Holmes due to his speed. Page always looked amazingly sloppy despite his obvious talent while Dokes always had a good technique to back up his quickness IMO. On the other hand I feel Dokes was so erratic that Thomas probably had the best chance against Larry. The frustrating thing is that I don't think Larry would have underestimated Thomas, as he did with Witherspoon and Williams, and could have put on a vintage performance. I feel there was nothing Pinky did better than Holmes technically so it would have been about grit and stamina. I feel it could have either been a classic like Norton or a chess match for the connoisseur as both had excellent jabs.

 

I agree with @Greg Price99

Norton
Shavers
Cooney
Mercer
Witherspoon

I don't think it's really debatable TBH.

 

Holmes admitted himself he had no interest in fighting Thomas and wanted to ride off into sunset with easier challengers.

For me Thomas beats a fading Holmes in 84-85.

 

Norton
Witherspoon
Cooney
Mercer
Weaver

 

Norton and Cooney stand out. After that, the choice becomes difficult.

 

1. Norton. Excellent win over great fighter in one of the best fights HW division has ever seen.

2. Witherspoon. Great win over young but very dangerous future two-time HW champ and arguably third best HW of 80s after Holmes himself and Mike Tyson. And it was clear win for Larry IMO.

3. Mercer. Very underrated win, since old, years past prime Holmes beat Mercer much easier than prime Lewis did.

4. Gerry Cooney. Excellent win over monstrous punching giant top contender.

5. Shavers.

Honorable mention - Weaver, Berbick.

Far from Ali's resume, but not bad at all compared to other greats.

 

1. Norton
2. Witherspoon
3. Mercer
4. Shavers (only because Holmes was knocked down, and got up)
5. Cooney