Ali and Holmes with almost legendary chins ... both knocked down hard by strong blows, yet still managed to recover and fight on. Who do you think was hit harder? Personally, I thought Holmes was gone when Earnie connected - that was as solid a right hand as I've ever seen, and he DROPPED. According to Larry, the punch knocked him out and shocked him back at the same time ... who's to say? The hook that Joe was throwing all night finally found a home in the 15th, but Ali seemed to shrug it off rather well; at that point, I think fatigue was more of a factor than anything in his KD. Thoughts/opinions?
The Shavers punch turned Holmes lights out momentarily. Frazier's was more about the force of the punch on a tired Ali, but Muhammad did not lose his faculties and was quickly up. This one goes to Shavers.
Both sledgehammer blows, but I'm going shavers v Holmes. Can watch that and still marvel at Larry getting up?!
Yep. I agree the s*** out of this. Although I struggle to fathom most rising from Frazier's punch, also.
I disagree with your assessment of the Frazier punch. I think that it was only hitting the canvas that brought Ali round. This might just have been a worse punch to take, given the fatigue he would have been suffering, and the attrition of the previous rounds.
Shavers had pretty poor finishing skills and often let fighters off the hook. Besides Holmes he also let Lyle, Berbick, and Mercado back into the fight after knocking them down. All the guff about Holmes being knocked out and woken up again by the canvas has no basis in medical fact. He got up because he wasn't hurt badly enough not to get up. Frazier might not have hit you as hard, but if he caught you and dropped you he'd go after you relentlessly. I'd say that's much harder to recover from than a wild swinging slugger like Shavers. So to answer the question: Frazier's was.
