We have speculated in the past about timelines without Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano, but no Larry Holmes might be anb even more interesting scenario. Given the inconsisitency of the other top contenders of that period we could see the lineal title change hands a few times. I cannot see anything other than an era like the 30s where the title changed hands frequently.
Mo would of retired...never faced Berbeck...and the lineal title would of finished there and then That gets me to thinking about the lineal heavyweight title (sorry, dont mean to hijack your thread), but if you dont include Vitali as a lineal champ. Does that mean the lineal title at HW is dead to you?. If this is the case, how could it be won?...would Lennox have to come out of retirement or Klit brothers fight. As in the past the next best two always seem to fight and the winner was recognised as the new lineal champ, but now this has become pretty blurred. In nutshell what im trying to say...is the lineal HW title DEAD :admin. Sorry again for jijacking your thread with my questions...I promise I will go away, think about the original question properly, and come back with an answer. But i think your right, it would of possibly swapped hands every other fight.
Traditionaly, the lineal title dies when the champion retires, and is resurected when tyhr two best fighters in the division face off. Vitally Klitschko's claim to the lineal title, is probably as strong as Marvin Hart's!
Very good point. I personnely think Vitali should be recognised as the lineal champ. Even if for no other reason than satisfying continuity in my simple mind. I tried constructing a list of lineal champions if Holmes did not...exsist. My puny brain kept becoming confused :huh, and the list started to become a lottery, so I gave up. I would be interested to see a list with actual decent reasoning, but I fear this would take a very serious amount of knowledge, on numerous boxing factors concerning this period...OR a huge amount of time...I have neither im afraid.
If Larry had not been born the heavyweights of the late 1970's and early 1980's would have been as bad as the mid 1980's heavyweights like Pinklon Thomas and Tony Tubbs and Tony Tucker. Guys who had decent skills but lacked great discipline and hearts.
Ken Norton and Jimmy Young would have been rematched for the WBC title. It would have been another close one,as Jimmy would n't have been de-motivated as he was in the Ocasio fights. If Ken wins,he would have lost the title to Earnie Shavers. In the event of a Young victory,Jimmy shuts 'The Acorn' out over fifteen. Yes,it would be an era of frequent WBC titleholders passing the belt between them. Much like the WBA.
Interesting, without Holmes around, Ali MAY have continued boxing thinking he might be able to nick a 4th world title from one of the poorer champs. Maybe fighting once a year or very irregularly. If he hung around for another couple of years....he may have bumped into a prime Mike Tyson. And then it would have been Ali getting Kod by Tyson instead of Holmes.
I've got it sussed, don't worry. 78- norton beats young and is regarded as the top hw in the world whilst ali and leon run from both. 79- norton loses to shavers who becomes the new champ. 82- shavers is blasted out by cooney. 82-86 cooney either loses to tyson or avoids him whilst tyson smashes berbick to become number 1 just as he did in real life.