What was Larry Holmes best prime performance?

I'd say the Knorton fight symbolizes the greatness of Holmes. He pulled out victory from the jaws of defeat. Holmes was a great fighter at turning on the juice at the perfect moment which was the 15th round in the Knorton fight.

 

All good picks.

 

Holmes beat Berbick 4 fights before Berbick beat Page :huh

All good picks, tho i'd cut out Bey. Holmes was 34 or 35 (definitely past prime) by then and obviously struggling.

 

I was impressed with his performance vs Norton, one of his best...other than that Cooney, not because Cooney was a great fighter but because he was not exposed at the time and Larry fought and trained his behind off.. Cobb was a safe fight as was Leon Spinks who was already KO'd in 1 by Coetzee...Shavers and Snipes honestly suprised me did not expect them to land those haymakers on what I thought was a good defensive fighter, especially Snipes who was dropped 2 times in his previous fight vs Coetzee....I think Norton was his best give and take fight and Weaver, shame he did not rematch those

 

Leroy Jones was a horible fighter....Ocasio had 13 fights, Spinks was Ko'd in 1 by Coetzee 3 fights before...Cobb had the worst defence since Chuck Wepner...Bey lost 18 of his next 24 fights to show you how good he was and Evangelista was febble at best. Shavers and Cooney were the best and Earnie could punch but I see him in shakey fights vs some shakey guys and lose to the likes of 20-25-0 Bob Stallings and go down for a 9 count and saw Quarry take him out in 1 and then Ko'd by Lyle...we all know Earnie could hit but he could be outboxed, outpunched and run out of stamina quick....with that batch of challengers Sam Peter would be a dominant champ....

 

He wasn't Ali. Leonard was Ali - at least the media pretended. They wanted a media savvy charming sports figure. This is why Leonard is so overrated and Holmes is so underrated. I think Holmes was the second best heavyweight in division history (although Foreman comes close).

I think Holmes' win over Norton is his greatest achievement because it was such a great fight. Holmes dominated earlier. Norton needed a knockout to win. Norton surged late. But Holmes gutted it out. The final round was a slugfest. They were teeing off on each other. Holmes proved there was no dog in him that night. He stood his ground and proved to the world that he was the uncrowned champion - the best heavyweight around.

The Cooney fight was great, too. Cooney was huge and prime. He could hit like a freight train. Holmes was fast as lightning in that fight. His jab was on target. He overwhelmed Cooney with ability. Amazing.

Larry Holmes was great. No doubt about it.

 

True.
Oddly I scored the 15th round for Norton, and reckon the judges were wrong on two counts : Holmes was clear ahead anyway and didn't need the last round, he was a rightful winner in the fight. And Ken Norton won the 15th.
But the judges had a closer view than me, so what do I know.

 

Bummy, pick a fighter and I'll play the same rip an ass game.

How's this as a response:

Jones was a giant, fast, had a good jab, was undefeated and had defeated Mike Weaver.

Ossie had twice defeated a still near prime Jimmy Young.

Cobb had fought tough wars, extending Dokes and Norton.

Bey was young, undefeated and had just defeated Greg Page.

Evangelista was a long term European titleholder and a tough, well conditioned fighter who had recently gone 15 w Ali.

 

Shavers twice.

 

I'll go with the Cooney fight.

 

Jones was fat slob, I seen him fight, I have watched him train.I knew him well. Jones was garbage.I saw him get busted up bad in the gym vs Middleweight Tom Bethea before he fought Holmes. Holmes knew this was a weak contender

A prime Jimmy Young, yea did you see his Man Boobs...Jimmy did not train and Ossie still was not impressive and he had 13 fights when Holmes fought him


David Bey had 14 fights when he fought Holmes but only won 4 out of his next 18 fights...He was an amatuer and fat

Cobb had zero defence and had lost to Norton and a young Dokes 4 fights prior..No one expected him to be a challange there were many more suitable challengers like Norton and Dokes the men that beat Cobb among others

Evangelista was nothing, ask Lorenzo Zannon...they are not close to Europeon fighters today...weak challenge...15 fight Greg Page Ko'd him in 2 and 9 fight Spinks KO in 5, he also lost to Zanon 2 times

 

Leroy Jones vs Buster Mathis, Sr. First in the ring, and then in an eating contest. Your picks?

 

I can point to no one performance as Larry's very best. He had a run whereby he was stoked against various skill sets, strengths and levels of threat. He reacted well to all of them, climbing off the deck when necessary. I do know that a few of his challengers fought beyond themselves when facing Holmes, causing some wags to suggest Larry wasn't "all of that", vulnerable and overrated. Fortunately, good sense previals.

Pick any one of them from Weaver through Spoon. Pick them all. Even when he messed-up or wasn't as mentally sharp as he should have been he found a way to overcome a guy at the height, or somewhat beyond the height of his powers and abilities.

 

That's exactly how I've always seen it. I had Holmes winning 8 rounds to 7 (like the judges), but I'd already had him winning his 8 rounds before the 15th round (unlike the judges). I've always thought Norton was a clear winner in that last round.

 

I agree, Ken won the first 2:30 of the round, but Larry already had it in the bag.