Where does Larry Holmes rank as a HW ATG

thats ok. i buy it. im not saying he's chit. it just doesn't make him a top 5 atg or a great in my book. he simply hasn't ever produced a display of greatness in his life.

if ray mercer was around today , he'd be the povetkin of the era. in fact mercer was far more destructive in his prime

when holmes was 42 years old , he put a schooling on mercer. pure atg level skill at its finest.

look at the best wlad when he met larrys mercer -


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5m8DlDqR00

no skills on dispaly there whatsoever , never mind top 5 atg level skill.

 

larry was without his best weapon that night. he fought Norton injured , ignoring medical advice to postpone .

and he still produced one of the best fights of all time.

wlad postponed a fight with 40 year old , shot to bits mormeck over some unknown little niggle.

holmes could have gotten of the couch and beat that mormeck at 45 years of age.

we're dealing with mediocrity here . different levels entirely

 

there's just one me on this forum

 

You conveniently ignored my comments about him being gifted against prospects and losing to a light heavyweight while still being a lot younger than Klit was against Fury, but I kinda expected that.. And something tells me that you probably aren't about to give wlads brother a pass for fighting Byrd with a torn rotator cuff but it is what it is.

 

Povetkin was more skilled than Mercer and possibly just as tough. While Holmes getting a win over mercer was outstanding at his age, Ray was limited as contenders go. I remember watching some of his fights against guys like Cooper and Damiani who was well on the path to losing against but then again you'd probably pick those guys to best wlad too so I guess mentioning it is moot.

 

Thats nowhere near as bad as being blown away by sanders , brewster and purrity.

what about wlad quitting and being gifted against williamson?

holmes fought bey , bonecrusher , willimas and spinks within a 10 month time frame.

the williams fight was a tough 15 rounder just two months before he faced spinks. he was worn completely out.

he took a rest and we all know he came back and won that spinks rematch.

what pass is there to give. holmes went into the fight injured and battled it out for 15 rounds to a victory.

vitali felt an injury and bottled it a few rounds later to walk away with a loss.

and norton >>> night & day >>> chris byrd

 

mercer pulled out an impressive stoppage against damiani. where was the same when povetkin was getting pasted by huck?

there really is no difference between mercer and povetkin. povetin has one line of attack- jab , right hand , dip and left hook. rinse and repeat- thats all he does

both are Olympic gold medal winners. both held paper belts. mercer held his in a much greater era so that automatically makes him better.

and povetkin would never take lewis to what most people saw as a draw when he fought mercer

 

We're talking about 92 Mercer, Oldsock. Recent Povetkin would certainly be favoured vs a guy who huff and puffs with a dude as basic as Bert Cooper. Mike Perez would KO that Cooper in 1 round.

 

thats probably true but mercer was in a deeper talent pool than povetin was.
marius wach make Damiani look like big daddy bowe in comparison.

 

charr , perez - (who lost his will to win), tackam weren't as good as mercer.

mercer was a wrecking machine coming trough the ranks. and much quicker of foot than plodvetkin

 

April 2006 - November 2015

That's 9 years, 7 months, and 6 days.

Lame reply

Another lame reply to my point

Your debating skills are phenomenal.

Steward took over wlads camp in 2004. He took Wlad to a new level. Every person who knows boxing knows this.

People say Tyson was not the same without his trainer. You cannot have it both ways.

Another lame response to my point.

The funny part is that I'm not even a Klitschko fan, and never have been on these boards for the years I've been on it. Yet give him his credit and we have bitter posters like you who just hate.


Klitschko BEFORE Manny Steward was not the same boxer as the Klitschko WITH Manny Steward.


If Klitschko was a YANK, especially being white and all. He'd get his props and a hell of a lot more. Even Tyson said this. The only reason they aren't given respect is because "They aren't American".... Exact same reason Lewis wasn't given respect.

 

That's a damn good list. I would maybe put Joe in front of Wlad.

 

Was the fury fight really a landslide??? I was under the impression it was a very evenly matched pathetic showing where neither deserved to actually win.

We're talking 10/12 TOTAL punches landed per round. That was both fighters combined. Wlad will win the rematch and retire.

Because, the truth is wlad would get brutalized against the top hw atm. So would fury, they might make it a triology because neither will step in the ring with the elite hw.

We haven't had ELITE hw's for a long time. Since LL. Now we have a few killers