It was a rhetorical question, but thanks for the typical outburst of teenage angst you so readily spew , when you're found out to be wrong - which is almost all of the time.
Hilarious. Norton's performances vs. puncher is what? Berbick was very overrated. A good boxer shuts him down, a good puncher puts him away, Vitali is both. Weaver? Terrible defense, won't last the distance. C Williams, too chinny. But yeah, Ocasio has a real chance! A cut saved Lewis was down 4-2 on all three scorecards, and a torn shoulder injury is the only reason Byrd won. Might I remind you that Vitali never lost more than 3 rounds on ANY judges card in his professional boxing career. His rounds won to rounds lost ratio is superior to either Holmes or Lewis...any champion in the history of boxing. Prove me wrong on that; you can not. Might I remind you that he was one of the best older fighter...ever. Probably beats Holmes in his late 30's to early 40's. Like Ali, Vitali missed part of his prime due to politics. DIfferent reasons of course/ Might I remind you he was never floored by a punch. Might I remind you he was out of the ring for four year and came back strong as ever in his later 30's to beat a string of top ten contenders. He was a first ballot hall of fame guys for a reason, and lead his class with votes. But yeah, I really can't argue with Ocasio and to tie it all in, he gave Lewis an awkward fight and lasted the distance. Lewis didn't like southpaws, which Osasio was, and refused to fight them after this match.
The Lewis-Ocasio fight was kind of a joke, really, and I don't care how early on it was in Lewis' career. Ocasio had been devastated by a Holmes jab eleven years ago and knocked silly by Dokes 10 years earlier. Wow. No disrespect to Lewis fans...I consider myself one.
The Weaver fight wasn't much more impressive, either. Holmes knocked him out with one shot not far from the time LL fought him...and had already done so something like a decade before that. I'd be shocked if anyone found that 6th round ko particularly impressive. Mike was an excellent puncher and perhaps the second greatest heavy in the world from 79 to about 81 (maybe not quite that long).
That's interesting, I didn't know that SI had picked Holmes in two. Strange that, Holmes never seen as a massive puncher and up to that point Cooney hadn't been troubled by anyone really. So to expect an Holmes blast out?! Ironic, as you say, he actually was in trouble in the second. Perhaps someone spotted something about Cooney that showed a weakness that Larry could exploit early.
SI picked Cooney in 2, @Fergy That SI article was very gloomy about Larry's chances given his performance against Snipes the year or so before. They felt it was a bit like Frazier-Foreman, a total blow out which it most certainly didn't turn out to be. I'll always see the Cooney fight as the beginning of Larry's decline, the tactical error in round two made the fight far harder than it should have been. Even a year before Cooney would have been finished after the first knockdown.
Lol sorry bout that pal, my mistake. So they actually had Cooney blasting Holmes in 2! Well, I suppose they saw him blasting out the other big, but faded names and expected much the same. Maybe if Cooney had faced weaver, that could have been a possibility..
I too think Gerry was mishandles, but applaud Larry's fight-time mistreatment of him lol. It just haunts me how Larry could have saved himself a lot of trouble had he cast caution to the wind in the 2nd. Cooney was done.
It's a while since saw the fight but remember how he went down in the second. Yep, Larry could have probably got him then. Going in to the 13 th round made Cooney look probably a lot better than he actually was.
Hilarious again! Briggs " Vitali hits harder than Foreman " Williams "He doesn't hit as hard as Tyson," Williams said, "but he's more consistent." Levi Billups " Vitali hits harder than Lennox Lewis" There you have it, Vitali power compared to Foreman, Tyson and Lewis from the men who took punches from Vitali of the three most famous punchers in history. His KO% is impressive, and they tend to drop with age. As mentioned Vitali fought on to age 41. But we get it, 1990's heavyweight boxing sucks, and Vitali's resume is comparable to Wilders. By chance is Mcvey using your log in?
Thread should have ended here. Prime tyson and Holyfield are hard names to beat. Close to Prime versions of witherspoon, Mercer, and Norton are nice sprinkles on top, plus a dangerous and game Cooney and shavers (2x).. In terms of opponents faced Holmes' resume is top 3 bare minimum. His whole career he was fighting men younger than him but no one wants to talk about that.
Well Vitali obviously didn't hit as hard as McCall and Rahman as they KO'd prime Lewis with one punch whereas Vitali couldn't even deck a shot Lewis.