Who was Larry Holmes greatest opponent?

He might have tried seeing Mike as an Earnie type...nah, he wasn't dumb.

 

Problem with comparing Tokyo Douglas is that Buster pretty much made all the right moves - if for one night only - aggressive and seriously sitting down on his own punches from the outset. I don’t know if Larry’s approach would be necessarily the same but he would ultimately yield a similar outcome.

I agree Holmes beats Tyson by UD or just as likely later rd stoppage. Larry’s chin and moxie are great assets and safety nets if Mike manages to badly hurt or floor Holmes.

I think Larry with prime mobility and prime jab could pointedly avoid that worst case scenario of being badly hurt and/or KD’d hard - which, if it did play out, I think would happen early rather than late. Mike only really got to the old, under prepared Holmes by rd 4 as it was.

Not to extrapolate too much - but when Holmes did dance/move for that abbreviated time v Tyson, Mike was somewhat negated - it wasn’t hard to imagine prime Larry doing same that much faster and for longer to get himself through relatively unscathed in the first 4-5 rds - the real danger zone - and he’d also be pumping the jab to keep Mike off and soften him up at the same time.

After about the half way point or so as Mike become progressively less offensively edged and evasive, I see Larry incrementing his own output and variety in due inverse proportion, with Larry eventually being able to sharp shoot Tyson with relative ease as Mike becomes more and more a sitting duck.

 

Well I hate to say it because of the unpopularity of it but Gerry Cooney caught Holmes at his absolute peak and was winning the fight when it was stopped in the 13th round.....after that Witherspoon gave Holmes the most trouble but I stand by Cooney as his toughest and best opponent during his title reign. What Cooney did or didn't do after has nothing to do with that fight and Holmes peak he proved in that fight he belonged in the title hunt.

Spinks and everything after his comeback is essentially another career basically a long goodbye from an ATG with some terrific efforts against some good/great fighters...but in that career his best opponent was Tyson then Holyfield in which IMO showed that a prime Holmes the one that fought Cooney and Witherspoon could have decisioned or been competitive in the 90's forward

 

To me it looked like Cooney mostly gave a valiant but doomed effort, getting nearly squashed in round two. He certainly showed heart and a terrific shot, but Holmes got him drunk and mugged him imo. Mostly very calculated...I had Holmes ahead by four points.

 

You have no reason to disbelieve someone claiming they weren't ready for a fight and fought only for the money when they got their azz handed to them? Bro, you are brand new to the game.

Holmes is my 2nd favorite heavyweight after Mike Tyson but bro, broooooooo, come on bro stop lying to yourself.

Prideful fighters ALWAYS make excuses when they lose especially the way Holmes lost to Tyson. It's a giant reason why they're called prideful fighters.

Holmes could've fought Dave Jaco, Tim Anderson, Eddie Richardson, Donell Wofford and Peter McNeeley in the span of 5 consecutive months and they would never, ever, eva eva eva...EVER have prepared him for Mike Tyson in 1988.

Holmes took a cut out of the Comeback Foreman mould, stayed busy fighting ham & eggers then took on a Ray Mercer (who struggled with every 80's fighter he faced) because he saw how limited Ray Mercer was, which got him a title shot with Holyfield, paralleling Foreman's rise to a title shot.

Them's the facts Jack.

 

I have heard folks say Norton in 1978 was not far from his peak, but I do not think he was peak.
As close as Holmes was against Withersppon in 1983 maybe.

 

Quite true, Terrible Tim Witherspoon did give Larry Holmes a bad time.

 

Because Tyson is allowed an essay length list of excuses but his opponents aren't allowed the same courtesy.

In the mind of a a fanboy, to even suggest there's a remote chance that an active Holmes who wasn't coming off 2 losses and a layoff could go the distance with Tyson feels like you're taking credit away from Tyson or acting as if he sucks.

 

Holmes-Shavers I was prior to Holmes-Norton. Holmes-Shavers II was after.

For whatever it's worth, Shavers, in his book, described Holmes's jab from the first fight in pretty lofty terms. He said it was so fast he didn't see it coming half the time, and he started involuntarily flinching every time he saw Holmes move. He said it landed with the power of a right, and was like a ramrod endlessly battering him. So -- it sounds like Holmes definitely knew how to get real power out of that jab prior to the Norton fight. Made enough of an impression on Shavers that he felt the need to write a whole paragraph about it.

I'm curious -- where do you have Lewis? He's my #3, and I have to admit I give him at least even odds against #1 (Ali) and #2 (Louis). A big strong technical fighter with long reach, who knows how to use his size and reach, and power maybe a shade or two below Foreman. Lewis is such a great balanced mix of advantages.

 

Kings of the Ring: Mike Tyson & Larry Holmes - YouTube

Larry telling the story himself, sitting right next to Mike. Story starts around 0:40 with Don King showing up at Larry's house.;

 

Exactly what could Buster Douglas do that Larry couldn't do better? Larry was fully capable of fighting the exact same fight Douglas did.

To take it further... exactly what could Mitch ****ing Green do that Larry couldn't do better?

I don't get why it's crazy to think Larry could have at least gone the distance if he wasn't coming off a layoff with no tuneups.

 

You can add Smith, Tucker, and Tillis to that list.

Apparently the feeble chinned Holmes (who was only stopped once in over 60 fights after coming off a loss and a layoff as an old man) has "no chance" of going the distance with better preparation and less ring rust. It's nonsense. None of the boxers that went the distance with 80's Tyson were better than Holmes in any category whatsoever. If Holmes fought to survive like they did I could certainly envision him hearing the final bell. It doesn't take away from Tyson's win to suggest that.

 

I don’t think you understand that I couldn’t care less about what Larry Holmes says because I regard him as being dishonest.

It’s not as bad as believing Ike Ibeabuchi though.

 

For starters, Holmes would never have the advantage of having a lethargic Tyson in front of him who didn’t bother with head movement or combinations.

 

Foreman and Lewis tend to be the only part of my list that is interchangeable, I have a hard time deciding between them for #4.

1. Ali
2. Louis
3. Holmes
4. Holyfield
5. Foreman
6. Lewis
7. Marciano
8. Frazier
9. Tyson
10. Wlad
11. Liston
12. Dempsey
13. Johnson
14. Vitali
15. Bowe