Why couldnt Holy put away a a 40 something year old Holmes?

I'm pretty sure Holmes was 42 in that fight.

Anyway, Holmes fought a fight where he didn't have to use those old legs of his very much.
His legs were nothing like they were in his prime, and Holmes was wise enough to realise that his old style, but without the legs, would have been suicidal.

So he backed off to the ropes or to the corner and let Holy come to him, try to counter and sneak the odd lead against Holy. Holmes essentially fought a spoiling type of fight where the objective was to expend as little energy as possible.

Take his craftiness, durability and chin, coupled with Holyfield's lack of a truly heavy punch and lack of variety on the attack, and that was pretty much that.

 

Holmes was 38 when Tyson blasted him..And 42 when he took Holyfield the distance.

 

Holyfield could't put away a 42 years old Foreman...

 

To be fair no one put away Foreman in his 30s and 40s. Indeed the only men who gained his attention were Cooney and Lakusta from what I remember.

 

There is the answer. Holmes could be floored, but had excellent recovery powers.

 

Plus, Holmes fought a purely defensive fight where he simply backed to the ropes and let them absorb much of the force of the blows, rather than worry his legs with them.

 

Holmes had an ATG chin & was in good form, having just beaten Mercer.

Holy was landing some good shots but the cut made him more conservative in the later rounds.

 

Holmes had a chin of steel, and Holy wasn't a real hard puncher, there's your answer, and 42, isn't really considered "old" for a Heavyweight anymore:deal, example look at Vitali Klitchko, he's 42 now and could kick anyone's ass in the division right now with the exception of his brother...

Wladimir will be 38 pretty soon , March, and the way he is going he could keep on fighting another 10 years, no problem...

I think the reason Holy stopped Tyson in that infamous 1st fight, was because Tyson just got too tired, and couldn't stand on his feet anymore, he never had stamina worth a ****...

 

And why supposedly hard hitting Mcall (who knocked Lewis down and stopped him with just 1 punch in previous bout) couldn't put 45 y.o. Holmes on the deck besides hitting him often with that right hand in later rounds of their bout?

 

I think that cut saved Larry from that kind of outcome in about the 10th round. Holy really backed off the accelerator pedal and showed some boxing savvy in there. How many guys are not going to suffer a tko loss to Holmes once they are cut that bad with 6 rounds to go? Larry was terrific at closing the show and he was never really all that close to getting Evander out of there.

But Evander those first 6 rounds was doing his bricklayer work and it was going to be real tough on an old Holmes to absorb late in the fight. In light of the severity of the cut--and against a world class finisher--I thought it was a good effort by Holyfield. If he fights dumb, he could have lost the fight. He sure was not spectacular, but he came out of the foreman and Holmes fight with a real boxing education that sure served him well.

 

That very much depends on the mileage on the fighter. Don't just look at the age. Holmes was rightly considered pretty old when he fought Holyfield, and he looked it.

 

Styles