Why did Larry Holmes do so well against Holyfield at 42?

Petrified Mark ? Are you confusing M.Spinks with L.Holmes . You've made quite a few erroneous postings before on this site. This is another one.

 

Wow you couldn`t ee that, Holmes was in survival mode and having little success he was panic fighting like all Mike`s prime victims, Larry looked scared before the opening bell, even his trainer said he wa shocked by the fear in Larry`s face, he didn`t do much at all and missed 90% of his shots v Mike.

 

Because he was arrogant, doubtful Know no would pay him, not hungry and ultimately dumb. The week before the fight he said he was really serious and boy drinking two beers a day. The huge lay-off didn’t help either.

 

I got a good laugh here but to each his own

 

A couple of reasons imo mostly being mentioned already. Lack of training for Tyson, he had a few tuneup fights before Holyfield as we know. I don't think Larry would have been confident up against Tyson, he was a couple of years out and he knew what Tyson could do. That has an effect im pretty sure. He saw George take him the distance so perhaps he thought well so can I!
And Holyfield wasn't seen as a devastating puncher really in the early 90 s, so Holmes maybe felt he stood at least a bit of a chance.

 

Tyson could have beat Holmes over the distance or by a late round stoppage, but he didn't , he ran through him like he wasn't even there. That alone deserved some amount of credit.
Holyfield couldn't do it to an even older Larry. Mercer couldn't even beat Larry , never mind win on points. It shows you how better prime Tyson was to a top guy in the 90's like Ray Merker. Prime Tyson was on a different level.

Larry being blown away without even having a moment of success doesn't really make a good case for him doing any better in his prime , he could do better , but probably not better enough to win.
The moment when he thought he found a rhythm with his feet and jab is the moment he got flattened. Tyson was built to dismantle the style of Larry Holmes. Tyson UD prime Holmes.

 

I think it was more of a matter of Larry, at 38, not having the legs he had in his prime. He couldn't hold Tyson off with the legs he had at 38.

He actually showed a lot of heart, and not much fear.

 

I think not as well. I don't think I implied that I thought he might prevail over a 1988 Tyson, arguably the most destructive fighter ever. I do think the Holmes of the mid-90s would have a shot at the Tyson of the mid-90s.

 

Everyone was considered as tough fighters until Mike beat them and they're being considered as tomato cans/out of shape/not training, etc in all sudden.

 

Yea , Holy having a tough match against Stewart for 20 rounds and he won the first fight with his classic headbutt.

 

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1st 30 seconds Holmes himself said Don King out of nowhere shows up at his house & asks him to fight Tyson towhich Holmes replied- I'm retired. Touring with a band. Don said I'll pay U 3 1/2 million...Larry said, where's Mike at! LOL!
You are on point Jake!
2:47 seconds in Tyson said Holmes was retired for 2 1/2 years so he didnt have the time to prepare for a fighter that long retired.
Spinks fight 1986. Tyson fight 1988.
5:30 in--- He didn't have enough time to prepare. He should've had 2 fights at least

Some here say he had a full training camp others here say he did not. Well Tyson & Larry aren't referring to training. They are talking about fighting no one for 2 years...then Take a Tyson fight. 22 week training camp would not have made him ready based on Tyson & Holmes' take.

Larry Holmes small gem- He wanted to be a running back for the Dallas Cowboys!


"Collectively boxing is not alive. But Floyd Mayweather who fights once a year maybe... can generated more money than all the MMA events together. So yes boxing is alive, but not as a whole sport."
--A Wise Mike Tyson speaking on boxing's place among sports like MMA

Their take on Deontay Wilder at 31-0
Holmes said he didn't know who he was.

 

Perhaps because Holmes is an ATG heavyweight?

 

For the Tyson fight Larry was coming off a two year (heavy eating and beer-ing) layoff as well two defeats (the last arguably a defeat on paper alone). The Holmes that beat Ali would have stopped any version of Tyson before the 11th round. Mike had a really good defense, very underrated, but Larry was consistent as champion and usually seemed to figure out other fighters within 12 rounds. I imagine Larry would have had his hands full keeping Mike off of him the first three or four rounds (max). Then the jab would have started landing consistently, and then as usual the right hand would start popping up. Mike would have been dropped by the uppercut, then probably either stopped by Holmes' usual barrage of right hands in the corner or given up.

Just my opinion, and this is not taking away anything from the greatness of Iron Mike (I do have him at 10 in my top 10 heavy ATGs). Larry really was fighting a smart fight before he got caught...it was apparent that he didn't have much confidence going in the actual fight, not after both losing and then getting robbed against Spinks.

The Larry who beat Mercer and did a way-better-than-expected job against Holy might have been given the nod against Iron Mike of the 90s...but I don't see any version of post-Cooney Larry Holmes beating a prime Mike Tyson.

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of those men had their day and were great fighters, indeed.​

 

Didn't Holmes puke into a plastic bag after the Tyson fight?

 

He got sick after the Holyfield fight.