Why was Mike Tyson billed the next great heavyweight? What about Larry Holmes?

Frankly I don't know why Holmes got so much flack for picking a "light heavyweight" to tie Marciano's record when in fact the Rock made his living fighting former light heavys.. Holmes does it ONCE and he gets crucified..

 

I agree with most all said here. Except:

1) His prime is cited as '77-'82 or '83 & is called short.
Huh? that is LONGER than most ATGs. Just try to name some HWs whose prime is as long or longer. Evene Joe Louis, champion forever, did not have a very long prime.

2) I am surprised anyone could say they cannot understand Holmes being called bitter.
Why it is understandable he might become so given all the troubles & bias he faced, also he had a personality that chose to hold grudges.
There is endless evidence of him being bitter, there is no contesting the substance 7 spirit behind so many of his comments.

 

Tyson was a hell of a lot more exciting to watch than Larry Holmes is one reason. Sensational KOs stick in one's memory a lot longer than decisions victories.

 

Well, he did lose that fight.

 

Well there's not much to say as to what's already been posted. Holmes was sandwiched in between the two most "famous" fighters of all time, really.

1- Ali
2- Louis
3- Holmes
4- Lewis
5- Marciano
6- Johnson
7- Tyson
8- Foreman
9- Holyfield
10- Frazier
11- Dempsey
12- Liston

 

Tyson was just overall more impressive in his reign than Holmes was in his. Tyson beat all the other champs and top contenders in lopsided fashion, while Holmes never unified the title, never rematched his tough or controversial wins, fought a lot of Lorenzo Zanon/Lucien Rodriguez level opponents, never fought Dokes, Page, Thomas etc.

 

Tyson was ghetto trash, the culture was falling in love with that in music and every where else. It was just the right timing. The aftermath of Tyson's career and America illustrate the point. Bad decisions always hurt.

 

Yes, of course, people tuned in to Tyson for the culture and the music.

If you want to get really technical 'Ghetto trash' music didn't take off until after Tyson went to prison.

While Tyson was fighting, the most popular hip hop group was Public Enemy. A politically motivated group.

 

Yeah, and that's it. Took 10 rounds for Tyson to knock out Ribalta even. What a joke!

 

And maybe Run DMC. NWA was just coming out so it wasn't really unitl Tyson went to prison like you said.

Yeah that was a weird comment by Dr Banzai

 

Anybody who knows something about boxing rates Larry higher than Tyson. But unfortunately in popular culture nowadays it doesn't count for much. Hype, scandal and "attitude" wins the day. Tyson is so popular for the same reason Kanye West is.

So bad for Larry to get eclipsed by Tyson.

Funny thing, he got eclipsed twice actually.

Larry's comeback was suposed to be somehow his final shot to wide recognition .... and then Foreman happened:a funny-smart-lovable-born-again-from-his-ashes guy coming back for vindication too and stealing Larry's thunder.

Everybody went crazy for Big George and it was like "Larry who?" all over again.

Hard luck for Larry.

BTW it is a shame we never saw a Foreman-Holmes in the 70s or the 90s

 

Two points

1. Larry Holmes was a great boxer but did not capture the imagination of the non-boxing public. He was all substance and no style. Being a great sportsman but an unloved sportsman means that your fan base will be comparitively low and you will not capture the attention of the public. Also following a legend such as Ali and then embarrassing that legend in a one sided shutout alienated the boxing fans and media at the time who had grown up idolising Ali.

To give a comparison Novak Djokavic is the current best tennis player in the world but I doubt he will be as loved as Federer or Nadal no matter how many grand slams he wins. Being admired and loved are two different concepts in sport and Holmes was admired but not loved.

2. Holmes in 1988 lost easily to the up and coming Tyson and people assumed that Holmes was never that great all along and just happened to be the champ when there were no other great fighters around to beat him.

 

99% of all great boxers were from slums, poverty and 'ghettoes'.

 

He wasn't getting a free pass at the time though, Robert. The guy was receiving tons of negative press all over the place both for his behaviour and comments.

Even before he went to jail, in the boxing media there was quite a bit of backlash against Tyson for things he said and did.

I think the difference is that Tyson has apologised over and over since those days and has candidly held up his hands and admitted his wrongdoings.

But for a while, he was on his way to being the most hated boxer of all time.

 

Because when Larry Holmes was 22 years old he was still an amateur and when Mike Tyson was 22 years old he was undisputed heavyweight champ and had cleaned out the division in vicious fashion.