The fight could go either way, but I would favor Holmes. Wlad might be in the lead or score a knockdown, but in the end Holmes was extremely durable with amazing re-cooperation powers, and Wlad is not.
Wlad isn't even close in matching Shavers power, and doesn't have the same style as Norton. Wlad might have a hard right, but what you seem to leave out is that Holmes took Shavers rights on the jaw before, it was just his sunday punch that dropped Larry. Same with Snipes. I think we both agree that Wlad would have been dropped and KO'd by both of those. You seem to exagerate Larry's weakness to getting hit by right hands. If your out there throwing 20-30 jabs a round, chances are, out of 75 fights, someone is going to get you with a right. In his comeback when he didn't throw as many jabs, he didn't get hit with the right hand all that much. He maily got hit with quick jabs because he could lean back out of range fast enough, and when people charged in throwing a lot of punches, because he didn't have the foot work to get out of the way. Wlad is a robot. He has a decent jab, but its still not as hard or fast as Holmes's. Holmes a good right hand. He nearly dropped Berbick with it, he knocked Weaver out with it twice. He knocked Curtis Shepard cold with it. Out of Larry's 44KO's, a lot of them were because of the right hand. His uppercuts were lethal, and his left hook to the body could hurt you. Larry is a very complete fighter, and you take that away from him, like you do with most fighters. Ive noticed you look at fighters negatives instead of positives, and exagerate their negatives while ignoring the positives for the most part.
Have you seen some of Wlad's Ko's? He nearly took Koch's head off with a hook. He crushed former title contender Phil Jackson with a thudding body shot. He hit Jefferson with a right hand that made him split his legs before he fell down. Wlad was the lone man to floor Brewster and did so with a monster right hand. The beating he gave Ray Mercer was fierce. The beating he gave Byrd was also fierce. Wlad hit Brock with a right hand than made him fall face first to the canvas. He ko'd a durable Austin with a triple left hook, but the other shots were window dressing. The first one finished Austin all by itself. I do think the two are close in terms of power. If I were to list the 15 hardest punchers, Wlad would be on that list. Where they differ is on style. Shavers had a more aggressive swing for the fences type of style. But in terms of pure power, I'd say the two are close to even. It might interest you to know that Tommy Brooks, who worked with Wlad for the Mercer fight thinks Wlad hand speed is even with Holmes, and his power was even with Tysons.
I Watched All Of Holmes Fights And I Have To Say He Never Fought A Fighter Like Vlad, Holmes Was Tough, Mentally And Had A Bag Of Tricks, Thumbs,laces, And His Edge Over Vlad In This Area. I Like Vlads Jab, Quickness And Righthand Over Holmes Jab And I See Vlad Possibly Stopping Holmes With That Right Hand, Holmes Had Good Power And Speed Behind A Good Jab, Mental Toughness But I Don't Know If That Would Be Enough To Hold Of Vlad's Right Hand. Vlad Hits As Hard As Shavers Vs Better (WINS OVER)Quality Opponents But Also Can Get Through Better Than Earnie, Especially When He Fights Behind The Jab And His Hook (does Not Use It Enough) Can Also Cause Holmes Some Pain...holmes Best Chance Is To Rough Vlad Up And Make Him Lose His Focus,try To Cut Him Or Thumb Him And Pull It Out With A Dec. Or Tko, But The Way VLAD Is Fighting Now, It Would Be A Very Hard Task For Holmes
Although Wlad will never match Holmes accomplishments in the ring, due to the boxing politics and multiple belts of today. In a head to head match up every observer has to admit that Wlad has the edge in terms of power, and the tactics steward has given him now mean he is defensivlely sound with an iron jab. I do not think Holmes would be able to hurt Wlad in the slightest, and I would expect the current version of Wlad to stop him Holmes by the 8th or 9th round.
To say Wlad isn't "even close" to match Shavers in power is ignorant. Wlad hurt, dropped or stopped every man he landed on, fact. He's the only one to put Mercer on his ass with a shot to the head (triple left hook, you have to go back to Joe Louis or Sam Langford to see that), the only one to floor Brewster (twice). He has one-punch KO's over Calvin Brock and Elisio Castillo and he put Ray Austin out with 1 series of left hooks. How many one-punch KO's does Shavers have? As far as i know Wlad is the only one to legitely floor and stop Jameel McCline, the only of 2 men to stop Byrd. He stopped Botha with one series of punches and is the only one to stop the very durable Axel Schulz, with the exception of his recent comeback fight where he was washed up. Shavers may have a slight edge in one punch power, but Wlad is in a different world when it comes to all-round punching ability. He can knock you out with the left or the right, can double or triple up on punches and works off the jab which makes it even harder to see them coming. Yes, although Snipes is not known to be a very hard puncher. Did you see what an aweful finisher Shavers was by the way? Holmes was dancing like a puppet on strings controlled by a drunk man after that KD (can't blame him), but Shavers still missed by a meter. And you can bet that Wlad will get through with the right hand a lot more than Shavers did. And how is that relevant here? Holmes can only dream of having Shavers' power but it's a non-factor in this fight because he doesn't. I do exxagarate it, it's not like the average joe could land right hands on Holmes. But we're talking about one of the best right handed punchers in a very long time here: fast, unpredictable and hard. THEN it does become a relevant factor. Holmes has a good right hand but i don't think it's powerful enough to bail him out of the fight. In fact, it has proven not to be.Nearly always he had to wear his opponents down with it. His right hand was good, but not hard enough to exploit a weak chin, as we saw when he fought Norton and Shavers (2x); he couldn't take advantage of either's lack of durability and while pretty much have been stopped by every puncher they faced. I think we can agree that Holmes is not a hard puncher by heavyweight standards. I admit that Holmes is a great alround fighter, great jab, recovering ability, ring smarts and more; i don't think i've ever denied that. It's just that Wlad is an extremely hard stylistic matchup for him because the things that work best against Wlad (pressure & power punching) is exactly what he lacks.
Holmes had Shavers hurt on multiple ocasions. Almost dropped him 3-4 times that I remember. The bell saved Shavers twice. Holmes almost dropped Norton twice too. Again the bell saved him. Holmes's uppercut got him out of the Weaver fight pretty good. His right hand got him out of trouble in the Witherspoon fight. Its saved Larry plenty.
Not even close? Maybe you are right, because Wlad does not go for the one punch knockout and has superior hand speed to match his equal (if not better) power than Shavers. :yep
another good fight. One of Holmes best defenses, and I see it going UD in favor of Holmes. Holmes would put away many of the early rounds, Wlad would tire more as the fight progressed. Possible late stoppage for Holmes, but I think Wlad goes the distance, much less of a chance for Wlad to win.