Would Holmes Have Stopped Joe Bugner?

I think probably not.
Joe would have went into safety mode pretty early in proceedings and Larry would have had to have eked out a pretty boring UD.

 

No.

Bugner went the distance with Frazier once and Ali twice as well as Ron Lyle once.

It took an exceptional puncher like Shavers to stop a post prime Bugner. And Holmes is no Shavers in terms of power.

The hard hitting Bruno stopped a well past it Bugner but Aussie Joe was old and Holmes never hit as hard as Bruno.

Ali stopped Foreman, Liston, Lyle and Bonavena, all four of whom were highly durable. Holmes never stopped a fighter as durable as Bonavena or Foreman. People here often regard Holmes as harder hitting than Ali which i have always found absurd. Based on what?

If Frazier couldn't stop Bugner with his big left hook and Lyle couldn't stop him with his big right hands, and Ali couldn't stop him with his underrated power and superior combinations, than Holmes definitely isn't stopping him.

Bugner was appearently tko'd in his debut but he was a kid then. We are talking prime here.

No way does Holmes stops prime Bugner. Not a chance.

 

Good post and I concur. And it has to be said that the Shavers stoppage over Joe was from a cut even though he dropped Joe briefly.

 

Hell no. Ali couldn't do it in 2 attempts. Frazier, Foster, Cooper, and Lyle couldn't and they hit significantly harder than Holmes.

On top of having a good chin and defensive skills, Bugner knew how to survive. I can't fathom Holmes stopping him outside of a freakish cut.

 

Probably not. Joe could take punishment.

 

He could, but I wouldn’t pick him to, even Joe Frazier couldn’t do so who most likely had the better style and attributes to do so.

 

Good versions of Ali couldn't do it and Frazier couldn't do it either so I would say unlikely no.

The only fighter who really got to Bugner was Shavers but Holmes is nowhere near on the level of Shavers regarding single punch power.

 

I think one aspect that isn't talked about much in regards to Holmes's reign is that he had 15 stoppages in world title fights which is a good ratio.

 

Aussie Joe is a live dog

 

To be fair some of those defenses came against the likes of Leon Spinks and Marcus Frazier.

 

Marvin.

 

Sorry i meant Marvis.

 

My bad. Lol@me.