Holmes throws a lot of jabs and has a bit of a tendency to keep his left out there. Jabs are not so effective against southpaws and on top of that, southpaws are often very adept at countering the jab/right hand with a quick power left hand of their own. Wasn't Nick Wells, who stopped Holmes in the amateurs, a southpaw? It would be interesting to see how Holmes deals with a Michael Moorer or a Corrie Sanders. By the way, this is not a stab at Holmes; he was a terrific boxer and anyone will have trouble with southpaws like the above, but i'm just wondering. On a sidenote, Sanders would fit perfectly in the picture of the 80's heavyweights: limited stamina (couldn't run because of knee injuries), big punching power, a short prime and basically an underachiever.... he even sported a 80's moustach for a period of time: This content is protected
O lord, how did I know his name would come up in this thread. Corrie Sanders isnt even close to a top 10 heavyweight southpaw in heavyweight history. Sanders is a B level journeyman with one fluke victory (that has been exaggerated to outer proportions) his only win over a contender. Sanders has to be in the top 5 most overrated fighters on ESB. I just watched his recent fight in which he got knocked out in 1 round by some tomato can. while I agree with you that some of the better southpaws throughout history may trouble holmes, sanders certainly is not one of them. I always thought holmes biggest flaw was the right hands(which is why holmes avoided thomas and page), but sothpaws could be troublesome too.
I disagree, the 1980s possessed the era of supertalented big heavyweights, the most talented big men in heavyweight history. No one even knew who the hell Corrie Sanders was until he fought wladimir klitschko(how he even got a shot at the tile without a single win over a fighter in the top 10 is news to me)....the fight was viewed as an easy tuneup fight for wlad. I dont see how if corrie sanders couldn't consistently be a contender in one of the worst eras in heavyweight history, how he would be a contender in the most talented era of big men in heavyweight history.
Holmes was Ko'd 2 times by the under 6 ft Southpaw Nick Wells who was a powerfull puncher with both hands....and Holmes had to be taken out of the ring on a stretcher. This was towards the end of Holmes amatuer career, I think for the Nationals...Wells was a beast of a puncher, short stocky...he also split a few fights with Bobick when Duane 1st beat Stevenson, then Duane got stopped by Stevenson in the rematch, Bobick also dropped Larry Holmes with a right hand and a hook, Larry held on too tight ,was warned by the ref but continued to get DQ'D...Shame Wells did not get the right training or management, he would have been suited for the pro's with his power
Are you seriously wondering how Sanders could be a contender in an era when the mighty Randal Cobb, Marty Monroe, Lorenzo Zanon, Leon Spinks, David Bey, James Broad, Tyrell Biggs, Scott Ledoux, Leroy Jones, etc could all make it into top10 contendership? True, but a green Snipes (who was not known to be a big puncher anyway) put Holmes down pretty bad, so you can't really count him out.
Since when was snipes a big puncher? my ring magazine old issues of the 1980s that I have certainly didnt portray him that way
Snipes had a decent right hand without being known as a huge puncher yes, but a fight to watch to see his power at it's best is vs Berbick, he wobbles Berbick numerous times and quite badly at one stage. A bit of an eye opener. Then of course he run into a motivated Super Greg and that was all she wrote
Greg Page in his prime impresses the hell out of me on film. I thought he was one of the top 3 most skilled 1980s heavyweight not named tyson/holmes. A greg page vs pinklon thomas fight both in peak shape would have been a great one.
Good man, he was considered more talented than the likes of Dokes and Witherspoon by many top experts for a fair time but did next to nothing with it unfortunately. Dundee, Ali, Clancy, Schuyler, they all had massive raps happening. His combination of speed and power, as well as reflexes had ATG potential written all over them and he took a great punch at his best as well. He shook off the same bombs from Coetzee that had leveled Dokes and hurt Thomas and countered Coetzee with the right hand Ed Schuyler thought to be the best in the division. Even in his best fights like this (motivated) however he was still just plain too heavy to use his speed and movement as it should have been. He should have been coming in at about 225 IMO. He fought Snipes at 227 and seemed very well suited.