What if Larry Holmes got the decisions against Spinks?

[Controversial]

For arguments sake imagine Holmes got the nod over Spinks in their two fights and then retired 50-0

How would he now be rated, would he be in everyones top 3 greatest heavyweights of all time?

[SaadOffTheDeck]

He is in my top 3 anyway. I can't say it would change my rating because he clearly lost the first fight and I thought he narrowly, but clearly won the second. The Mercer win late was a big feather in his cap for me as well as the solid efforts against Holyfield & McCall. I rate on fights more than official verdicts anyway. Good losses count more to me than wins over lesser opposition.

But I imagine he would be rated higher by some.

[Goodnight, Irene]

It would have been another pair of close decisions Holmes forgot he received the benedfit of the doubt for and he would go on screaming the world was against him.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

The first fight wasn't close at all in my view. At the time it wasn't viewed as controversial by anyone but Larry. His rants about it seem to have carried some momentum through the years. But I thought Spinks won 10 or 11 rounds and the only drama at the decision was if he was going to get screwed.

[Roco]

If he had managed to get past Spinks then I'm not sure where is next loss would have come from.

[Ezzard]

I dunno… Larry was holding on back then. Didn’t want to face any of the top contenders or belt holders. He wanted that 50-0 and he would not have faced Witherspoon, Thomas, Page, Coetzee or any of the young heavies…

Bruno would have been the perfect fight. Frank has a little success early on and finally gets KO’d in the championship rounds.

Those performances against Mercer, etc… look all the better because Holmes had looked beatable since Carl Williams, Bonecrusher… but nobody thought Spinks would be the one to beat him.

[hhaehre]

I dunno… Larry was holding on back then. Didn’t want to face any of the top contenders or belt holders. He wanted that 50-0 and he would not have faced Witherspoon, Thomas, Page, Coetzee or any of the young heavies…

Bruno would have been the perfect fight. Frank has a little success early on and finally gets KO’d in the championship rounds.

Those performances against Mercer, etc… look all the better because Holmes had looked beatable since Carl Williams, Bonecrusher… but nobody thought Spinks would be the one to beat him.

Not only did he look beatable vs. Williams, he was in fact well beaten by 'the thruth'.

[loaded_gloves]

Michael Spinks widely outpointed Holmes in the first fight. My guess is if Holmes got the nod he would have boxed a clubfighter to make it 50-0 and promptly hung em up, coaxed out of retirement only to get whacked by Tyson for the sake of a few mil. His career would have likely progressed in the 90s in the exact same way as Larry loved the cash.

[Bricks]

I think even if Holmes had got the 50-0 and retired......he wouldnt have been able to stay away from Tyson. He would have come oyut of retirement to face Tyson in 1988 in the slot Spinks had, and it would have been for a comparable sum to what Spinks earned rather than the $3 mill Larry got.

Thereafter Larry would have carried on fighting well into the 1990's just like he did.