Larry Holmes: Best win?

[Ruthless-RKO]

Carrying on with my 'Best Win Series'..



He had a record 69 wins, with 44 KO's!

Had a record of 20-5 (14 KOs) in world title fights.
Had a record of 11-5 (7 KOs) against former, current or future world titlists.

Which was his best and/or defining win?

What was his best KO win?

Some names that he has fought include:

Earnie Shavers
Ken Norton
Ossie Ocasio
Muhammad Ali
Trevor Berbick
Leon Spinks
Renaldo Snipes
Gerry Cooney
Tim Witherspoon
David Bey
Ray Mercer

--------------------
Another question..

Regardless of win/loss.. Who was his best opponent?

From the list above, this would include the likes of:

Michael Spinks
Mike Tyson
Evander Holyfield
Oliver McCall
Brian Nielsen

[DrDuke]

Which was his best and/or defining win?

Over Ken Norton, cause it's not only about fighting and winning a true legend of the ring in an exciting back-and-forth battle, but also this was the fight, where Larry had started his prolonged reign as a champion.

What was his best KO win?

Over Mike Weaver #2. They both had been far past prime oldmen, but Larry had landed just a picture-perfect one-two. So perfectly timed, so sharp and beautiful. Weaver had only begun moving his hand to throw a jab and then BA-BAM, lights out.

Regardless of win/loss.. Who was his best opponent?

Evander Holyfield.

[pound per pound]

Which was his best and defining win?

Norton or Witherspoon. I can't decide between the two.

You could say the 2nd Spinks fight, but the judges would not allow it. The Mercer win was impressive.


What was his best KO win?

Cooney. Cooney was undefeated and a destroyer.


Regardless of win/loss.. Who was his best opponent?

A bit of a trick question as he did stop Ali. If you mean who was the best opponent he faced when he meet them, I'd say Holyfield, but Holmes was in his 40's for that one.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Regardless of win/loss.. Who was his best opponent?

A bit of a trick question as he did stop Ali. If you mean who was the best opponent he faced when he meet them, I'd say Holyfield, but Holmes was in his 40's for that one.

It's not a trick question. That's what it means. At the time he fought the person. You could argue Tyson was on top of his game at the time they fought.

[oogiebe]

Carrying on with my 'Best Win Series'..



He had a record 69 wins, with 44 KO's!

Had a record of 20-5 (14 KOs) in world title fights.
Had a record of 11-5 (7 KOs) against former, current or future world titlists.

Which was his best and/or defining win?

What was his best KO win?

Some names that he has fought include:

Earnie Shavers
Ken Norton
Ossie Ocasio
Muhammad Ali
Trevor Berbick
Leon Spinks
Renaldo Snipes
Gerry Cooney
Tim Witherspoon
David Bey
Ray Mercer

--------------------
Another question..

Regardless of win/loss.. Who was his best opponent?

From the list above, this would include the likes of:

Michael Spinks
Mike Tyson
Evander Holyfield
Oliver McCall
Brian Nielsen

Based on circumstances; the opponent; the way he won; his standing at the time; and the fight itself;
win: Kenny Norton
Second was Shavers. KO? Gotta go with Cooney

[Kalan]

Ossie Ocasio was a terrible fighter... Ocasio got the shot at Holmes because he beat an dilatory Jimmy Young twice They were trying to line up Young for Holmes... The fact that Holmes dominated and smashed out Ocasio is no biggie... But I'll give you what I think were Holmes' best 5 wins... Though 2 of them are in the record book as losses.

1. Tim Witherspoon was his best ... Tim fought his greatest fight he ever fought.. Larry pulled out all stops in an ATG fight..

2. Ray Mercer... Mercer was an underrated boxer and puncher.. He beat Francesco Damiani and Tommy Morrison by KO in his two previous fights... Mercer wasn't allowed to retain his Heavyweight Championship if he fought 42-year-old Holmes... Which is weird because Holmes is an ATG... Holmes should have been a 3-time Heavyweight Champion with that win...

3. Oliver McCall.. That fight should have brought Holmes his 4th Heavyweight Championship at 45.. He won it.

4. Ken Norton was a good win.. Holmes fought with a torn left biceps and the fight wasn't aesthetically pleasing... Both combatants absorbed too many punches for it to be artistic... But Larry was able to pull out the victory, which was good.

5. Michael Spinks 2.. Holmes lost the 1st Michael Spinks fight - but he was robbed in the rematch.. That should have made him a 2-time Heavyweight Champion and was one HELL of a lot more impressive than his quick win over Neon Leon.

[oogiebe]

Ossie Ocasio was a terrible fighter... Ocasio got the shot at Holmes because he beat an dilatory Jimmy Young twice They were trying to line up Young for Holmes... The fact that Holmes dominated and smashed out Ocasio is no biggie... But I'll give you what I think were Holmes' best 5 wins... Though 2 of them are in the record book as losses.

1. Tim Witherspoon was his best ... Tim fought his greatest fight he ever fought.. Larry pulled out all stops in an ATG fight..

2. Ray Mercer... Mercer was an underrated boxer and puncher.. He beat Francesco Damiani and Tommy Morrison by KO in his two previous fights... Mercer wasn't allowed to retain his Heavyweight Championship if he fought 42-year-old Holmes... Which is weird because Holmes is an ATG... Holmes should have been a 3-time Heavyweight Champion with that win...

3. Oliver McCall.. That fight should have brought Holmes his 4th Heavyweight Championship at 45.. He won it.

4. Ken Norton was a good win.. Holmes fought with a torn left biceps and the fight wasn't aesthetically pleasing... Both combatants absorbed too many punches for it to be artistic... But Larry was able to pull out the victory, which was good.

5. Michael Spinks 2.. Holmes lost the 1st Michael Spinks fight - but he was robbed in the rematch.. That should have made him a 2-time Heavyweight Champion and was one HELL of a lot more impressive than his quick win over Neon Leon.

Just quickly, I still shake my head when Holmes knocked Ocaso with a howitzer jab.

[HomicideHenry]

Norton>Shavers>Cooney

[funso banjo baby]

Norton was a war

cooney was a controlled masterclass

and the two recoveries against Snipes and Shavers were superhuman

peak Holmes's reign is comparable to Hagler's at middleweight in the sense that the majority of the defences were against opps probably would have won the title against anyone else on the night

[Caractacus]

I wonder which one of his fights was this guys favorite of his ?

http://articles.latimes.com/1986-04-21/ ... rry-holmes

[JxhDel.]

In my opinion, Norton for sure, however his impressive win on Ray Mercer in 1992 was just too good for his age then.

[oogiebe]

Norton>Shavers>Cooney

Absolutely!

[evrenb]

Norton best win.
Tyson best fighter

[APerno]

Larry Holmes HW

Best Win: Norton

Best KO: Cooney

Best Opponent (at the time of the fight): Tyson


My Category ---- The defining Movement of a great career: Getting off the floor against Shavers; Holmes was tougher than thought to be.

[Ambling Alp II]

It is hard to say. He had several fights where he won almost every round before stopping his opponent in the mid-late rounds.
The Norton fight was the most exciting.
The Shavers fight showed he had a lot of guts.
The Mercer fight surprised a lot of people given the stage of his career.

[chrisjs1985]

The Norton one is probably the standout seeing as though he was a slight underdog and the fight was such a classic but the merits of a few other wins shouldn't fly under the radar. I really enjoyed the Witherspoon fight. He was really pushed in that one by a very good, young, hungry contender who was probably one of the most if not the most underrated heavyweight of that era. The Cooney win was superb as Cooney was wrecking everything in sight and Holmes handled the fight and the event very well. I always felt that bomb Shavers dropped him with must be about the hardest punch that never KO'd a man. That showed you what is inside of Holmes if you didn't already know and of course to turn back the clock and take Mercer to school was a truly remarkable victory.

Holmes rates #3 on my all-time heavyweight list. In recent years I've given Lennox Lewis some serious consideration for that spot (the top two are set in stone) but I just can't drop Holmes. His championship years came just a little too late for the other superstars of that time (Frazier, Foreman, Ali) and just a little too early for the next wave (Tyson, Holyfield, Bowe, Lewis) and he would have benefitted from some more international rivals at least but I think a lot of his work is undefeated. Sometimes when a man is so dominant and so excellent for so long you sort of stop others from creating a name for themselves and that's perhaps what happened to Holmes.

Anyway, in short his best win? Norton. His best KO victory? Cooney. His best opponent? You may want to say Tyson of 88 but I'm in the camp that thinks any version of Holyfield beats any version of Tyson so I'll go with Holyfield.

[Onetimeonly]

Best opponent was definitely holy field. Agree with everyone on Norton best win, shavers 1 was his best performance and I think his best ko was spinks. Leon was on that night.

[Nile4000]

Ken Norton
Gerry Cooney
Mike Tyson