Lennox Lewis Versus Larry Holmes

[tomcowan1996]

Lennox outboxes Larry easily.

[polecateddy]

Boxing Journalist? LOL, that's a term of the past.

I guess Boxing News and Boxing Monthly magically write themselves?!

[Ezzard]

Prime Larry is the better boxer, and I suspect he'll make Lennox work too hard down the stretch and take it.

A very even fight with the above being what wins it for Larry...if he does win it...

[Roars Like Me]

Slight diversion but would LL have beaten the Spinks that 'beat' Larry twice?

I still think LL and Larry would be really close but Holmes would win on points with a protesting Lennox disputing the decision marking a 2nd fight.

[Ezzard]

Lewis would have splatted Mike Spinks.

[polecateddy]

Slight diversion but would LL have beaten the Spinks that 'beat' Larry twice?

I still think LL and Larry would be really close but Holmes would win on points with a protesting Lennox disputing the decision marking a 2nd fight.

What nonsense. The Holmes that lost to Spinks was already faded. And come on, Spinks would have been destroyed quickly against any version of Lewis.

[SamWise72]

Surely watching Holmes v Cooney, should give you guys some 'inkling' just how much Larry would have struggled against Lewis.

The problem with you is that you're almost completely without any understanding of the game. I mean, you quote things in a way that suggests you've never seen the fights! 1) Holmes absolutely beat the crap out of Cooney. 2) Cooney isn't that much like Lewis. For me, this fight is very tough for Holmes, but hisjab and footwork is too much for Lewis, and he's coming on stronger down the stretch. It's not a walk in the park, maybe as tough a fight as Larry ever had in his prime, but he wins. I think Lewis is top drawer, a top 5 heavy, but for me, Larry is #1 or #2 in the division.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Boxing Journalist? LOL, that's a term of the past.

I guess Boxing News and Boxing Monthly magically write themselves?!

No different than any blogger. I can have a piece on Holmes/Lewis up in an hour.

[polecateddy]

Surely watching Holmes v Cooney, should give you guys some 'inkling' just how much Larry would have struggled against Lewis.

The problem with you is that you're almost completely without any understanding of the game. I mean, you quote things in a way that suggests you've never seen the fights! 1) Holmes absolutely beat the crap out of Cooney. 2) Cooney isn't that much like Lewis. For me, this fight is very tough for Holmes, but hisjab and footwork is too much for Lewis, and he's coming on stronger down the stretch. It's not a walk in the park, maybe as tough a fight as Larry ever had in his prime, but he wins. I think Lewis is top drawer, a top 5 heavy, but for me, Larry is #1 or #2 in the division.

I don't think it makes much sense. He was nearly beaten by Ken Norton and had a tough time with Snipes. Neither are in Lewis' league. And buddy, as a boxing fan since the 80s I've seen and read plenty about Holmes.

[hhaehre]

Surely watching Holmes v Cooney, should give you guys some 'inkling' just how much Larry would have struggled against Lewis.

The problem with you is that you're almost completely without any understanding of the game. I mean, you quote things in a way that suggests you've never seen the fights! 1) Holmes absolutely beat the crap out of Cooney. 2) Cooney isn't that much like Lewis. For me, this fight is very tough for Holmes, but hisjab and footwork is too much for Lewis, and he's coming on stronger down the stretch. It's not a walk in the park, maybe as tough a fight as Larry ever had in his prime, but he wins. I think Lewis is top drawer, a top 5 heavy, but for me, Larry is #1 or #2 in the division.

I don't think it makes much sense. He was nearly beaten by Ken Norton and had a tough time with Snipes. Neither are in Lewis' league. And buddy, as a boxing fan since the 80s I've seen and read plenty about Holmes.

How did he have a tough time with Snipes? Sure I know he got floored but he won every other second of that fight. If you want to make an argument at least pick a fighter that bothered Homes, preferably a tall fighter with a good jab and/or a guy with a strong right hand. Larry struggled plenty with the Williams jab and the Witherspoon right hand. Those are good arguments to support your position, not the beatings he dished out to Cooney and Snipes.

My prediction would be a Holmes win but it wouldn't be easy. Larry would easily out-jab Lewis but he would also eat right hands. I think the key to victory for Holmes would be to push Lewis back and to keep a good pace. Lewis was not great off the back foot and Larry could take the occasional right. BTW I think Lewis would struggle with Spinks, Michael was awkward as hell and took a good punch, especially big lumbering shots he saw coming.

[SamWise72]

Surely watching Holmes v Cooney, should give you guys some 'inkling' just how much Larry would have struggled against Lewis.

The problem with you is that you're almost completely without any understanding of the game. I mean, you quote things in a way that suggests you've never seen the fights! 1) Holmes absolutely beat the crap out of Cooney. 2) Cooney isn't that much like Lewis. For me, this fight is very tough for Holmes, but hisjab and footwork is too much for Lewis, and he's coming on stronger down the stretch. It's not a walk in the park, maybe as tough a fight as Larry ever had in his prime, but he wins. I think Lewis is top drawer, a top 5 heavy, but for me, Larry is #1 or #2 in the division.

I don't think it makes much sense. He was nearly beaten by Ken Norton and had a tough time with Snipes. Neither are in Lewis' league. And buddy, as a boxing fan since the 80s I've seen and read plenty about Holmes.

Either you haven't seen the Snipes fight and the Cooney fight, or you watch with your head on backwards. He picked himself up from a heavy knockdown against Snipes, but otherwise was in control throughout, and he hammered Cooney. You haven't seen these fights, have you?

[Ezzard]

To be fair Sam. He got up and fell back down again against Snipes. He was in a state comparable to Lewis versus McCall.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

To be fair Sam. He got up and fell back down again against Snipes. He was in a state comparable to Lewis versus McCall.

I don't think he fell back down, but he stumbled across the ring and hammered the ring post. That would have been stopped today.

[SamWise72]

Yes, he was hurt, I don't deny it for a moment, but apart from that moment, how did it go?

[ThatOne]

To be fair Sam. He got up and fell back down again against Snipes. He was in a state comparable to Lewis versus McCall.

I don't think he fell back down, but he stumbled across the ring and hammered the ring post. That would have been stopped today.

Wow...Holmes was game...I thought Earnie had him more shook.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LijnCa33Uw

As an aside Renaldo Snipes was game too...He was getting hit a lot...

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Yes, he was hurt, I don't deny it for a moment, but apart from that moment, how did it go?

He beat the shit out of him. Larry's heart was immense.

[Bricks]

Please discuss...

Holmes of 78-83 puts on a clinic schools him.the over the hill holmes of 84-86 also outperforms Lewis. The 90s holmes has his moments and almost outhustles Lewis over the first 7 rounds but fades down the stretch and loses

[Roars Like Me]

Slight diversion but would LL have beaten the Spinks that 'beat' Larry twice?

IFI still think LL and Larry would be really close but Holmes would win on points with a protesting Lennox disputing the decision marking a 2nd fight.

What nonsense. The Holmes that lost to Spinks was already faded. And come on, Spinks would have been destroyed quickly against any version of Lewis.

I haven't offered any opinion so you can keep your 'what nonsense'. You need to read all the words in a sentence next time. In fact the 'beat' part in my original sentence was in inverted comma's for that reason as I didn't think Spinks won the fights, especially the 1st fight.
For the record I do think Lennox takes Spinks too so I've now answered after throwing the question out there in the 1st instance.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I thought Spinks handily won the first fight. In fact, I don't remember any controversy about it whatsoever.

[Roars Like Me]

I thought Spinks handily won the first fight. In fact, I don't remember any controversy about it whatsoever.

I don't suppose there was, it's just my opinion

I liked Holmes retort in the 2nd fight when he said 'kiss me where the sun don't shine' for the result - and 'as this is HBO that means my big black behind' DD

[Ezzard]

I think Holmes tried to make it sound like he was robbed but nobody was listening.

Holmes was classless in the post-fight press conference.

[Roars Like Me]

I think Holmes tried to make it sound like he was robbed but nobody was listening.

Holmes was classless in the post-fight press conference.

Yep it was the end of an era for him and was bitter about it - that line still made me chuckle though.
He still made Spinks wobble on a few occasions so he probably thought that was enough to win, still close enough though.

[hhaehre]

I thought Spinks handily won the first fight. In fact, I don't remember any controversy about it whatsoever.

He wasn't robbed in the first fight and even if that had been the case he was more than lucky to get the nod in his previous fight against Williams.

[Nile4000]

To be fair Sam. He got up and fell back down again against Snipes. He was in a state comparable to Lewis versus McCall.

I don't think he fell back down, but he stumbled across the ring and hammered the ring post. That would have been stopped today.

Would've been interesting to see how Renaldo handled being heavyweight champ too.

[HeavyHitters]

A prime Holmes vs. a Prime Lewis, I'd have to go with Holmes winner in 12.