BoxRec

How much better would the holmes of 92 or 95 have fared V...Tyson 1988....
I just watched Tyson v Holmes...and Larry looked so fat with that worse than ever spare tyre. He didnt throw many shots at all for 2 rounds just put his left arm out to dissuade tyson from coming in and walked anti clockwise before hugging and holding on with an occasional mistimed and slower than ever jab......he didnt even look 70% of the Holmes of 86 who was robbed by Spinks. A really shambolic performance in my view....apart from the very intense beating he took like the true champion he was in the 4th......fast fwd the clock 4 years and his fight with mercer and i saw a much much better holmes than 88....moving a little, the jab snappier by far, the right hand still there 2 some extent...he beat a red hot contender like mercer the olympic HW champ....than fast fwd to 95 and Holmes almost beat Mccall again utilising a still surpisingly fast and snappy jab and right his skills in evading the powerful atomic bulls charges...until round 9 almost led him to winning the HW title in 95!.......

Obviously Holmes in 88 was totally inactive retired etc wheras in 92 and 95 he had been fighting...still the decline from 86 to 88 in performance was remarkable even against a beast like Tyson.....still i consider mercer in 92 to be a very dangerous foe too......

So how much better does holmes of 92 and 95 do against tyson 88?

Holmes - Mercer = Boxing Gold

Counter-puncher wrote:Holmes - Mercer = Boxing Gold

Is that a math equation, or a literary statement?

The great Larry Holmes of the early 70's to early 80's would have beaten Tyson in his prime (in my humble opinion). He had an iron chill, great jab and was very, very durable.
I think the Larry Holmes of 88' wouldn't have faired any better then the Holmes that did face Tyson.

Bill

er...I agree with u bill the holmes of 88 wouldnt fare any better than holmes that did face tyson.....

BoxBuzz wrote:

Counter-puncher wrote:Holmes - Mercer = Boxing Gold

Is that a math equation, or a literary statement?

take it as you wish

Perhaps a '92 Holmes would have faired better, but he was still fat, still well past his best and Mike Tyson in his prime was significantly better than Ray Mercer. The result would likely have been the same.

As a twist on this, if you don't mind: How do you see Holmes' career playing out if he'd been given the second decision against Spinks? Presumably he wouldn't have walked away from the sport, and might've been in better shape for a fight with Tyson. How do you think he would've done in the era then?

Larry was one of the best of all time and was way past his best when he fought Tyson but in his prime I think Larry would have beaten Tyson

squiggy wrote:As a twist on this, if you don't mind: How do you see Holmes' career playing out if he'd been given the second decision against Spinks? Presumably he wouldn't have walked away from the sport, and might've been in better shape for a fight with Tyson. How do you think he would've done in the era then?

Interesting question. With the chance at Marcianos record gone and all the bitterness of the first Spinks fight fresh in his mind not to mention the early emergence of Tyson. I do think Holmes would have stuck around and defended his IBF title for a while until a Tyson fight became a reality in late 87. Holmes likely would have defended against non entities like Steffan Tangstad, maybe rematched Cooney in a huge payday before he got his money hungry hands on Tyson. The fight would have been worth far more to Holmes financially than he earned in actuality against Tyson in 88 and Holmes would have been in a similar shape and fighting condition against Spinks the second time.
I think it would have been a 12 round decision won by Tyson more competitive than Tyson-Tucker and closer to Tillis-Tyson in competitiveness

The prime Holmes was next to perfect, its hard for me to imagine Tyson being able to bull him and of been successful. The Holmes who returned in the 90s, though dominating Ray Mercer, would have fallen victim to Tyson again; too old imho to of absorbed the high volume punches of Tyson; but then again Mike at that time was a head hunter, and not the same overall skilled fighter that he once was.