BoxRec

What are fight fans views of former Super Middleweight Champ Lindell Holmes?

He doesn't get mentioned much, but he seemed to have had a decent career.

Could he have mixed with his successors, Benn Eubank & Collins?

Didn't he get beat by Eubank? He beat Malinga which is a good result but he also got beat by Herol Graham I think.

Syntax Error wrote:What are fight fans views of former Super Middleweight Champ Lindell Holmes?

He doesn't get mentioned much, but he seemed to have had a decent career.

Could he have mixed with his successors, Benn Eubank & Collins?

Holmes never gets mentioned.He was a solid,good chinned ,very hard puncher.He trained with many of the Kronk & Detroit fighters around his area.He was a tough guy.I believe he was a notch below the fellows mentioned above,BUT if you were not "World Class",Lindell would expose it by beating the Shit out of you.I would rate him definitely a top contender status,maybe not among the Elite,but heads and shoulders above the rest.
zuru

Did anyone see the Sanderline Williams fight??.Williams fought almost every top middleweight of that era and het ook them all the distance except Holmes.Even G-man and Benn couldn't stop sanderline.

Was it a cuts stoppage?.

Sorry to bring up this very old thread but i'd love to know about that

zuru wrote:

Syntax Error wrote:What are fight fans views of former Super Middleweight Champ Lindell Holmes?

He doesn't get mentioned much, but he seemed to have had a decent career.

Could he have mixed with his successors, Benn Eubank & Collins?

Holmes never gets mentioned.He was a solid,good chinned ,very hard puncher.He trained with many of the Kronk & Detroit fighters around his area.He was a tough guy.I believe he was a notch below the fellows mentioned above,BUT if you were not "World Class",Lindell would expose it by beating the Shit out of you.I would rate him definitely a top contender status,maybe not among the Elite,but heads and shoulders above the rest.
zuru

Holmes in his prime was a ten,eleven ranked guy at best during the Hagler years, and in the post 87 shake up when a lot of talented young american MWs emerged holmes was pretty much a aged but capable veteran a top 15 guy when eubanks beat him. In a nutshell a capable fringe contender in a far far tougher era of MWs . In todays 160 division he would be top5

mugabi wrote:

zuru wrote:

Syntax Error wrote:What are fight fans views of former Super Middleweight Champ Lindell Holmes?

He doesn't get mentioned much, but he seemed to have had a decent career.

Could he have mixed with his successors, Benn Eubank & Collins?

Holmes never gets mentioned.He was a solid,good chinned ,very hard puncher.He trained with many of the Kronk & Detroit fighters around his area.He was a tough guy.I believe he was a notch below the fellows mentioned above,BUT if you were not "World Class",Lindell would expose it by beating the Shit out of you.I would rate him definitely a top contender status,maybe not among the Elite,but heads and shoulders above the rest.
zuru

Holmes in his prime was a ten,eleven ranked guy at best during the Hagler years, and in the post 87 shake up when a lot of talented young american MWs emerged holmes was pretty much a aged but capable veteran a top 15 guy when eubanks beat him. In a nutshell a capable fringe contender in a far far tougher era of MWs . In todays 160 division he would be top5

Holmes was WBC #1 contender for about five years in the 80s.

tripe!
and i mean that in a polite way as I value u as a poster who is very knowledgable

Holmes was never no 1 contender for one year let alone five years in the 1980s except maybe in some parallel universe. He was a tough talented capable fighter just not no1 contender.

From 1979 to mid 1983 he beat absolutely nobody of any note to the upper echelons but managed to lose to the legendary Irving Hines and when he finally met someone with a heartbeat Dwight Davison he lost. The next year by far his best win of the 3 times he fought was roy gumbs a man who was in the top 5 in the UK. Holmes than got beaten in quick succession by Herol Graham and Ayub Kalule in 1984.No shame there but it shows he wasnt no 1. He put together some wins in 85/86 against the likes of trial horse Sanderline Williams, than he lost to chong pal park in 87 and the rest of the decade he showed himself to be the highly capable b level (top 15-20 fighter he was in what was a very strong era for the MWs by beating trial horses like amparo and stackhouse.......so number 1 contender for 5 years in the 80s

Even by the WBC standards to have Holmes at no 1 above,Hamsho,Mugabi,Roldan, Hearns,,Barkley,Graham,Kalambay,Nunn, isnt smart. I could see him giving all of them a hard contest but i couldnt see him winning in my opinion that is.

None of this is to dengrate a very talented and tough man in Holmes. Like I say if he was fighting today he would be the best american middleweight out there and would be challenging Martinez and maybe beating him. Its just in the glittering 1980s he was at best a fringe contender albeit one who never gave any man an easy night only a hard contest.

He beat Tate.

He was robbed against Davison (BS stoppage), Graham (headbutt cut), Kalule and Park. Though I've not seen the Park fight it was a controversial dec.

Maybe not five years exactly but before the first Park fight it was said he was and before the Tate fight it was said he was.

Let's not get carried away; Holmes was a fine, fine pro but he was no great.

He had great ability, but was only a would-be great fighter, I agree.

Why do you think Duran-Leonard was for the 168 title?

Lindell Holmes is the answer.


http://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/22/sport ... d=2&src=pm