Well i believe prime Holmes would of beat prime Tyson but that wasn't my point. My point was a lot of boxers say that out of respect when deep down they don't really believe it. Holmes is one of my favorite fighters but he is very confident fighter, so i doubt deep down he truly believes he couldn't of beat Ali, when Ali struggled with lesser fighters than Larry Holmes, Ali never dealt with someone like Holmes and vice a versa.
Simply put,Holmes footwork was slightly plodding,Ali would have never been there,but the counter punch would have been.
Everything is compaired to Ali for a reason, he was Ali
But all the fighters that gave Ali trouble none of them had good footwork. And Holmes wasn't no slouch in the footwork department, he could dance around the ring very well when he chose to, he just didn't need to because that piston left jab keep his opponents away from him and also made them cautious with there offense.
Most he screwed around with,the guy who who gave the biggest issues was Frazier,and thats because of all the head movement,he was hard to trace on, and Ali allways wanted to land one solid one early to let you know he could hurt you,so youd fight scared for the rest of the fight. I have to give Joe credit, Ali did drill him, and he just kept weaving in like a little tank.
Unfortunatly that style caught up with Joe
Holmes struggled with the speed of Witherspoon and Carl Williams.
He was past his peak by then and it wasn't nothing to do with Witherspoon's speed. It was down to styles, Witherspoon had similar style to Ken Norton. He blocked Holmes left jab with his right glove in that crab like defense and countered with rising jabs it was nothing to do with speed it was down to styles. And as for Carl Williams he troubled Holmes with his footwork Holmes didn't have the speed anymore being 35 years old.
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