Quote Originally Posted by ICB View Post
I think his peak was between 1978-1982 when his prime weight was between 209-213. When you watch the Larry Holmes that fought Earnie Shavers 1, then watch him against Michael Spinks. You can see his skills and attributes had eroded.

And you can see this clearly in the Carl Williams fight aswell, even though Carl Williams was a pretty tall fighter, with some good skills and a good jab although his chin was pretty suspect.

I don't know if you know this but Larry Holmes actually had, a torn bicep going in his fight with Ken Norton. So he wasn't 100 percent but he still beat Ken Norton more convincingly points wise than Muhammad Ali IMO. I think you have to watch that again bro, because the fight wasn't as close as some people thought.

And i think the rounds were pretty easy to score except the last round, but Ken Norton clearly won the 1st round. Then he went on to lose 7 rounds in a row pretty clearly IMO, he comeback and won most of the rounds after that.

But i know he lost atleast another 2 rounds. One was the 13th round and there was another round but i can't remember. I had Larry Holmes a clear winning in a closish fight even if he lost the last round.

I understand what your saying about Larry Holmes, not ruling in a great HW era but except for Muhammad Ali. What other Heavyweight champion really ruled in a strong era ? Joe Louis's era wasn't that much better than Larry Holmes's.

Rocky Marciano's wasn't either. Mike Tyson's era was probably one of the weakest. And he just cleaned up on some of the 80's eroded stars aswell as old Larry Holmes victims.

No one really ruled in the 90s as the title went back and forth, and i don't really think much of Lennox Lewis's reign in late 90s early 2000s either. So thats why i think Larry Holmes is well up there, because except for Muhammad Ali no other real Heavyweight champion ruled in a really strong era.

But Larry Holmes has the 2nd longest reign in Heavyweight history, he is one of the most skilled Heavyweight champions of all time. Aswell as one of the bravest and in his 2nd career he should of been a world champion at 45, like George Foreman but was unlucky not to get the decision against Oliver McCall.
I am not saying he was prime against Spinks, however I don't feel he was shot either. I think the years he took out after the Spinks fight meant he was shot when he came back against Tyson.

I've watched the Norton fight a few times, & every time I give it to Norton by a round. I do remember Holmes dominating the middle rounds, but I thought Norton dominated the latter stage of the fight.

On the eras, I feel as well as Ali, both Jack Dempsey & Jack Johnson ruled in strong eras, although that might not put them above Holmes. I also rank Frazier above Holmes personally although I know most rank him lower. If I had to an all-time Top 10, Holmes would definitely be up there, but I don't think he makes my Top 3.