Does not look like it. Looks like he was ducking and the timing was thrown off. If he intentionally targeted that punch and landed it, yet that would be illegal IMO.
Tyrell Biggs may have been the best dancer of any heavyweight of any time. Given his size (6’5”, 230), his grace was remarkable, and even if a young Ali might have had the slightly quicker feet, he didn’t have the lithe change of directions/pace that Biggs had. Of course, Ali had advantages in other areas, but that’s not the point of this thread.
Holmes (even a young Holmes) was a notch below these two. While in his youth, he could dance, he didn’t move as fluidly as Biggs, nor did his dancing seem to help his fighting ability at all – in fact he often seemed to be much more effective standing and slipping punches rather than jumping around (which is true of many fighters). You often got the sense he was dancing just to show he could do it, just like his mentor (Ali). When he jabbed while he trotted around, it seemed to be for entertainment rather than purposeful (and I think you could argue no one has ever been really effective jabbing off their back foot (i.e. dancing) except for Ali). Nonetheless, he was a good mover (even as he got older he moved well), and it was definitely a strength, but no one could ever say he was a dancer on par with Ali or Biggs.
There - I did it. Thread’s closed – let’s go celebrate!
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