Would Holmes have beaten a prime Ali?

[jri9d0]

I think a prime Ali coasts to victory via UD though I think the fight would be a chess match competitive on both ends.

Peace.

[JOM'S]

Oh, well I don't know about the body shots and parkinsons, more just the point that Ali would allow his sparring partners to beat him up.

I don't know where there's a clip sorry. Try YouTube for Ali and Holmes sparring.

i did not see any of that but as per your description of the sparring, imho ali really trained and planned for the rope a dope trick ...

[dans]

i did not see any of that but as per your description of the sparring, imho ali really trained and planned for the rope a dope trick ...

Oh yeah, big time. His corner was unaware, but I think he planned it all along.

[Amazinger]

By the time Larry Holmes got to Ali, he was way past prime and deteriorating physically. But I wonder how a prime Ali would fare against Larry Holmes?

They used to spare together and people would say that Larry gave him all he could handle, but I'm not sure if Larry beat a prime Ali.

What do you say?

If both were in their prime and have the same abilities at the time.Holmes would win by TKO....
Ali was smaller then,has'nt fully developed his techniques which Holmes learned from him early in his career.

[Sugarj]

I've long pondered this one. However I still lean towards Ali!

If you type 'Ali Holmes round seven' into Youtube its very interesting. This is just about the only round where Ali actually has some success. He is clearly much slower than his prime but he shows cameos of how Larry would struggle with a much faster prime Ali (from 13 years before 1980!!!!!).

Larry clearly did not like Ali dancing and jabbing, he'd have hated it in Ali's prime!!

[dans]

I've long pondered this one. However I still lean towards Ali!

If you type 'Ali Holmes round seven' into Youtube its very interesting. This is just about the only round where Ali actually has some success. He is clearly much slower than his prime but he shows cameos of how Larry would struggle with a much faster prime Ali (from 13 years before 1980!!!!!).

Larry clearly did not like Ali dancing and jabbing, he'd have hated it in Ali's prime!!

Great point

[SN!PER]

I can't believe how split the vote is. Larry Holmes is slow as hell compared to young Ali.

[cooper5]

Maybe, I would favor Ali though