Holmes VS Tyson

[boxingbuff]

This would be a great great fight.And a toss up fight imo.

I agree with alot of what the posters are saying.It could go either way,and i believe would be a great great fight.

[Dynamite76]

I think Mike has the skills to take Larry out if he is not on his P's and Q's, but more likely, this fight is going to the distance and a UD for Larry. Or possibly a late round stoppage.

[QueensburyRules]

- -Prime to prime Lar wouldn't take a prime great match.

[OctoberRed]

I think Mike has the skills to take Larry out if he is not on his P's and Q's, but more likely, this fight is going to the distance and a UD for Larry. Or possibly a late round stoppage.

I think it's 50-50, with a stoppage win either way.

[sleazyfellow]

If Mike hurts Larry it's over. That's what shavers couldn't do and shavers is not up to Tyson's skill in his prime. If Mike hurts him he stops him, if Larry can dance all 12 he wins a UD.

[Mario040481]

I think of those fighters who managed to frustrate the prime Tyson and get through the fight till the end fighting the Tyson who had Rooney and all the other things most wish he'd have been able to keep with him throughout his career, that Tyson had very little answers when he was unable to force his style upon the opponent. Tillis, Bonecrusher, Green, Tucker, Jesse Ferguson for portions of their fight, they were all able to survive (minus Ferguson) and see the end of the fight, albeit in losing efforts with little offense shown on their parts. When Tyson wasn't able to force opponents into a fight he quickly became almost lethargic or confused looking or maybe just distracted, and seemed to almost just accept clinches, and become a one punch at a time fighter. Prime Larry Holmes would be able to do anything those guys did, and do it better, but also actually bring some offense with him. I really think he'd have substantially improved his chance of winning the fight he did have with Tyson if he'd taken a couple fights before jumping immediately in with Tyson, as he ended up doing. As was seen a few years later in "Comeback part dos: the sequel without equal" Larry took, and won, 3 or 4 fights previous to his landing the Mercer fight. Although most were very unimpressed with how Larry performed in those fights, it appears to have paid off, as he handily beat Mercer and was pretty competitive in the Holyfield and McCall losses that followed.
Also, saying Tyson could do what Shavers couldn't do, put Holmes away when he was hurt, might not be exactly fair as it may be just as accurate to say that Shavers, Snipes, etc, were unable to finish Larry off on account of Larry's abilities and in ring IQ, not solely a disability on their parts.

Editing in: Forgot to mention that, most important for myself, this woulda almost certainly been an entertaining affair to watch. I also think that had Holmes taken a few of the "warm up" type fights as before the Mercer fight, the Tyson fight we got could've been much more competitive and thereby much more entertaining. Not saying Holmes woulda won if that were the case, I don't think he was likely to win that fight no matter what. But prime vs prime? I'd take Holmes

[M2H25]

For me it’s a UD in 12 for Tyson or a UD in 15 for Holmes. You have to remember that despite the nature of the finish Holmes didn’t exactly embarrass himself when they did fight. He displayed a fantastic ability to survive and kept going even after being hit and hurt at a stage in his career when he really had nothing to lose by getting KO’d outside of his prime.

For me, Tyson dominates through 1-6 with a chance of scoring a knockdown or two, but from there Holmes takes over, I wouldn’t be that surprised to see Holmes take an early round or two or Tyson take a late round or two (especially if he timed him and caught him with a good punch to score a knockdown) but overall I think it would be a fight of two halves.

I don’t think Tyson could possibly stop him after round 8, prime Holmes isn’t likely to be KO’d cold with one shot and I don’t see Tyson having the energy to follow up a flash knockdown.

I think Holmes has a better chance of winning a 12 round fight than Tyson does of winning a 15 round fight though and I’m a huge Tyson fan.

[QueensburyRules]

I think of those fighters who managed to frustrate the prime Tyson and get through the fight till the end fighting the Tyson who had Rooney and all the other things most wish he'd have been able to keep with him throughout his career, that Tyson had very little answers when he was unable to force his style upon the opponent. Tillis, Bonecrusher, Green, Tucker, Jesse Ferguson for portions of their fight, they were all able to survive (minus Ferguson) and see the end of the fight, albeit in losing efforts with little offense shown on their parts. When Tyson wasn't able to force opponents into a fight he quickly became almost lethargic or confused looking or maybe just distracted, and seemed to almost just accept clinches, and become a one punch at a time fighter. Prime Larry Holmes would be able to do anything those guys did, and do it better, but also actually bring some offense with him. I really think he'd have a great chance of winning a fight with Tyson. If he'd actually taken a couple fights before jumping immediately in with Tyson as he ended up doing, he could've possibly won in that fight, as was seen against Mercer. Larry took 3 or 4 fights previous to the Mercer fight, winning them, but not in any kinda impressive manner, but it appears to have obviously paid off, as he handily beat Mercer and was pretty competitive in the Holyfield and McCall losses that followed.
Also, saying he could do what Shavers couldn't do, put Holmes away when he was hurt, might not be exactly fair as it may be just as accurate to say that Shavers, Snipes, etc, were unable to finish Larry off on account of Larry's abilities and ring IQ and not a disability on their parts.

Editing in: Forgot to mention that, most important for myself, this woulda almost certainly been an entertaining affair to watch. I also think that had Holmes taken a few of the "warm up" type fights as before the Mercer fight, the Tyson fight we got could've been much more competitive and thereby much more entertaining. Not saying Holmes woulda won if that were the case, I don't think he was likely to win that fight no matter what. But prime vs prime? I'd take Holmes

- -Mario, lovely to see your belief in faeries and leprechauns, but boxing based on combat and factual evidence.

Holmes in training for the Tyson fight for an entire year, blasting him at every ringside post Tyson interview.

He was ready and got what was coming to him.

He's the same age as foreman yet never in the rankings in the golden era of Ali, Joe, George, and ken fighting each other.

That giant sucking sound was his vacuum where he never faced the WBA champs fighting each other. He's 0-4 against standing champs who won their belts in the ring.

His greatness is with faeries and leprechauns, not fighters.

[Mario040481]

- -Mario, lovely to see your belief in faeries and leprechauns, but boxing based on combat and factual evidence.

Holmes in training for the Tyson fight for an entire year, blasting him at every ringside post Tyson interview.

He was ready and got what was coming to him.

He's the same age as foreman yet never in the rankings in the golden era of Ali, Joe, George, and ken fighting each other.

That giant sucking sound was his vacuum where he never faced the WBA champs fighting each other. He's 0-4 against standing champs who won their belts in the ring.

His greatness is with faeries and leprechauns, not fighters.

Speaking of Leprechauns and faeries, this is a question about a fight that didn't exist, where to answer it one must go to make believe land and hold the bout in your brain, much like children playing cowboys and Indians, although that may be illegal now. I'm sorry that my make believe story doesn't please you. Best wishes

[Ben Bolt]

- -Mario, lovely to see your belief in faeries and leprechauns

So do I, as I found Mario's words pretty wise.
From previous posts, QR, we know Lar isn't on your favorite list. Well, some boxers we like, some we don't.