Prime Holmes - Impossible to knock out?

Holmes was never impossible to knock out, he was just extremely durable.

Russell,

I am also one to believe that Tyson at his best would have stopped Holmes at his absolute best in a more competitive fight than what actually transpired.

 

First of all, I don't think any fighter is impossible to knock out. Secondly, although Holmes survived many close calls to his credit, he still showed tremendous telltale signs of vulnerabilty. Renaldo Snipes was a fighter with 11 Ko's in 22 wins, yet he decked Holmes and had him noticeably hurt. Weaver was an impressive physical specimen with power in both hands, however he was a 19-8 trialhoarse at that point in his career, and he had Holmes badly hurt on multiple occasions. Norton and Shavers were both past it, and they did a fair amount of damage to Larry as well. Cooney was a dangerous puncher, but grossly inexperienced and had only boxed a single round in the two years prior to facing Holmes.

I think the real question here should be was Holmes a great survivor? My answer to this question would be absolutely. Your original question asking if he was impossible to knock out, would be a no in my opinion.

 

Nope. Tyson said it him self. He wouldn't be able to take a prime Larry. Tyson would win all of 4 rounds.

 

And George Foreman stated once that he clearly ducked Jerry Quarry for fear that Quarry could beat him. People say **** like that all the time Bill, it doesn't mean much of anything. That said, I will agree that a prime Larry would be a very tough fight for Tyson or any champion for that matter.

 

Much like Larry though, Tyson stuck to what he said pre '89. Larry is one of the few never to change what he said, and that is one of the things, IMO that shows his honesty. He might not be the brightest in school work, but, he's shown that he has a ton of street smarts and honesty.

 

No, is the short answer.

 

No1 He damn near was immposable to KO in his prime
No2 A prime Holmes would have taken Tyson the same way Buster did only easier.

 

Tyson wasn't smart. I find it amusing that people will only take the quotes from fighters that suit their argument. Ali said Tyson was better and Foreman said Lewis was the greatest ever. I guess both are true because they said it right.

 

Shavers was a one punch guy, then tired and that is why he was stopped so much,Cooney was a one armed fighter and was fought 2 rounds in 2 years before fighting Holmes,Cooney was stopped in 5 by Spinks and 3 by older Foreman. I think the right type of decent right hand puncher with decent stamina had a good shot to KO holmes, he was ko'd 2 times by Nick Wells, stopped by Duane Bobick and tyson startched an old Holmes, in between he was hurt and dropped a few times by less than the complete package.

 

Foreman is constantly changing his mind every other year. One year Lewis is the greatest, the next Ali is. Then Joe Louis is. He is always changing his mind with that. Ali does the same thing.

 

:good

 

Tyson always respected the champs that came before him....It was his way of paying homage to the fighters of yesteryear.

I'm pretty sure that Mike would have taken Larry Holmes.

 

I'm not. Its been proven that tall, mobile fighters with decent jabs trouble Tyson. Larry just happened to be tall, have long arms, have an iron jaw, and have the greatest jab of all time. He would, IMO, out box Tyson to win a ud 15. Or even stop Tyson late.