Re: Larry Holmes questions
- From: "Pastor Marc" <imabeliever85@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2005 23:05:09 -0600
"Steve Trellert" <vancanste@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:DTujf.1613$112.145@xxxxxxxxxxx
> 1. Why do people regard his fight with Tim Witherspoon as being close. I
> have it on tape, watched it twice and although the announcers (Angelo
> Dundee being one of em) acted as if Tim won the fight. When i score it i
> do not see Tim winning more than 3-4 rounds max. Yet i still hear debate
> occassionally on this one. Comments?
>
> 2. Why was there no Holmes vs Norton II? The first fight was a classic and
> VERY close and you would think there would have been some demand for a
> rematch.
>
> 3. Did Holmes duck anybody? Didn't fight Tate, Dokes, Coatzee, Page etc.
> Was it just the fact that the latter fighters were inconsistent and blew
> it whenever their opportunity presented itself on the horizon?
>
> thanks
>
> 4.
>
Witherspoon gave a good account of himself in the fight with Holmes, and did
well in rounds 9-12. He was one of the few fighters who had some success at
nullifying Holmes' jab by catching it with his right glove. And Tim had
Larry hurt in round nine.
Some felt that Tim won the fight because he landed the most telling blows of
the night. I gave Tim 4 rounds, maybe you can make a case that he won 5. But
I don't agree with those who feel that Tim won the fight because he was not
doing enough in the first 8 rounds.
2. There was no Holmes-Norton II because Norton got knocked out by Earnie
Shavers, and so the title shot went to Earnie. After this, Norton aged
rapidly, drawing with the lightly regarded Scott Ledoux and barely ekeing
out a decision over Tex Cobb, and then he got knocked senseless by this guy
named Gerry Cooney.
3. At the time, I was critical of Larry fighting guys like Zanon, Ledoux,
Leroy Jones, Scott Frank, Marvis Frazier, Lucien Rodriguez, and the like. I
felt that his legacy would suffer on account of the weak competition.
And the fact that Holmes never fought Page, Dokes, or Coetzee hurts his
legacy a little, but not as much as I thought it would at the time.
You mentioned John Tate, but before a unification could be set up, Tate was
knocked out by Mike Weaver, a man Holmes had already beaten. Then Tate got
knocked out by Trevor Berbick, and Holmes did go on to beat Trevor.
And Page was not experienced enough for Larry while Larry was in his prime.
Greg turned pro in 1979, and by the time he was ready for a title shot,
Larry was getting closer to the end of his title reign, anyway.
Holmes wouldn't go to South Africa to fight Coetzee as I recall, but Coetzee
would have been beaten to a pulp by Larry had they ever fought.
The one regret for me was that Larry did not fight Michael Dokes in 1983
when Dokes was WBA champion. He would have given Larry a lot of trouble. But
not too long after this, Dokes became a junkie, and got put to sleep by
Coetzee, who in turn got put to sleep by Greg Page, who got beat by Tony
Tubbs .....
And in defense of Larry, he did beat a lot of good contenders and future
titleholders: Witherspoon, Berbick, Weaver, Bey, Carl Williams, Bonecrusher
Smith, Gerry Cooney, Renaldo Snipes, and of course Norton for the title and
Shavers twice. Later on, as a 40 something, he handed Ray Mercer his first
loss and held his own with Holyfield and McCall.
PM
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: Larry Holmes questions
- From: Ruddell
- Re: Larry Holmes questions
- References:
- Larry Holmes questions
- From: Steve Trellert
- Larry Holmes questions
- Prev by Date: Re: Larry Holmes questions
- Next by Date: Watch Boxing With HDTV Descrambler
- Previous by thread: Re: Larry Holmes questions
- Next by thread: Re: Larry Holmes questions
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
