"Prime" Larry Holmes Vs "Prime" Mike Tyson ?

Question

I did ask this question a couple of weeks ago and had 26 answers to what i thought was a great question that we could all debate, however one of the more childish people on the site decided to make it his ambition to get the question removed as the debate wasnt going his way lets see how we go this time.

Answer 1

great question and i believe i answered this one when posed by someone else, so i'll simply repeat my answer.  but first, does anyone truly believe that larry holmes, at any time in his career, could last more than five rounds against a young primal, h**l-bent mike tyson?  puh-lease!  it takes more than a jab to tame young iron mike....better to clutch and hold him, smother him, that'd be a lot more successful(and a lot less painful) than trying to stick a jab in mike's face. holmes would never be able to hurt mike, he just didn't have the power to do that.  buster hit a heck of a lot harder and had a battering ram of a jab and hit mike for 10 straight rounds and still took that long to topple him, more bec mike was out of shape and he was in the best shape of his career.  by the way, your "prime" as that one fella keeps bringing up, is when you are in peak form, and has nothing to do w/age.  some hit their peak later in life(lewis, holyfield, walcott), some hit it early(tyson, wilfred benitez). now on to my original reply,

"...you wanna talk about overrated fighters, there is an argument for holmes on that list. before we continue this deification of larry, who did he ever beat that really instilled fear in anyone, tex cobb? ossie occassio? marvis frazier? gimme a break! shavers was like 69yrs old, ali was doped up on weight loss meds, hercules weaver never had any stamina and was a less than one-dimensional fighter, and gerry "the one-armed bandit" cooney folded like an origami tent. granted, holmes had that piston-like jab, arguable the best ever, but he ruled during one of the most talentlless, shallowest eras in boxing history. personally, the best fight of his career was against norton and kenny, old/past his prime as he was, gave him nall he could handle! now if anyone seriously feels that holmes would ever be able to stand up against tyson's power, pressure, and punches, i have two words for you....reynaldo snipes! who, you ask? right! 'nuff said!~"

Answer 2

Very interesting fight but i would have to give it to iron mike. I Think towards the end of the fight Tyson's power prevails and i would predict 11th round KO. But Larry Holmes would give Tyson a real good test and try and work behind the jab and frustrate Tyson at sum stages but like i said in the end Tyson would prevail victorious

Answer 3

I watched the Tyson vs Buster Douglas fight the other night and how Douglas just boxed and hammered Mike all night.  What a lot of folks don't understand about that fight or don't want to believe is that is was no fluke.  I know Larry at age 38 took on Mike and got knocked out but I don't believe that was Larry at his very best either who was certainly a more talented fighter than Douglas.  Larry was tall and had a great jab and good power and would have been too smart for Tyson at their very best.  Larry would have moved around the ring and stuck his jab in Tyson's face all night and won by a comfortable decision in my opinion.  Good question sir.

Answer 4

Tyson KO's Holmes before the 6th round.

Answer 5

This is a good question, in his prime Larry Holmes would have given Mike Tyson A LOT of problems he knew how to use the jab and was a lot quicker on his feet too, in his prime Mike Tyson was an aggressive no nonsense boxer that could be very difficult to keep away. One thing people need to realize about Mike Tyson is that Tyson did not loose to Douglas because he wasn't good, he lost because he did not train, he had started to believe his own hype and actually believed no one could beat him, he spent the entire week leading to the fight, eating,driniking and sleeping with japanese prostitutes and had fired the only trainer who knew him best (rooney), Douglas on the other hand came into the fight prepared as h**l and trained very hard. No boxer is above training and mike tyson had to learn this the hard way. That been said, a fight with a prime Larry Holmes would have been very interesting because their styles were completely opposite, Tyson was an aggressive In fighter while Holmes was a patient and smart boxer (out fighter), Tyson would try to get inside early in the fight and Homes would keep him away with his jab very easily,Tyson would score some good body shots but holmes would catch him with some head shots and do some serious damage in the mid rounds. Now this is where things get interesting.......Larry Holmes had one major problem when he boxed.....he always got cocky!......by the fourth round he would feel as if he is dominating the fight confident that he already has won the decision and he would start to tease Mike to force him to come close enough for a jab, he would start exposing his head to tease Mike (like he did when they actually fought) and start holding his hands down (God I hated when he did that) He would taunt Mike and hit him with light punches and THAT would be his mistake, people can say what they want about Mike Tyson but everyone knows that he was not the kind of boxer you messed with....people often underestimated Mike's accuracy and hand speed and Holmes would probably make that mistake,he would get caught by Mike's left hook as he tries to bring his hands up to cover and then Mike would slip his notorious Upper cut and that would rock Holmes pretty hard. The next round would be the interesting one (if Holmes survives the first uppercut) he would be careful and dance around keepin Mike Tyson away with the jab, Mike would begin to fight from an extremely low stance (in his early years he did that a lot) and send in some deadly body shots, he would be aggressor for the rest of the fight while Holmes would keep him away in hopes of winning the decision. If Holmes decides at some point to try and trade punches with Mike (which would be a foolish move on his part) then chances are he would hit the canvas otherwise the fight would most likely end as either a draw or a decision for Holmes but Mike Tyson always has the puncher's chance. Thanks for the great question FRANK.

Answer 6

Mike Tyson by knockout 7th round. He has knockout power.

Answer 7

Prime Larry Holmes, dressed as an ear of corn, while sauteing camarones de la diabla (devil "hot" shrimp), and strumming a ukulele to the tune of "Tiny Bubbles". . . . .

Would whip ANY version of Tyson.

Answer 8

Having seen both in action, I would have to say that Larry would beat Tyson. Larry was taller and had a very wide long reach.

Answer 9

haha dude, dude mike tyson by a mile.mike was amazing he could have beaten anyone.holmes prided himself on beating a well over the hill Ali,he barely beat gerry cooney.he never fought anyone worth fighting.4rd ko.

Answer 10

Great question.

Mike Tyson was a great fighter, and at his peak his combination of speed and power made him invincible compared to the talent he faced.

Furthermore, Tyson would have been competetive at any time in boxing history. Historically, he would be ranked somewhere in the top 20 of all time greats.

Holmes suffered from post-Ali comparison, and never really got the respect he deserved. However, anyone who boxes or at least understands boxing will know that Holmes was underrated. His jab is legendary, he was a great athlete, and he fought tougher competition than Tyson. Furthermore, he was a great technician, and more consistent and competitive than Buster Douglas.

So, if we accept that Tyson was poorly prepared and unmotivated for the Douglas fight due to the firing of Rooney and the loss of D'Amato, and realize that Holmes loss to Tyson was largely due to age, we have given both fighters the benefit of the doubt.

In their respective primes they were both great fighters.

Styles make fights, so let's consider the swarmer versus a boxer. This could go either way, with Tyson having a good chance of overpowering Holmes in an early round and scoring a knockout, or Holmes weathering the storm and gradually wearing down Tyson's heart with jabs . Just remember how close the Fraser-Ali swarmer/boxer encounters were....

Still a close match.

But, let's ask the experts. Boxing historians of late often rank both Holmes and Tyson in their top ten picks.

Bert Sugar, 1991 ranked Larry Holmes number eight and Tyson number ten.

Arthur Harris, 1992 ranked Holmes number seven and did not choose Tyson in his top ten.

Nigel Collins, 1997 chose Larry Holmes as number four, and did not choose Tyson.

Herbert Goldman, 1997 chose Mike Tyson as number four, and Holmes number five.

Steve Farhood, 1997 chose Holmes as number four, and Tyson number ten

BBC Sports, 2004 chose Holmes as number four, and Tyson as number eight.

IBRO Member Poll, 2005 had Larry Holmes sixth place and Tyson did not make the cut.

George Foreman rated Tyson four and Holmes nine.

So, the experts rate Homes ahead of Tyson. However, Foreman scares me to death, so I'll call it close.

In my own opinion, this is hardly a mismatch, and could easily be one the great armchair imaginary bouts.  

If someone twisted my arm, I would bet on Holmes. Both fighters in their prime could win, but Holmes demonstrated more heart, consistency, and skill during his career, and that against better opponents. (Tyson never fought a Shavers or Norton).

However, I concede that Tyson was a great fighter, and it could go either way.

Respect to both fighters, two of the betters.

Now, back to gym. Both these guys would clean my clock.

Answer 11

I remember your question Frank, it is a good question, and my answer hasn't changed. Tyson was Ko'd by Buster Douglas, when he was 24yrs old and in the prime of his life. (Some people think that his prime ended when he chose to change his management. Cus may have died, but Mike broke away from Clayton, Jacobs and Rooney.That doesn't mean your prime is over!) Douglas Ko'd Tyson, by dominating with a good jab and a good stiff right hand. The fight wasn't close. Douglas won all but one round. He fought a Holmes "type" of fight.

Simply put, was a prime Holmes better than a Buster Douglas? The answer is obvious. Holmes had maybe the best jab in the history of the sport. He was far superior to Douglas as a fighter.

Tyson would have a punchers chance. Holmes was caught and hurt by some inferior fighters. (Snipes and Weaver) Larry always recovered well. That being said, Tyson was a better finisher than those guys.

But if you put prime vs prime Holmes was a better fighter! He was never Ko'd in his prime.  (he was 38, when he got Ko'd by Mike). and Tyson lost his biggest fights and was Ko'd in his prime.

Holmes by Ko in 9

Answer 12

I'm not convinced that Holmes being younger would have made much difference in that fight. Tyson came in under Holmes' jab very nicely to knock him out, and it was a pretty conclusive knockout.

Answer 13

a prime holmes would have mastered tyson, kept him at bay with his jab, tied him up on the inside, held his own in the exchanges and after 9 or 10 rounds would have been the fresher of the two, having made tyson work hard keeping up with him......larry by tko in the 10th.

Answer 14

Despite being well past his prime, Holmes did well to stay in there with Tyson as long as he did. Looking at their fight back in 1988, I couldn't help to think that if Holmes was in his prime, then he'd actually give Tyson some issues. It probably would have looking similar to Tyson-Douglas fight. I definitely think Holmes in his prime, would have frustrated Tyson for all 12 rounds.

Answer 15

I'd probably give the nod to Tyson but I was never very impressed with Holmes

Answer 16

Two key factors would determine the outcome of this fight.  One, the fight is 15 rounds.  If you are going to compare great champions it has to be in 15 round fights.  Two, you have to be able to stop Tyson from doing what he does best.

Many people envision Larry Holmes keeping Tyson at bay with his jab.  It's easier said than done in the early going.  You have to be able to FIGHT Tyson in the early going and SHOW him that he will NOT dictate the pace.  

People point to the loss to Douglas but it was really his loss to Holyfield that determined how to beat up Mike Tyson.  He wasn't mentally or physically ready for the Douglas fight.  Against Holyfield,  Mike did a little pushing and shoving..and early he learned that he's in with some one who can FIGHT him.  Evander committed every foul you can think of but he handled Tyson with little resistance.

You have to FIGHT Mike in the early going.  After showing him that he can't have his way, Holmes THEN begins to land the heavier shots.  Holmes is becoming more aggressive and Mike is reduced to throwing one punch at a time..  

In  round 13 Larry lands a hard right to the hand.  Tyson staggers and Holmes persues.  More punishment and the referee stops the fight with Mike still standin.

Holmes by TKO in 13

Answer 17

Everyone keeps bringing up the buster fight. What no one is saying is that mike had gone away from alot of the things the made him the best of his time. You didn't see him throw any jabs or combos really. He got real lazy with his form (bob and weave) and without really working on that or staying in practice he was was doing a p**s poor job defending himself. which raises my next point. He took one h**l of a beating from a much bigger guy and it took something like a monster 7 hit combo and 1-2 on the way to the mat to keep him there, after all those rounds of punishment, so we now know he could take a punch. The buster fight was a combination of Tyson on his worst day running into buster on his best day. So to answer the question... Tyson at his best would rip Holmes a new one inside of 5 rounds.

Answer 18

This fight could go either way because Larry can box and beat Mike like Buster Douglas did but Mike always had a puncher chance. People only remember James Buster Douglas KO Mike Tyson but they forgot Mike did knock James down for the ten count the round before and the referee somehow gave him a long count. If Renaldo Snipe can knock Larry down then Mike Tyson can too. It could go either way.