Larry Holmes was world heavyweight champion for seven years.
He reigned from 1978 to 1985, including a win over the legendary Muhammad Ali during the latter stages of Ali’s career in 1980.
Holmes lost his title after back to back defeats to Michael Spinks, before then suffering the only stoppage loss of his career when he was beaten inside four rounds by Mike Tyson.
While he may have been stopped by Tyson, Holmes told OLBG that it is another fighter that he deems to be the hardest hitter he ever faced.
“Mike is a puncher. I fought Mike and he hit me and that was the end of it. Earnie Shavers was one of the hardest punchers there’s ever been and Mike is right up there with him at the top.
“Earnie Shavers was the hardest I’ve ever faced but when Tyson hits, he tries to kill you. And Mike can take a good punch, I hit him a couple of times and he kept on coming. Mike knocked the sh*t out of me, he hit me so hard I went ‘wooooo’. And he beat me.
“It was embarrassing. I remember the right hand he hit me with – I thought at the time ‘he should be locked up’ because of the power, and he kept on coming, growling like Joe Frazier.”
Shavers was a two-time world heavyweight title challenger, and ended his career with 76 wins from 91 fights, with an impressive 70 of those wins coming by knockout.
As for Holmes, he has recently named the one current heavyweight that he feels would knock out a prime Tyson.
