Larry Holmes Didn’t Hesitate When Asked If Anthony Joshua Would Survive In His Era

Larry Holmes is a legendary heavyweight world champion from a golden era who has been sharing his thoughts on Anthony Joshua.

‘The Easton Assassin’ started out his career as the sparring partner for Muhammad Ali. The Americans shared hundreds of rounds in the latter stages of Ali’s career before Holmes eventually started making his own impression on the division.

By 1980, he had become the Ring Magazine and lineal champion, titles which he held for a number of years, while he also won the first ever IBF title and held it for two years from 1983.

His jab is one of the most celebrated in all of boxing, a ram rod weapon which could often win him fights on its own. He was victorious in his first 48 fights with victories over the likes of Tim Witherspoon, Gerry Cooney, Leon Spinks, Trevor Burbick and Ali himself. His first loss came in 1985 against Michael Spinks, and he also lost to Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield before retiring in 2002.

He was asked by GQ if he thought former two-time world champion Joshua is good enough to have survived in his era against the likes of Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman.

“Yeah, I do. Do you know why? Because he’s 6ft 6ins, 240lbs, and he’s a big tough guy. He just needs to get that jab of his right. When I did my jab, it was fast – whap! Whap! Whap! They don’t teach fighters that these days. If Joshua gets that right, he could be great. And if an old man like me can still do it, why can’t he?”

Joshua’s last outing was a destructive KO loss to IBF champion Daniel Dubois. He is currently out recovering from an elbow injury and many hope Tyson Fury will come out of retirement so the pair can have one legacy defining showdown before both walk away from the sport for good.