Former heavyweight world champion and boxing legend Larry Holmes is clearly not a big fan of today’s heavyweight landscape.
The man who put an end to Muhammad Ali’s career back in 1980 believes that today’s champions and top contenders can’t really fight like boxers from the 70s and the 80s.
The 70-year-old Holmes even stated that current fighters are somewhat amateurs compared to the greats of the past generations.
“They couldn’t fight me. I’d have kicked their ass. I’d have knocked them out,” he said. “Come on. They can’t take a punch… they’re amateurs. To me? They’re amateurs. To Ali? They’re amateurs. To Ken Norton? They’re amateurs. To Joe Frazier? They’re amateurs. To us, they’re kids. They can’t fight. They didn’t learn how to fight. We learned how to fight.”
“You go to the gym today and you see a lot of kids trying to box. The person teaching them how to fight might never have had a fight. Now how can you teach me something you never done yourself? How can they show me a fight?”