James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith, Mike Tyson and Larry Holmes are all legends of heavyweight boxing.
Smith shared the ring with plenty of the very best heavyweights of the 1980s and 1990s despite the fact that he lost his professional debut.
He infamously gave Frank Bruno his first defeat in 1984, but then lost an IBF world title fight with Larry Holmes whom he eventually rematched in his final fight 15 years later. However, he managed to rebuild successfully in between and eventually became the WBA world champion in 1986 after defeating Tim Witherspoon at Madison Square Garden.
Smith lost to Tyson in a unification fight next time out, though did manage to go the distance with the famous puncher.
He recently admitted to TalkSPORT that ‘Iron Mike’ hit him harder than anyone.
“Tyson – he knew the anatomy and where to hit a person. He knew the soft spots, like solar plexus, he knew the pressure points of a body. The next day, I was sore and it hurt.”
However, when he was asked who was better out of Tyson and Holmes, he went with the ‘Easton Assassin.’
“He had a real good jab – it was hard and strong. He was tall, he was big and he was quick with that jab. He learned from Muhammad Ali – real good jab. Larry was champion for six or seven years, he learned from Muhammad Ali. He had good head movement, he was just experienced. He fought a lot of top guys. He was smart and very knowledgeable about boxing. Several guys got him in trouble and he was able to come back and beat them.”
For his part, Holmes has said before that he feels he is one of the best to ever do it and doesn’t get the recognition he deserves despite ruling as champion for seven and a half years.
