The top modern heavyweights have become a common target for criticism, largely due to the fact there seems to be either an inability or unwillingness for them to jump in the ring with one and other.
However, one of the greatest heavyweights of all time has attacked them for something else – not having any skills!
In a recent interview with Fight Hub TV, 80s heavyweight icon Larry Holmes did not pull any punches when asked what he thought of Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua
“They [Fury, Joshua and Wilder] don’t have no skills. They throw punches like this for a jab, you’ve got to throw them straight. They don’t know how to throw a 1-2 and get out and protect yourself.
But I had my day, I had great times doing what I was doing.
They don’t move like Larry Holmes. You have to give punches, you shouldn’t take punches – and he [Fury] takes punches. I guess he wants to prove to people he can take punches, but you should hit and not get hit.”
Holmes dominated the blue ribbon division in the first half of the 1980s, holding the Ring Magazine and lineal titles from 1980-1985, the WBC world championship from 1978 – 1985 and the inaugural IBF belt from 1983 – 1995.
Whilst some may feel Holmes’ assessment of the current crop is slightly harsh, no one can forgive the Easton Assassin for not exactly being enamoured with the big names in the blue ribbon division at the moment.
Despite talk all year of an undisputed match up between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk and a cross Atlantic barnstormer between Joshua and Wilder, negotiations for both fights have, up until now, failed to bare fruit.