From the time Larry Holmes turned pro in 1973 at the age of 24, it was never easy. He started late and while he was fine tuning his craft, the likes of Ali, Frazier and Foreman were already in the midst of staking their claim on greatness.
Holmes would get the chance to step into the ring with these greats in their primes, unfortunately for us it was during sparring sessions. Those who saw Holmes in those early sessions knew that greatness was a possibility for the young “Easton Assassin”.
As the Ali era was coming to an end, the Larry Holmes era was ready to begin. In 1978, Ali retired after regaining his title in the rematch with Leon Spinks. The title was then handed over to Kenny Norton. At that point, Holmes had put together an impressive 26-0 record and was given the opportunity to fight “The Acorn” Ernie Shavers in the WBC Title Eliminator. The winner of that contest would be Ken Norton’s first title defense.
When describing Shavers’ punching power in later years, Holmes quipped, “I can still see flashes, like a camera flash when Shavers hit me”
During the title Eliminator, Holmes showed no signs that the thunderous power of Shavers affected him and came away with a lopsided decision over twelve rounds to set the table for a new era in the Heavyweight division.
On June 9th, 1978, Caesars Palace was the site for what is now considered one of the greatest fights in Heavyweight Championship history. Underdog, Larry Holmes stood toe-to toe for 15 grueling rounds with Kenny Norton and when it was all said and done, Larry Holmes was the Heavyweight Champion of the World. It was a split decision victory for Holmes. The cards read 143-142, 143-142 and 142-143.
The minute Holmes became champ, the inevitable comparisons to “The Greatest” Muhammad Ali began. Unfortunately for Holmes, he followed the best era in Heavyweight history. Not only were the fighters of the 70’s a tough act to follow, but once Holmes took over, the division was depleted of name fighters in their prime.
Holmes fought who was available and put together twenty successful title defenses during his reign as Champion. It wasn’t his fault the level of competition was less than stellar in his day.
Another thing that developed as a problem for Larry was his “lack of personality” and how he acted like a grumpy old man with the media. He followed the greatest talker and media manipulator of all time in Ali, so it was inevitable that Holmes would suffer in comparison.
I would imagine if every time I won a fight and the first question out of the mouth of some fat media guy was “what do you think of Ali?” or “how do you compare to Ali?” I might be a little salty as well.
Holmes never played the media game very well. He spoke his mind and made controversial comments. Even if I didn’t always agree with Larry’s banter, I always appreciated his candor, right or wrong.
It was great entertainment and nothing Holmes ever said was more entertaining than his tirade following the rematch with Michael Spinks in which Holmes came away the loser in one of the most controversial decisions in memory.
“You can kiss where the sun don’t shine and since we are on HBO, that’s my big black behind” blasted Holmes when interviewed by Larry Merchant in his locker room.
Maybe not as entertaining, but probably the most talked about Larry Holmes comments were those directed at former Heavyweight Champion, Rocky Marciano following Holmes’ close split decision victory over Carl “The Truth Williams to bring his record to 48-0 and just one victory shy of Marciano’s mark of 49-0.
When asked in the post-fight news conference about Marciano, Holmes just couldn’t help himself.
“Marciano couldn’t hold my jock strap”
It was certainly an unfortunate and disrespectful remark to say the least but in reality there are many that would argue it was the truth. The media loved to push Larry and his mouth continued to fuel their fire.
Another choice that could be considered a mistake for Holmes was fighting Muhammad Ali. “The Greatest” made his ill-fated comeback attempt in 1980. The same ghost that Holmes had been chasing was now going to be fed to him as a sacrificial lamb.
Ali was in no condition physically or mentally to be in any ring against any opponent, and certainly not against the best Heavyweight in the world. People should be ashamed and put into jail for allowing that fight to take place, but that will be a rant for another day.
Holmes saw the payday against his idol and took it. Holmes always saw dollar signs in everything, but this time I’ll bet he regretted it.
The Holmes-Ali bout was the most heartbreaking fight that I have ever witnessed. Holmes himself was frustrated during the fight as he carried Ali and begged the referee to stop the fight.
The only thing this fight accomplished for Holmes besides money was now the same people who said he was “no Ali” despised him even further for giving the world’s hero such a beating. It seemed it was an uphill battle all the way for Holmes.
Two years and four fights after the Ali debacle came what would become Larry Holmes’ signature fight. The fight would bring him the most attention for probably the wrong reasons.
In June of 1982 Holmes was set to square off against “The Great White Hope” Gerry Cooney. Cooney was a very likeable but undeserving challenger for the title at that time. He had a huge left hook and was knocking out nobodies and old-timers at a rapid pace. He didn’t have the resume behind him, but he had the media machine going overtime and I guess the color of his skin made this a bigger event than it probably should have been.
Always the opinionated guy, Holmes dubbed the young challenger “The Great White Dope” which only helped to fuel the fire of racial tensions.
In the end, Cooney fought bravely but Holmes outclassed “Gentleman Gerry” and won by TKO in the 13th round.
Following the Cooney bout, Holmes put together eight more title defenses before finally losing to the Light Heavyweight Champion, Michael Spinks in 1985. A victory over “The Spinks Jinx” that night would have put Holmes’ record at 49-0 and matched Rocky Marciano’s unprecedented mark.
At the time of the Spinks fight, Holmes was 36 years of age and clearly past his best. He would lose the controversial rematch to Spinks and then retire for the first of many times.
In 1988, Holmes took the call from Don King and agreed to fight “The Baddest Man on the Planet”, Mike Tyson. Holmes hardly trained for the bout and was brutally knocked out in four rounds. He went on to say that the four million dollars he made from the fight paid to have his office buildings in Easton, Pennsylvania completed. Always the business man was Larry Holmes.
You would have thought that would have been the last of Holmes as fighter. It of course was not.
In 1992, Holmes accepted the challenge of then WBO champion, “Merciless” Ray Mercer. Mercer gave up his belt to fight Holmes instead of his mandatory defense.
Mercer was coming off impressive victories over Francisco Damiani and the horrific beating he gave to Tommy “The Duke” Morrison that I still have nightmares over.
This night Holmes was in tremendous shape and used all his knowledge and skill to outsmart and outbox Ray Mercer. Holmes came away with a huge upset victory and surprisingly easy unanimous decision over twelve rounds.
His reward for the Mercer win was a shot at the true Heavyweight Champion of the World, Evander Holyfield in June of 1992. Evander was in his prime and the forty-three year old former champion held his own but lost by decision.
Holmes still wasn’t through just yet and had two more tries at a title. In 1995, he lost a decision to WBC Champion, Oliver McCall. Then in 1997, he fought Brian Neilsen for the made up IBO title and came away with another decision loss.
These bouts didn’t do much for Holmes except make him a few bucks and also prove that he could compete at a high level and advanced age when he should have been bouncing grandkids off his knee.
His next two bouts were in the “Legends of Boxing” series and pitted him against old foes, James “Bonecrusher” Smith and Mike “Hercules” Weaver. Those two were unnecessary as was the final bout of his illustrious career against Eric “Butterbean” Esch. I’m sure Holmes had a Casino or office building to finance, so all is forgiven.
In the early years of Holmes final retirement, just like during his career, respect was hard to come by. When top five Heavyweight lists were compiled, you would have been hard pressed to find Holmes listed in any.
As time has passed and reality sets in, Holmes is finally getting the respect as a fighter he always deserved and is more times than not, now mentioned in expert’s top five lists. My personal list has Holmes at number three, behind Ali and Joe Louis.
Looking at the nuts and bolts of it, Holmes has arguably the best jab in Heavyweight history and he used it to set up his above average right hand with perfection. He was a tremendous boxer and had a chin of iron. He took the hardest shots of some of the biggest punchers in history and always got up and came back to win. He showed great heart and had a very high ring I.Q.
For my money, there was no Heavyweight I enjoyed watching more than Larry Holmes.
Larry finished his career with a record of 69-6 (44KO) He was born in 1949 in Cuthbert, Georgia and moved to Easton, Pennsylvania in 1957 and has been there ever since.
Larry Holmes was inducted into The International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York in 2008.
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