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The Easton AssassinPosted Monday, March 16, 2009, at 3:46 PM
Larry Holmes
Larry was a gentlemen too, and always had to deal with being in the shadow of Muhammad Ali. Holmes had been a former sparring partner of Ali's. Holmes fought allot like Ali, quick...powerful jabs, dancing around the ring, solid combinations, and like Ali, Holmes could take a punch, and come back. I take you back to September 28th / 1979 and the Heavyweight Championship of the World, between Ernie Shavers, the man Ali said was the hardest puncher in the world, and Larry Holmes. By Round 7, Holmes had been in control, opening up cuts over Shavers eyes. Shavers, aware that the cuts will be a problem, makes a move, and taking some great shots from Holmes, moves in and connects with a solid right that staggers Holmes. Holmes continues to jab and move, and Shavers knowing that he had hurt Holmes, moves in again, connects finally with a hay maker that sent Holmes to the canvas. Shavers had won fifty-four fights by knockout, including a one punch round one knock out of then undefeated Jimmy Ellis. Incredibly, Holmes gets up, and dances and fights his way through the rest of the round. Holmes could take a punch. Holmes charges out of the corner in Round 8, and begins to pound Shavers, jabbing and moving, and then towards the end of round eight, Holmes lands several good rights, and re-establishes his dominance of the fight. In Rounds 9 and 10 Holmes surprised Shavers and slugged in out with the powerful Shavers, in the middle of the ring and winning the duel. By Round 11, Holmes was able to put Shavers away, and retain the title. Larry Holmes fought in 28 Championship bouts, and successfully defended the Title 20 times. Al Goldberg ranks Larry Holmes as the #3 Heavyweight fighter of all time, citing Holmes "...best jab in boxing history, and a devastating overhand right and uppercut." His final record was 69-6 with 44 wins by KO. Not bad. I kind of miss those great days of boxing with guys like Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Thomas "Hitman" Hearns, Joe Frazier, Jerry Quarry, George Foreman, Ken Norton, Michael and Leon Spinks, Aaron Pryor and Marvelous Marvin Hagler, to name but a few. Who can forget the great fights between Duran and Leonard, or Duran and Hagler, or Hearns and Leonard. Larry Holmes was at the top during this period, and the class and integrity Holmes displayed, carrying down through most of boxing. Where are the great fights today? The great rivalries, and the great stories? I am not so keen on the Ultimate Fighting. Have you seen these young guys they interview from UFC? The cauliflower ears are ridiculous on twenty year olds, and the class of today's boxer/fighter, well, it may reflect our culture problems. To Larry Holmes I say...Bro, I miss you! I really do. It sure would be great to click on ABC's Wide World of Sports, and catch Howard Cosell calling one of your great fights. You can see Larry in action with several YouTube clips, including the fight between Holmes and Shavers. Watch some of them, you may enjoy it. Comments Showing comments in chronological order [Show most recent comments first] |
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You just couldn't help yourself G5.
Another good piece of writing Sam.
I remember the excitement of the fights between Smoking Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali. I was in boot camp in the fall of 1974 when they fought in the "Thriller in Manila". All of us were trying to find out the outcome of the fight and our company commander, bless his hard ass soul, gave us a run down on the fight. I have since watched that fight several times on the ESPN classic channel and still marvel at the fortitude of both men. You are right Sam...nothing today even comes close to the excitement and drama of the battles between the warriors you mentioned above. Thanks for bringing back the memories.
Hey SaM,
No mention of Rocky Marciano or even
Rocky Graziano.
Possibly the best "series of fights at any weight' involved Carman Basillio (the UPstate New York Onion Farmer) and Tony DeMarco from NYC.
Sugar Ray Robinson was in a class by himself for nearly ten years.
Joe Louis -- losing five years to WWII --
dominated for nearly two decades.
I saw Liston training in the town where I was publishing the community newspaper in '63 just before the "phantom punch" Clay bout in Las Vegas which gave Clay the title.
His manager took me out to the steel warehouse where Liston was training and simply introduced me as a friend. It took a week to escape the chill of Liston's GLARE.
The money boys out of Louisvile, Ky who were backing Clay -- made a killing on that one and at least some of the Vegas bookies shared. The bad blood between the winners and losers on that one in Vegas lasted as long as any of those people lived.{Almost sure sign of a rigged fight.]
Liston basically retired on a pension at Vegas, drawing income for a few hours weekly walking around a casino and shaking hands (Which was as unlike him as any thing could have been -- He simply did not like people. PERIOD. He was found dead in bed only a few years later.
His death was as suspicious as his loss to Clay.
On the other side of the pro boxing world was Jimmy Ellis. You mentioned his on-punch knockout.
Jimmy was the "forever ranked challenger" -- never had a flashy lifestyle, never had an entourage, never had a thieving manager. His Uncle Ray, former Master Sgt. and owner of a great BarBQ place on the south side of Berkeley trained and managed Jimmy.
Jimmy stayed in shape largely doing hard physical work on Ray's farm in North Monterey County, Calif., producing much of the meat and other food for Ray's eatery.
Jimmy's work compensated Ray for the coaching and management.
Jimmy kept most of his money -- Ray had one rule for him -- "If you get hurt, go down and stay down. You are not looking to end up with scrambled brains for every breakfast."
Jimmy made more net from the fight game than anyone, with the possible exception of Clay.
Simply by staying as a contender for many years, taking 40% of the purses.
Of course, for the Big Man who has done the most good in his life -- it has to be George Foreman.
When I made my little list of boxers, I knew I'd miss a few, I don't know how I missed Rocky Marciano.
There were allot great of fighters in the light and middleweight divisions back in the day.
The phantom punch fight. I just went back and looked at that fight on youtube. Phantom punch indeed. Crazy. If I read you bigsur, you think the fight was fixed, right?
Sonny Liston was fighting out of Denver wasn't he?I think he had served time. Not a nice guy.
Thanks guys for reading, I appreciate it.
Wow Sam,
I had no clue you were a boxing fan. I too am a huge boxing fan.
I don't know why the masses have came up with the common perception that boxing "isn't as good as it used to be" Over the last few years there have been phenomenal fights. Just a week ago Juan Diaz and Juan Manuel Marquez put on quite possibly the best fight of all time. Plus, we know have the best fighters in each weight class challenging the kingpins of other divisions we never had that in Ali's day.
People are just disinterested today for some reason.
And in my humble opinion Marciano is the most overrated boxer of all time. Who did he fight? He beat up a very washed up joe louis. Holmes, Ali, Liston, Frazier, Ken Norton would all maul Marciano.
And also in my opinion, skill wise Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the best boxer to ever live. I know it sounds crazy, he's only 30 yrs old. But he demolishes the best in the world, even if they are several weight classes heavier. Sugar Ray Leonard said that he believes Floyd literally has the fastest hands of any one to ever walk the earth.
I just watched a video af Ken Norton and Larry Holmes, rounds 14 & 15. If you watch these rounds, I think you'll see why Larry Holmes was a great champion.
McCook Reader, hey there. I guess you are right, I haven't really paid attention to the current fighters, maybe I should invest a little time, and get caught up.
Sugar Ray, what a guy. I always enjoyed Ray Leonard. His fights with Roberto "Hands of Stone" Duran, and Thomas "Hitman" Hearns were sensational. If Ray Leonard says Mayweather has the faster hands ever, then it is probably true!
As always, thanks for reading. God Bless.
This is a very pleasant blog that brings back so many good memories. I do miss tuning into the wide world of sports and hearing, "This is Howard Cosell, speaking of sports." It might be just me, but I think the fights of yesterday where all about who was king of the hill, the best out there. And alot of the fighters would take on anybody that challenged, and put the belt on the line as well. Today, I think boxing is all about making the money. The promoters and sponsors are holding out for a better deal, or take an unattractive fight because its a good payday. I think that is why we dont see the rivalries and the ring wars we used to. I would have liked to see Evander Holyfield mentioned in the company of some of the heavyweight greats, he is a gentleman and he had a tremendous heart. As far a fighting goes, I will even credit Mike Tyson. He is a criminal, as was his promoter; but he did take on all comers, even though there wasnt alot of competition in that era. He completely disgraced himself on his comback with the ear biting incident, but during his prime, he would take on anybody.
Sam, you are so right about Liston.
He came out of the Arkansas Delta sharecropping plantation region, escaping by walking at nights to St. Louis. Went to prison and "invited" to "fight" not box, while there. Came out and turned pro.
Considering his background, and the physical dimensions of the man, escaping from pure economic slavery and serving time, expecting him to be a concert pianist or polished diplomat would have been a stretch.
His problem, being in the ring and being champion required him to deal with people and he did not like people.
I stood to the side one time and watched him go through a totally wooden performance shaking hands for a group of Vegas convention guests. They actually had a custom made tuxedo that fit him fairly well.
He still resembled a barn on legs.
I must confess that in past weeks I have been watching some of today's fighters. One guy I have been really impressed with is Miguel Angel Torres from East Chicago Indiana. Wow.
The guy is a college grad, owns a large training facility in the Chicago area, and is one heck of a man and fighter at age 28. More to come on this guy later.