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Larry Holmes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Larry Holmes | |
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| Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Real name | Larry Holmes |
| Nickname | Easton Assassin |
| Weight | Heavyweight |
| Nationality | American |
| Birth date | November 3, 1949 (age 57) |
| Birth place | Cuthbert, Georgia, USA |
| Style | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 75 |
| Wins | 69 |
| Wins by KO | 44 |
| Losses | 6 |
| Draws | 0 |
| No contests | 0 |
- For the politician and activist, see Larry Holmes (Marxist).
Larry Holmes (born November 3, 1949 in Cuthbert, Georgia) is a former world heavyweight boxing champion. Noted boxing historian Bert Sugar has listed Holmes as one of the greatest boxers in history (Sugar 2006).
Holmes was born in Georgia, but he has spent the majority of his life in Easton, Pennsylvania, in the state's Lehigh Valley region, from which Holmes gained his famed boxing nickname, "The Easton Assassin".
Holmes won his first 48 professional fights, falling just one short of matching Rocky Marciano's all-time boxing record for heavywieghts of 49 consecutive wins to start a boxing career.
In a 1978 fight generally considered one of the sport's greatest ever, Holmes went toe-to-toe with boxing great Ken Norton, winning the majority of rounds in a closely contested fight that gave Holmes the world heavyweight championship. Holmes defended his heavyweight championship against some of the sport's greatest fighters, including the legendary Muhammad Ali, whose trainer intervened to stop Holmes' battering of Ali in the tenth round.
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During the early part of his boxing career, Holmes sometimes was a sparring partner to then heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, whose training camp was in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. But Holmes trained predominantly in the Lehigh Valley.
Holmes first gained credibility as a contender when, in 1978, he upset Earnie Shavers, winning almost every round of a 12 round bout. Holmes' victory over Shavers set up a title shot between Holmes and WBC heavyweight champion Ken Norton. Holmes won the WBC heavyweight title on June 9, 1978, defeating Norton in a 15 round slug fest.
In October 1980, Ali came out of retirement to face Holmes, who had by this time defended his title 7 times. Ali was a shadow of his former self, dosed up on medication and suffering from Parkinson's, and Holmes dominated the fight. Ali's trainer, Angelo Dundee, stopped the fight after the tenth round. Holmes successfully defended the WBC belt 17 times in all until December 11, 1983, when he voluntarily relinquished that title for the championship of the new International Boxing Federation. Larry Holmes claimed to be the "baddest mutha fucka of all time."
As IBF heavyweight champion, Holmes successfully defended the title 3 times, bringing his total number of title defenses to 20. In September 1985, he lost the IBF crown to undisputed world light heavyweight champion Michael Spinks by a close decision. This loss was particularly galling for Holmes because had he been victorious against Spinks, he would have tied the record of Rocky Marciano in winning his first 49 professional fights as a heavyweight with no defeats. Holmes was criticized by many for comments he made after the fight, saying: "If you want to get technical about it, Rocky Marciano couldn't carry my jockstrap."
On April 19, 1986, Holmes lost a rematch with Spinks by a disputed split decision. A bitter Holmes told the judges to kiss his "big black behind," and retired from the sport. During the NASCAR Winston Cup race the next day on ESPN, commentator Larry Nuber basically reached out to Holmes and said to the television audience, "Larry, you won the fight."
In January 1988 he was lured out of retirement by a $4 million purse to challenge reigning undisputed world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. Many people predicted Holmes, at 38, was making the same mistake Ali had by coming out of retirement at a late age to fight Holmes. They were correct, as Tyson knocked him out in the fourth round, the first and only time Holmes would be knocked out in his lengthy career.
In 1990, Holmes ended his retirement. In 1992, he upset the undefeated 1988 Olympic heavyweight champion Ray Mercer. Later that year, he got another shot at the world title, but lost by decision to Evander Holyfield. He put together another string of wins, most notably over Garing Lane and Jesse Ferguson, that kept the aging fighter lingering around the top 10.
Holmes' last title shot was in April 1995. At the age of 45, Holmes came within one point on two cards of winning the WBC title from Oliver McCall. He performed admirably, confusing McCall with his jab, however after 12 rounds he was busted up and severely cut, and lost unanimously.
His last fight was an easy decision victory against Eric Esch AKA "Butterbean" in 2002 at the Norfolk Scope in Virginia.
Holmes' total career record was 69 wins and 6 losses, with 44 of his 69 wins coming by way of knockouts.
Holmes' 20 successful title defenses is surpassed only by Joe Louis. The next highest on the list, Lennox Lewis, only has 15. Some of the aforementioned boxers had similar reigns in terms of length of time as champion, but none were nearly as busy in consistent title defenses year after year. Even Louis slowed to a point of about one title defense per year. Holmes had at least three a year with the exceptions of 1982 (2 defenses) and 1984 (1 defense). Holmes also holds the record for most consecutive knockouts in title fights, with 8.
- Sugar, B. (2006), Boxing's Greatest Fighters, Guilford, Connecticut: The Lyons Press ISBN 1-59228-632-1
- Larry Holmes Official Web Site.
- Larry Holmes fight-by-fight career record at About.com.
- Larry Holmes career record at Boxrec.com.
- Muhammad Ali vs. Larry Holmes at Boxing-Memorabilia.com.
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| Preceded by Ken Norton |
Heavyweight boxing champion (WBC) 1978–1983 |
Succeeded by Vacancy filled by Tim Witherspoon |
| Preceded by Inaugural Champion — |
IBF Heavyweight Champion 1983–1985 |
Succeeded by Michael Spinks |