2006-Larry Holmes in Brawl with MMA Fighter?

[ricardinho]

Larry Holmes would be a top heavyweight in any era.

[highguard]

holmes is the man

[Azzer85]

Originally Posted by mcvey

Don't mess with Larry, he'll jump a car to get to you.

http://www.americantopteam.com/images/staff/Carmelo.jpg


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Holmes, to me seems like a genuinly bad mofo, with a mean streak.

[AlFrancis]

Don't know if it's true or not but I can certainly imagine it! Great story Bill! That's great that video McVey posted, imagine an enraged Larry Holmes coming at you

[AnthonyJ74]

Originally Posted by AlFrancis

Don't know if it's true or not but I can certainly imagine it! Great story Bill! That's great that video McVey posted, imagine an enraged Larry Holmes coming at you

Would Holmes have charged after Mike Tyson like that if Tyson had pissed him off?

[janitor]

Originally Posted by AnthonyJ74

Would Holmes have charged after Mike Tyson like that if Tyson had pissed him off?

Possibly, especialy if Tyson was outside his prime.

I think that Holmes was fundamentaly the harder man outside the ring.

Just y take.

[Bill1234]

Originally Posted by AnthonyJ74

Would Holmes have charged after Mike Tyson like that if Tyson had pissed him off?

To be honest, he probably would have. Holmes is a very nice guy and incredibly fan friendly, but when pissed off, he doesn't care who you are or how big, he's going after you.

I remember a few years ago a man in his 60s came into the gym, and Larry and his brother Floyd immediately showed the guy tons of respect and seemed to have known him for quite some time. Anyway, it turns out that the man was the "street fighting king of Easton, PA" at one point. He supposedly was known for getting into scraps every week and was known for knocking people cold. The guy seemed to be in good shape and it was easy to see that he was a tough guy, but anyway he had apparently grown up with Larry and they were friends. The guy apparently did not want any parts of Larry in a street fight, and obviously not in the ring, even when they were young.

As talks went on and what not, an old story of when Larry worked at a carwash before he even turned pro came up. Apparently there had been a huge guy, bigger than Larry, who would take his car to the car wash and the guy did not like Larry and the guy enjoyed starting fights. He was a local ruffian. One day the guy was really getting mouthy with Larry, and Larry got mouthy back. One thing led to another and the guy charged Larry and tried tackling him. Larry grabbed the guy in an awkward headlock and started pushing down on him, then as he was pushing the guy down, he bit him, called him a "mother fucker" and continuned wrestling around with him until it was broken up. Larry has a mean streak that is best not tapped into, even by street fighting standards.

Upon one of their first meetings when they signed to fight, Larry and Tyson exchanged words. They have since made up and are now friends.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7041/6...525ccd7cc8.jpg

The only two things Holmes is afraid of is losing his money and death.

[johnmaff36]

I never really liked Holmes as he always came across as quite bitter to me, but in recent years, the more i read about him the more i like him. He appears to be a personable enough guy

[Bill1234]

Originally Posted by johnmaff36

I never really liked Holmes as he always came across as quite bitter to me, but in recent years, the more i read about him the more i like him. He appears to be a personable enough guy

He often comes across as bitter due to the questions that he's asked in interviews. Time and time again it's on sore spots for him.

The things he is actually genuinely bitter about is George Foreman ducking him, lack of respect he got for decades (even being introduced at a fair as George Foreman at one point), and the way Don King tried to rip him off.

I've never seen a bad word said about him as a person by people who have actually met him.

[Charles White]

Keep it coming Bill. This is great stuff about my sporting idol.

[Waynegrade]

I always felt for Holmes... Coming on the heels of Ali, and then beating ali in the ring, he never got proper respect and the love that comes wtih the respect. He handled the whole Ali fight with class, before during and after. He measuredly took Ali down, and let up on the gas a bit when he saw he had nothing late in the fight. Even looking at the ref to stop it. He certainly is a bad dude in the street and when talking all time great heavies, he`s damn near the top of the list. Prime Holmes is a problem for ANY of the all time greats...As time has gone on, he has mellowed and people have finally given him his just due as a great champion. He came out to the Marciano statue unveling and was great with all the people here...

[Waynegrade]

Originally Posted by Bill1234

Well, I started going to Larry's gym in January, 2006 and did not see that happen. It wouldn't surprise me if it were indeed true, though, because Larry did not tolerate nonsense in the gym and I saw him kick a few people out who got out of hand in sparring and got mouthy. Usually, Holmes responded to those getting mouthy by telling them to shut up and get out of the gym.

I saw Larry come very close in 2007/2008 to getting into a fight against some former professional lightheavy who apparently was a talented prospect in the 80s until he got into drugs. Larry was bigger, but the guy was still a decent size at about 6'1 - 6'2, 200lbs or so. The guy was being loud, obnoxious, and getting in everyone's way. Larry told him to knock it off, and the guy challenged Larry to get into the ring with him. The two were face to face and having a bit of a staring match, and Larry told him (I forget the exact words) "Why the hell should I get up into that ring to kick your ass when I can do it right here?" Larry was completely serious and the guy saw it and backed down.

Although I had heard plenty of street fighting stories about Larry, I never actually saw him fight anyone. I know he was still actively sparring up until 4 or 5 years ago.

I did, however, see Larry's older brother Floyd (RIP) get into a fight in 2007. There was a decent boxer who was about 6', 180-190 lbs of muscle who pissed Floyd off. I had always heard Floyd was a man you didn't want to piss off, but hadn't seen him angry yet. I don't remember what the guy said to Floyd, but Floyd was up on the ring apron watching one of the people he trained spar, and right when the guy said something Floyd snapped and said "Shut up right now." I've never heard a more serious or threatening shut up before in my life, however the guy did not take the hint. He mouthed off again and Floyd hopped off the ring apron, went over to the guy, punched him square in the face and took his head and put it through the drywall. Upon pulling the guy's head out of the drywall, he ripped out one of the guy's dreadlocks.

Floyd was 62 years old when he did that.

Larry's younger brother Mark used to line up 5 or 6 of us to spar him and he'd give us 2 rounds a piece. It was considered a good outing if you landed more than 5 punches on him. Despite Mark being in his 50s and being out of shape, he'd hop into the ring and make fools out of all of us without throwing a punch (that is not an exageration, he only hit the professional fighters, not the amateurs). He didn't care how big the people were, he'd spar 'em all. Not once did I see someone come close to beating Mark. I saw people get dirty with him out of frustration a few times, but Mark could more than hold his own with the dirty tactics as well, even though dirty fighting when unappreciated in the gym.

From the 6 years I spent at Larry's gym, I learned a lot about the Holmes's. First, they are all incredibly friendly people. I've met a lot of champions and hall of fame fighters, very few are as fan friendly as Larry Holmes. Floyd Holmes was also a very nice guy and he was hilarious. Mark is a nice guy and will talk to anyone.

That being said, the common trait amongst the Holmes's aside from being very friendly and easy to talk to is their temper. They all have a temper that you do not want to cross. When they get pissed off, it's best to stay out of their way because they will fight you, and they will mess your day up.

Awesome post !! Thanks !

[pong]

did larry close his gym down remember reading he was planning on doing that

[Bill1234]

Originally Posted by pong

did larry close his gym down remember reading he was planning on doing that

Yes, he closed it about a year ago to move his restaurant there on Canal Street, which he did, but has since moved his restaurant back to Larry Holmes drive. I am unsure of why he did that, I think it was for tax reasons. But he stills owns the building the gym was in, which is a decent size. It has essentially a 1300 sq ft ranch style house on the 2nd floor which he rents out and the building has a large garage and the gym itself was pretty big.

I do not know if he's going to open his gym up again or not, he still owns both buildings but he's been winding down with his businesses for some time now. Over the past 5-7 years he's been selling off a lot of businesses of his, even ones that were making him a lot of money. He sold his one building for over $5 million like 5 years ago and is at the point where if someone should offer him $5 million for another building he'd sell it.

He's now more focussed on relaxing and spending time with family and friends than he is with running the business empire he built.

[ricardinho]

I still would love to see him and big George go at it...