Scott Ledoux's title shot at Larry Holmes

Uh, the only 'big name' he fought in 1980 was a totally shot Muhammad Ali. He fought a bunch of stiffs and a has been. Sounds like the 1979 war with supposed scrub Mike Weaver scared him quite a bit. Holmes was smart in taking the easy money but it should be acknowledged that he did so and avoided tough comp. And 1980 wasn't the only time he did so. The most glaring example was after the scare against Witherspoon in 1983.

 

Holmes didn't have much pride when it came to these defenses. I remember him clearly stating in an interview at the time, "I just want to fight little guys for lots of money." It was such a waste to watch these fights...as if LeDoux or Zanon had even a remote shot at beating him. These were sacrificial lambs that the WBC accepted as title challengers.

 

Larry fought No. 1-ranked Earnie Shavers in September of 1979 and No. 2-ranked Leroy Jones in March of 1980.

The LeDoux defense in Minnesota was an act of kindness. LeDoux's wife was diagnosed with cancer and Holmes arranged for the title shot because Scott needed money for her medical bills. The diagnosis was terminal, but she lived another 10 or 11 years, thanks in large part to a couple of operations he was able to afford after earning that purse.

 

Should that,in fact,be the case-Holmes gets a big pass on this mismatch defense.:thumbsup

 

Yeah, that's a thing about Holmes, when you see him talking now he's very nostalgic and wants to boost boxing and his own legacy and makes it seem as if he fought the best available challengers ... but at the time he was very open about looking for the easiest matches for the most possible money.

 

Yes, he started around the C00ney fight I think.
The soft touches he fought before that were "filler" fights really.

 

Berbick and Weaver were considered nobodies at the time they fought Holmes, so don't give Larry too much credit for taking them on. It wasn't until later that they made names for themselves.

 

After the fight, Chris S. (a class act) went to interview Ledoux and Ledoux's seconds to get their take. They wouldn't let him finish a sentence, pushed and shoved Chris, and said Scott was robbed because Larry 'poked' him in the eye; even tried to grab the microphone away. Low-life trash IMO. A few minutes later when Chris was with Cosell? (can't remember) he interrupted and said he'd NEVER been subjected to such abuse in his career as a commentator. "Wood chopin-thugs" is how I would have described them. Absolutely deplorable.

 

Thanks jowcol. Never knew that had happened. Very unprofessional, and gives boxing a bad name.

 

Per Ring, here's where Holmes' challengers were ranked going into the fights -

Alfredo Evangelista #6 (Holmes ranked #1, Ali champ)
Osvaldo Ocasio #5 (Holmes ranked #1, Ali champ)
Mike Weaver #8 (Holmes ranked #1, Ali champ)
Earnie Shavers #3 (Holmes ranked #1, title vacant)
Lorenzo Zanon #7 (Holmes ranked #1, title vacant)
Leroy Jones #6 (Holmes ranked #1, title vacant)
Scott LeDoux #10 (Holmes champ)
Muhammad Ali #5
Trevor Berbick #7
Leon Spinks #3
Renaldo Snipes #10
Gerry ****ey #3
Randall Cobb #9
Lucien Rodriguez unranked
Tim Witherspoon #9
Scott Frank unranked
Marvis Frazier #10
Bonecrusher Smith #9
David Bey #3
Carl Williams #12

 

I think the Bonecrusher gave Larry a tougher fight than he expected, having him trapped and hurt in a corner at one point in the fight.