Larry Holmes on Retiring Rich from Boxing,

He’s one of the few who managed his money wisely. And frankly one wouldn’t think it would be that difficult. How some of these guys blow through tens of millions of dollars is beyond me. It’s almost sickening to think about

 

Larry explained it a long time ago talking about his comeback. He learned that having money and having income are two different things.

When you have money and you spend it, it’s gone and doesn’t replenish.

When you have income, it replenishes when you spend it.

Larry, unlike most, realized you can’t live like a rock star after the money starts rolling in — he never had an entourage, he never had to have flashy cars and flashy jewelry and exotic pets, not make it rain in strip clubs and flash cash everywhere you go.

Larry stayed married to the same woman (divorces are expensive). He built a house (with a boxing glove-shaped swimming pool) when he was champion and still lives there — never had a house payment. He doesn’t have a new sports car every year, drives a vehicle that’s suitable for transportation rather than an accessory.

Invested in real estate in his hometown. Built the biggest office building in Easton then rented the bottom floor to the post office and soon other U.S. government departments were renting space on other floors. Said he could have maybe made a bit more leasing to individual businesses but they go in and out of business, people fall behind in the rent and can you collect, etc. — the government pays like clockwork on the first of the month and you never have to worry about it, and they sign 25-year leases. He kept a small office for himself.

I think more recently he sold off that building but has some other real estate holdings there.

In short, he was wise enough to know that as ex-champ he didn’t have to live like he was making millions when he no longer was, kept things simple and found a happy lifestyle for himself. Let those other fools blow their money and end up on the street.

 

Holmes was always tight with his money so it ain’t no real surprise he made his money an kept hold of it. He might have had a 81 reach but outside the ring he had the deepest pockets with the shortest arms

 

I know right? If you start getting huge purses like that, take a nice chunk and fund an annuity that will pay you something like $250k/yr upon retirement -- yes, annuities aren't considered the greatest investments, but that's your guaranteed comfortable life income stream, and when you can fund it with the purse from one fight, seems dumb not to.

Then beyond that, ****, stick 75% of your net into DOW and S&P500 index funds and forget about it. Buy a nice for a few million bucks cash, don't sell it, live in it for life.

It's really not that hard.

 

if I had even a fraction of the money that some of these guys made I be set for the rest of my life

 

I remember reports that Jacobs and Cayton set up an annuity that would have paid Mike Tyson $1M per year for life (I think that was the figure) starting sometime around age 40 or 50 (I forget the details). Of course as soon as he was free of them he cashed it in. Probably spent it on a shopping spree or another set of luxury cars that he never drove.

 

Smart man.

 

Chris Rock once said "LeBron James is rich, but the man who signs his checks is wealthy ".

Probably James is wealthy now, but the point it there is a difference between being rich and being wealthy. Holmes made some smart investments so he's now wealthy.

Of course we're talking about financial matters. A man is wealthy if he has a good wife and nice kids.

 

It is so sad to see fighters that blew all their dough, especially when they have some type of boxing-related illness on top of it. It's the only sport I ever loved, but man it is a brutal, ruthless game - shark infested waters everywhere, emerging unscathed to one degree or another is not very likely.

 

Nice! And to think Rocky Marciano had even shorter arms (67”) and much deeper pockets again.

As for Liston, he could pick up a stray coin on the ground without even bending.

 

Good luck to Larry.

Hangers on/sycophants are bad at every level, not least for having their hands out all the time. Absolutely divorcing yourself from same is a good start - it seems Ali never did.

Tbh, I have no prob with people who are tight with their money - as long as their careful personal management of their finances doesn’t shortfall or rely on the substitute finances of others.

At the very base level, I’m thinking the a** holes who disappear every time it rotates thru 8 - 9 blokes to their own eventual shout for beers.

They promise to even up next time…BS, never happens.. cut ‘em off, they’re out of the loop, stingy basterds. Haha.

 

The most overlooked quote from the original Rocky movie, in the skating rink scene:

“Boxing is a business where you’re almost guaranteed to end up a bum.”

 

Key word: THEIR money.

It’s not community property.

I was reading on Mike Tyson’s financial crash recently: the man had two checks made out to him for $10M each the day he stepped out of prison. And another $25M for fighting McNeely shortly thereafter.

Only an idiot could blow that kind of money. (Yes various people got cuts and there are taxes but the leftover after that is more than the vast majority of us will make in our entire lifetimes.)

One of the details: He hired a guy named Crocodile to stomp around his training camp and press conferences in camouflage yelling ‘guerrilla warfar’ over and over. That was literally his one job. Salary? $300K per year.

You can’t fix stupid.