Larry Holmes is 75 years old today...

Happy birthday to the champ!

I had two encounters with him that lend no credence to the idea that he was mean, bitter or salty (I’m sure like most of us he could be when the feeling hit him, but there was definitely another side from what I witnessed). I’ve related them before, but the birthday ocassion calls for it I think:

I went to see him fight live in Mississippi at a casino during his comeback tour. It was sometime after the day-before weigh-in iirc and I was with my father (in his 60s) and brother walking in some hallway that was between the casino floor and the arena area (where I assume the weigh-in took place), just kind of wandering around.

We turn a corner and we’re face to face with Larry Holmes. He’s all alone, probably headed back to his room (Larry never was an entourage guy who needed hangers-on on his payroll). We said ‘Hi champ, we’re here to see you fight’ and he stopped and thanked us and chatted with us. Then he looks at my father and says ‘I’ll fight you next! You’re old enough. Me and you, c’mon’ and starts flicking out playful jabs, haha. After that he said he had to get going, we wished him luck with the fight and went our separate ways.

Sometime later, after he retired (I think … could be he fought Butterbean after this) he had an exhibition with three or four fights, and I had a guy on the undercard. So this is an hour or more before the show and I walk past an open dressing room door and there’s Larry. I stuck my head in to say ‘Hi champ’ and tell him it was a big deal to my guy to fight on the same card as him. He invited me in and we chatted a bit and he said, ‘Take me to your dressing room.’ So he followed me a few doors down and we had one side of the undercard in our dressing room, like three or four guys plus their handlers.

Larry walked in and said hello to everyone, shook hands. Then he gave a little pep talk: ‘Bring your best, let’s give these people a good show. One day you’re going to miss all this, so enjoy it while you can.’ Everybody perked up — the former heavyweight champ taking the time to talk to them and pump them up, clearly to a bunch of four- and six-round young pros that was a pretty cool deal.

So whenever I read or hear that Larry was prickly or could be an ass, all I can say is that there was more to him than that, and I’m fortunate enough to have seen his good side and see how nice and fun he could be.

Here’s to many more Larry Holmes birthdays!

 

Happy birthday to the Easton Assassin.

Enjoyed his fights, his personality, his impromptu dropkick on Trevor Berbick.

Also loved when he was ringside giving commentary.

 

6th best of all time. Behind Wilder, Morrison, Byrd, Seldon, and Bruno.

 

One of my favorite fighters who competed during my lifetime. Beyond his impressive skills he was all dog. You could shoot that MF'er and he was gonna get up for more. Happy B-Day, Champ.

 

Sure, Ali was in worse shape than Holmes, but Holmes wasn’t in good form either in his fight against Tyson. Both of them returned after a break and wanted a fight with the current champion. I would mostly blame the people who allowed Ali to fight

 

Happy Birthday Champ!

 

Happy birthday Larry!
What an absolute legend

 

He'd probably go the distance even now!

 

Happy Birthday, Champ!

 

Happy Birthday to Larry.

One of the all time great heavyweights. Third only to Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis in my opinion.

 

As other guys have mentioned Mr Holmes didn't do himself any favours in
the popularity stakes but oh my word he was a magnificent fighter.
Larry is in my top 4 greatest heavyweights of all time.A truly great heavyweight champion.

 

Posting this list deserves more recognition. Fantastic effort.

May the two 75yo's, Holmes and Foreman, have many more healthy birthdays. It's obscene how well both have aged given their huge career's. I don't think there's any rules at that prolific level of career, some get affected and some don't.

I'm pretty sure Mike Weaver is still sharp as a tack at 73, as well. The guy was stopped 4 times before Holmes stopped him and was stopped another 7 or so times fighting until he was almost 50. He's beat the odds as well.

 

Holmes himself stated in an interview that he pulled a muscle in his arm prior to the fight.

 

Much as you may wish it to be a myth, there are several statements confirming it was a muscle tear,that happened in sparring 5 days earlier.

 

One of the few fighters that I personally believe had the tools, at his best, to beat Foreman. That includes a peak Holmes vs a peak Foreman. Larry had that undefinable dog inside of him, a good boxing brain and one of the best jabs ever at the weight.