Anyone who's not seen it, the May edition of the Ring Magazine is a Larry Holmes special. Any fan of one of the greatest heavyweight champ s of all time will love this. Brilliant articles in it, from his time on the undercards of Ali and Foreman, to being the main event.
Absolutely Stevie. Said it for a long time he's right up there. At his best there's only a couple imo that beat him. Even then it'd be toughest fight of their life.
Again @Fergy thanks for the heads-up. Went to my two local bookstores after seeing this post and neither had it. So I ordered it online. It’s a quality piece of work from page stock (it’s not flimsy) to photos to the written content. Covers lots of interesting angles on Larry’s life and career. I’m taking it slow so I can savor it. Gerry Cooney did a nice forward on their fight and the friendship that blossomed after it. To this day they’re very good friends. The buildup to their fight had been full of hate and racial crap. Neither fighter liked it but neither knew the other didn’t. Gerry says when the touched gloves, Larry said, ‘Let’s have a good fight.’ I guess he expected no words or either nasty ones, said this was the seed of their friendship as it made him see Larry differently. He also said when he was depressed and drinking in the years after that fight and missing from the ring, he got a call out of the blue one day. It was Larry, who told him to get in the gym and get back in the ring. He was still dealing with his demons but he did start training again. Very touching to me how those two rivals bonded over the years. Anyway, I highly recommend this magazine. It’s a really good piece of work.
Cheers Pat. Yes it's an excellent one. The Ring mag s being doing a few of these sort of special s now and I just find em so interesting. I m like you, in which I take my time reading it. I make a mag last for days lol.
They are touring the UK as we speak, sort of a Q@A also Larry was a guest on a podcast with Spencer Oliver and Jake Wood, worth a listen, seems Holmes has waited a long, long time to be fully acknowledged as a truly great HW champ, thinking he suffered somewhat by following the great man himself, and let's be honest, he was a tad vanilla, and I believe that worked against him during his reign, like a lot of fighters, sometimes it takes the passage of time to fully appreciate their worth. Surley in most pundits top 5 , no ?. stay safe guys.
I love boxing stories like this too. It's a credit to both of them and you can throw Tex Cobb and Holmes in as well. That speech Cobb gave at Larry's night was incredible. Duran and DeJesus have a much smaller but interesting story too.
