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 :bolt
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 ****er" 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. This content is protected The only two things Holmes is afraid of is losing his money and death.
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.
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...
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.
