Former heavyweight champ Larry Holmes had a brother named Mark Holmes, who fought at middleweight from 1980-1987. He never made it to the top per say, but he did manage to compile a rather impressive record of 38-1-0-17. Anyone have anything to ad about him?
A very decent boxer. I am of the strong opinion Mark Holmes was brought up too protectively and suffered accordingly. I mean in his 32nd pro fight as a warm up for a shot vs a damn good John Collins he is fighting a guy 4-3-0. WTF is up with that? A look at his record bears out my point, 98% of the guys he fought both pre Collins and after are very ordinary fighters. Terrible management IMO. Might never have made it regardless, but definitely badly brought thru.
The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Mark Holmes is the advice Larry gave him when dealing with a potentially confusing situation, such as dealing with a southpaw. "When in doubt, stick it out!" That reveals the primacy of Mark's jab in his style of boxing. He followed Larry's lead in developing an excellent one, and assembled a very respectable career record in the process.
I also heard a quote from Larry that went something like, "It's time Mark either s**ts or gets off the pot!" In other words, he too was aware that Mark was fighting a pack of nobodies and the first time he did step up, Collins clocks him in 2. Scartissue
