Larry Holmes (General Information)

June 9, 1978

Ken Norton WBC Heavyweight Champion
Fight Purse $3,700,000

Larry Holmes
Fight Purse $500,000

Note; Larry Holmes was the #2 WBC Rated Heavyweight

Jimmy Young was the #1 WBC Rated Heavyweight that night,
fighting un-ranked Osvaldo Ocasio (11-0-0).

#7 WBC Ranked Alfredo Evangilista also fought on the undercard,
against (Larry Holmes) sparring partner Jody Ballard.
Evangilista got a gift split-decision win over Ballard (27-10-0)

 

Vic-Brasil,

It would have to be Larry Holmes by a wide margin.
I could put the $$$ numbers together.

Larry's first '2' defenses were nice $ amounts, against weak opponents.

#2 Larry Holmes $500,000 vs ** Ken Norton $3,700,000
** Larry Holmes $1,400,000 vs #6 Alfredo Evangilista $250,000
** Larry Holmes $1,500,000 vs #4 Osvaldo Ocasio $250,000
** Larry Holmes $400,000 vs #8 Mike Weaver $50,000
** Larry Holmes $2,500,000 vs #1 Earnie Shavers $325,000
** Larry Holmes $1,500,000 vs #5 Lorenzo Zanon $210,000
** Larry Holmes $1,375,000 vs #2 Leroy Jones $325,000
** Larry Holmes $1,200,000 vs #8 Scott LeDoux $305,000
** Larry Holmes $2,500,000 vs ** Muhammad Ali $7,500,000
** Larry Holmes $1,125,000 vs #5 Trevor Berbick $175,000
** Larry Holmes $1,900,000 vs #3 Leon Spinks $490,000
** Larry Holmes $1,100,000 vs #7 Renaldo Snipes $175,000
** Larry Holmes $10,000,000 vs #1 Gerry Cooney $10,000,000
** Larry Holmes $1,600,000 vs #5 Randall Cobb $500,000
** Larry Holmes $1,300,000 vs #11 Lucien Rodriguez $200,000
** Larry Holmes $2,100,000 vs #3 Tim Witherspoon $250,000
** Larry Holmes $1,500,000 vs #10 Scott Frank $350,000
** Larry Holmes $3,100,000 vs #18 Marvis Frazier $400,000
** Larry Holmes vs #11 James Smith
** Larry Holmes $1,525,000 vs #2 David Bey $130,000
** Larry Holmes vs Carl Williams
** Larry Holmes $3,500,000 vs ** Michael Spinks $1,100,000
#1 Larry Holmes vs ** MIchael Spinks
** Larry Holmes $3,100,000 vs ** Mike Tyson

 

Larry nearly blew it all versus Mike Weaver.

All '3' networks turned the fight down, as they all considered #8 Mike Weaver
an un-worthy challenger.

Larry was supposed to get a $500,000 guarantee, plus a % of the 'live gate' at
Madison Square Garden.

The numbers came in lower, so he took in $400,000.

Most felt, that this fight would be lucky to go 4-rounds.

 

In a 1980 interview,

Ken Norton said he made $11,000,000 in his boxing career.

A long way from making $300 versus Charlie Reno in San Diego in front
of 700 fans.

 

Nobody thought Mike Weaver was as good as he turned out.

Larry was supposed to get $750,000 and Mike Weaver $150,000 for a
Network Television fight.

But the Networks felt Mike Weaver was another one in the line of unworthy challengers,
and would not telecast the fight on Television.

 

RC,,
Larry Holmes standard flat fee was $2,100,000 after the Gerry Cooney fight.
For Randall 'Tex' Cobb, he took a $500,000 cut in his purse, to keep the fight on.

 

I have all the Boxing Facts Finance history information.

After defeating David Bey, for his 47th victory, Holmes had earned over $20,000,000 in total fight purses.

 

Following his loss to Larry Holmes,

Ken had a scheduled bout with Lucien Rodriguez for September 1978.
But the networks turned that bout down, and he took on Randy Stephens.

Ken was petitioning the WBC for a 1979 rematch with Larry.
But Larry asked the WBC for an elimination, between the #1 and #2
fighters, Norton vs. Shavers.

Norton was reluctant to take the fight, but was told by the WBC he would have an immediate rematch with Holmes, if he beat Shavers.
Kenny was a 3-1 Betting-Favorite over Shavers.