Larry Holmes on Retiring Rich from Boxing,

Glad to see Larry doing well. He deserves to enjoy life.

 

I would’ve gazumped that fool and did the crocodile stomp for half the money.

Funny, when they’ve come from extremely humble beginnings, you’d think people would have more respect for $$$ when it finally came in. I guess for some, in poverty and in wealth, the hand to mouth reflex remains deeply ingrained - unfamiliar as they are to managing their new found wealth properly.

Sean Connery was the perfect example of a guy who never forgot his impoverished roots and ensured that it was a lifestyle he would never return to. He never let anyone f**k with his hard earned money - and he litigated when necessary if he felt he was being rorted. I believe his record as far as that went was all wins, zero losses.

But he was generous in his own way. When cajoled back to do the final film of the Bond series (excluding Never Say Never Again filmed some years later) he agreed to a fee of 1 Million dollars (that’s back in ‘71) for Diamonds Are Forever.

I believe he then donated that fee in whole to the Scottish Youth Education Fund - of which he was a long time supporter and contributor. I think he also donated quite a bit, if not all, from his successful litigations.

Connery appreciated the value of due education - something he missed out on early in life - but later he self taught - and became a very well read and knowledgeable man. Connery was often the epitome of simple commonsense and logic.

When voted “sexiest” man alive when in his 60s or thereabouts - Connery replied that he couldn’t imagine that there were too many dead ones around.

 

Haha, for some reason your post brought to mind Michael Caine, another UK actor, on his high-paying role in Jaws: The Revenge (he used his fee to buy his mother a house):

“I have never seen it, but by all accounts it’s terrible.

“I have, however, seen the house it built, and it’s marvelous.”

Practical man who knows sometimes a job is just a job.

 

LOL, practical and funny man Caine. Brilliant raconteur. He and Connery were tight buds.

Here’s a very short 40 odd sec clip of Caine explaining the origin of his catch phrase- “…there’s not many people know that” which he didn’t actually originate:-

This content is protected

And here’s the great man himself, Peter Sellers, doing the impression:-

This content is protected

 

I'm harsh on Holmes comparative to others on various topics but he's done amazingly well for himself monetary wise and i think that's great. One man's stingy is another man's wise and he's certainly been wise especially when taking into account dropping out of school in grade 7 to help the family out and at one time earning $1 per hour. You could hardly blame him for being a bit cautious with his hard earned loot.

With Earnie Shavers gone he's one of the very last of a generation, particularly at the top end of things. I wish him good health and wealth and hope he lives to 100+.

 

"Boxing is the only sport you can get your brain shook, your money took and your name in the undertaker book" - Joe Frazier

I'm sure Holmes had his brain shook, (but not enough for long term damage, however the latter 2 have not thankfully befallen him, long live the champ with his financial security and good health.

 

Holmes came off like an arrogant sob at times but otherwise was a good role model. Staying married to the same woman and not having an entourage will save you a fortune. Hopefully some young up and comers are reading and paying attention.

 

Almost every interview I’ve seen with Holmes, he mentions making money & supporting his family. From the beginning, that was his focus.

 

Just curious JT, harsh on Larry’s career conduct or personal conduct or a bit of both?

 

I criticise him for avoiding the tough challenges post Witherspoon and just coasting. It's been a big debate in here dozens of times for a decade and a half. I also rate him a little lower H2H than has become the norm but that's all opinion based of course.

I don't harp on his personal conduct much because i think a number of things went into his public persona and he just got into a rut regarding with the media and couldn't get out of it. In short the spotlight had him completely off his game and brought out the worst in him. From all accounts he was simply brilliant away from the spotlight and many guys in here met him and shared glowing reports over the years. He could certainly handle the spotlight inside the ring.

 

Gotcha. Cheers for your opinion.

I had an idea on what you might’ve been talking about re career conduct from some other threads that I had read but wasn’t sure if I was confusing you with someone else. Fair call on the career conduct.

Personal conduct? Larry wasn’t exactly out to make friends and influence people, was he? LOL. It’s noteworthy that some other boxers can express equally negative and derogatory opinions but via a whole personality package that gives/gave them a “pass” - <sneeze Ali>, haha.

It might’ve been a somewhat smaller audience he appealed to in that regard but I think there were people who applauded Larry’s forthright nature, for better or worse.