They got an underrated hard hitter and the underappreciated heavyweight champ sparring in my corrupt country,sheesh.
Spinks 3 Foreman …DamianI? All three of those sound like fun PPV’s for Larry’s comeback at the time, shame all three never transpired. No mention of Holyfield yet… that was a great showing for an old timer I actually gave that to Holmes by a smidge.
Should have billed it as:The Magna Carta in Jakarta! Or: Three Old Fartas in Jakarta (since Tillis-Larry exhibition was on the bill). Larry did an exhibition near us with real fights on the undercard, this fairly soon after he finally retired. I had a guy on the undercard and walked down a couple doors from our locker room and stuck my head in to say hi to Larry and thank him for being there. He asked where the locker room was for the undercard guys so I walked him down and he shook everyone’s hands, chatted with the boys and gave them a quick ‘let’s put on a good show for these poeple’ pep talk. Couldn’t have been nicer. Some of these guys were very new or had been around and had ‘opponent’ type records (4-8, whatever) and it really made their night that the champ took time to come mix with them. I know some people say Larry can be an ass, but I’ve had two or three encounters with him and he couldn’t have been nicer.
Could they get Holmes to come back to the ring against Jake Paul? Or maybe he can coax Michael Spinks out of retirement?
That's a good video and it's nice to to see Holmes sparring/fighting. He looks good for a guy who hadn't been training. I like seeing a guy fight without the wide stance that is common today. Holmes is still using a "shoulder width" stance. He is the kind of fighter who could probably always do all right in the ring because he had solid fundamentals. Holmes was not a fighter who relied on being bigger or more athletic than his opponents. Most of his opponents were similar in size and while Holmes was quick and athletic, a lot of his opponents were too. I don't know what kind of condition Holmes is in, but If Holmes could get into decent physical condition at his age, he might give Paul or some other younger retired fighters competitive fights for a round or so. Holmes had the good, solid technique and fundamentals that never go out of style.
Holmes is 76. An elderly man. He's not old by boxing standards but old by life standards. It's not uncommon for people his age to die of natural causes. I doubt he could get in any shape to go even 1 round with Jake Paul.
