Has anyone else ever taken a beating like that in the ring and made it to the final bell? Just curious :think
Wasn't that Cobb's ONLY world title fight? If so i can ALMOST understand him staying on his feet. Kinda reminds me of the Haye/Harrison fight
Over the championship distance, I think Marciano-Charles I and Ali-Chuvalo I might be viable alternatives among the heavyweight ranks, particularly Marciano-Charles I, which is widely credited as ruining Ezz. Chuvalo did go out dancing with his wife, while Tex left the ring yelling, "Let's party!" Cobb won his next four fights before dropping a majority decision to Douglas, and was undefeated in his final 20 bouts. Chuvalo would go on to defeat a still viable Manuel Ramos, Jerry Quarry, Cleveland Williams, and raise hell for another dozen years. Marciano-Charles I wasn't the whitewash Holmes-Cobb was, but like Tommy Gibbons against Dempsey, Ezz took a pounding from a massive and brutal puncher, leaving his head a swollen, discolored and distorted lump of flesh. He would go just 10-14 over the remainder of his career, sustaining five of his seven career stoppage defeats in the process. (In his first 75 fights, Ezz was only stopped on a TKO by veteran Lloyd Marshall, when he was barely 21 years of age. Then, Walcott nailed him with the hookercut of the ages, but took Marciano to beat him from a P4P ATG into a vulnerable and aging trial horse.) Tom Sharkey also survived a nasty beating in the Jeffries rematch, just from Jim's good right hand. Sailor Tom would not have survived a 45 rounder, nor would he have made it to the end of 25 if Jeffries had two healthy arms. Tex sustained no broken bones, nor did his face wind up a bloody mask with eyes grotesquely swollen shut. Jeff busted up the left side of Sharkey's rib cage with his less vaunted right.
Like a lot of the 70s/80s bouts, my first introduction to this match was in a book. I think it was Thomas Hauser's "The Black Lights" book, and there was a section about this fight and quotes from Howard Cosell's commentary. I had purchased a series of Holmes matches on DVD and watched this bout. While it was definitely one-sided, and Cobb took a beating, I guess I never saw it quite as bad as Hauser or Cosell did. It just felt like a guy who could take a punch and wouldn't quit, but it's not worse than other fights I've seen. I know it was hot off the heels of Mancini-Kim, so I might not be able to appreciate the historical significance, but was Cosell justified. Had he lost his interest when Ali kept fighting?
Leading up to the fight, Cobb, in Sports illustrated, talked about how he was ready to fight, in great shape, how he was going to jump all over Holmes and throw 100 punches each round. I don't think he got close enough to throw 100 punches in the fight.
I don't doubt that Cobb DID throw a hundred punches or more. It's just that NONE of them hit the defending champion
True story about that fight..... Whewn Tex & I were talking on phone years ago about that fight Tex swore that at the final bell he asked the referee for 3 more rounds. He claimed Larry couldn't hit him any more his hands were hurt too much from beating on Tex's hard head. Of course the ref couldn't do it. LOL I took this as tongue in cheek but a while later I ran into the ref for that fight Steve Crosson in Dallas Tx. I asked him and he backed up Tex's story . Steve said Tex said "Give me 3 more rounds & I'll be HW champ" his face beaten & eyes closing. Steve said he believed Tex was serious too . Tex bragged after the fight he was drinking in the bar albeit through a straw, while Larry headed for hospital for X rays on his swollen hands. Tex also said Larry refused to give him a rematch because he knew his hands couldn't take it LOL If I had to go through a bad part of town & could only take one man with me that man would be TEX Cobb
It's part of why Cosell's commentary was so frustrating. Not that the fight was close, or that the ref/corner couldn't have stopped it at anytime, but that Cobb seemed to be ok despite the swelling. He never really got staggered. Again, this is not to make any claims that it was a competive fight, or lack of appreciating the timeframe to recent deaths. I just was so irked by the commentary -- as if Cosell had enough of boxing, so we were all supposed to.
Cosell's ego was just that big. Whatever he believed was by definition the higher standard in his mind. Boxing was better off without him.
Holmes won all the rounds so it was a whitewash on points but this was no beating. Cobb made Holmes work him over each round because Holmes was fighting to keep Tex off of him. He just kept coming and Holmes did not dare sit down enough on a shot for fear of getting caught up in a draining inside maul. He made do with fending Cobb off at arms reach. It was just the egotistical Howard Cossel just trying to use his influence to bann boxing. I cannot believe real boxing fans bought what cossel was trying to sell. Calzaghe v Lacy was more of a beating and so was Klitschko v Briggs. In fact Holmes gave other chalengers worse beatings than he ever gave Cobb. The worst was the cruel pounding he gave poor Leroy Jones. Jones was unbeaten yet Holmes gouged both his eyes and absolutely ruined him as a fighter, detaching retinas. Thumbing, lacing and teeing off on a blind defenceless target all night. Jones also died quite young and this was the one fight he lost. Howard cossel in his ill fitting wig said absolutely nothing about boxing needing to be banned ..... and he called that fight!
