Larry Holmes's arrogance.......

Ali ripped off that gimmick after seeing Gorgeous George and employing it for the first time before his fight against Duke Sabedong. I think Dundee encouraged it too.

Yeah, Ali was really special. The way Cosell sucked up to him was rather pathetic. Holmes didn't really help himself by looking fairly mediocre in the public eye pre-title reign.

I'm not on either side here, rather stating what I'm aware of. I always thought Larry had one hell of a chip brought on by a mix of him and the public. He didn't have the right kind of personality to carry that stuff out. Still love his jab though, and his fight with Ken Norton.

 

Larry tried to make bold and outrageous statements and he came off looking like an ass, instead of a man who spoke what was on his heart. If he had said "Rocky was a great champion"...he would've saved himself years of aggrevation. Telling HBO to kiss his big black behind didn't help things either. He didn't know how to play the public relations game at all. Thats part of his management teams fault.

 

As far the Marciano situation went, for such an initial crass comment, he showed dignity and respect there after.

He apologized the next day personally to the Marciano family.

And a few years back, was given an award by the Marciano family charity.

He showed up in person, and was the last guest to leave having signed every autograph and posed for every photo asked of him.

The Marciano family stated they forgave the moment he apologized the next day. Recognizing the frustration caused by losing his unbeaten record in what he felt (and a fair minority did to), was a controversial decision.