Larry Holmes (born November 3, 1949 in Cuthbert, Georgia) is a former professional boxer. He grew up in Easton, Pennsylvania, hence his boxing nickname, “The Easton Assassin.”

Holmes, whose left jab is considered one of the greatest weapons in the history of sports, was the WBC Heavyweight Champion from 1978 to 1983, The Ring Heavyweight Champion from 1980 to 1985, and the IBF Heavyweight Champion from 1983 to 1985. He made twenty successful title defenses, second only to Joe Louis’ twenty-five.

Holmes won his first forty-eight professional bouts, including victories over Ken Norton, Muhammad Ali, Gerry Cooney, and Tim Witherspoon. He is frequently ranked by many boxing experts as one of the greatest heavyweight fighters of all-time.

Early life

Holmes was the fourth eldest of twelve children born to John and Flossie Holmes. When the family moved to Easton in 1954, Holmes’ father moved to Connecticut, where he worked as a gardener until his death in 1970. He visited his family every three weeks. “He didn’t forsake us,” said Flossie Holmes. “He just didn’t have anything to give.” The family survived on welfare.
To help support his family, Holmes dropped out of school when he was in the seventh grade and went to work at a car wash for $1 an hour. He later drove a dump truck and worked in a quarry.

Amateur Boxing Career

When Holmes was nineteen, he started boxing. In his twenty-second bout, he boxed Duane Bobick in the 1972 Olympic Trials. Holmes was dropped in the first round with a right to the head. He got up and danced out of range, landing several stiff jabs in the process. Bobick mauled Holmes in the second round but couldn’t corner him. The referee warned Holmes twice in the second for holding. In the third, Bobick landed several good rights and started to corner Holmes, who continued to hold. Eventually, Holmes was disqualified for excessive holding.

Early Professional Boxing Career

After compiling an amateur record of 19-3, Holmes turned professional on March 21, 1973, winning a four-round decision against Rodell Dupree. Early in his career, he worked as a sparring partner for Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Earnie Shavers, and Jimmy Young. He was paid well and learned a lot. “I was young, and I didn’t know much. But I was holding my own sparring those guys,” Holmes said. “I thought, ‘hey, these guys are the best, the champs. If I can hold my own now, what about later?’”

Holmes first gained credibility as a contender when he upset the hard-punching Earnie Shavers in March 1978. Holmes won by a lopsided twelve-round unanimous decision, winning every round on two scorecards and all but one on the third. Holmes’s victory over Shavers set up a title shot between Holmes and WBC Heavyweight Champion Ken Norton in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 9, 1978.

WBC Heavyweight Champion

The fight between Holmes and Norton was a tough, competitive fight. After fourteen rounds, all three judges had the fight scored dead even at seven rounds each. Holmes rallied late in the fifteenth to win the round on two scorecards and take the title by a split decision.

In his first two title defenses, Holmes easily knocked out Alfredo Evangelista and Ossie Ocasio. His third title defense was a tough one. On June 22, 1979, Holmes faced future WBA Heavyweight Champion Mike Weaver, who was lightly regarded going into the fight sporting an uninspiring 19-8 record. After ten tough rounds, Holmes dropped Weaver with a right uppercut late in round eleven. In the twelfth, Holmes immediately went on the attack, backing Weaver into the ropes and pounding him with powerful rights until the referee stepped in and stopped it. “This man knocked the devil out of me,” Holmes said. “This man might not have had credit before tonight, but you’ll give it to him now.”

Three months later, on September 28, 1979, Holmes had a rematch with Shavers, who got a title shot by knocking out Ken Norton in one round. Holmes dominated the first six rounds, but in the seventh, Shavers sent Holmes down with a devastating overhand right. Holmes got up, survived the round, and went on to stop Shavers in the eleventh.

His next three defenses were knockouts of Lorenzo Zanon, Leroy Jones, and Scott LeDoux.

On October 2, 1980, at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Holmes defended his title against Ali, who was coming out of retirement in an attempt to become the first four-time World Heavyweight Champion. Holmes dominated Ali from start to finish, winning every round on every scorecard. At the end of the tenth round, Ali’s trainer, Angelo Dundee, stopped the fight. After the win, Holmes received recognition as World Heavyweight Champion by The Ring magazine.

Ali blamed his poor performance on thyroid medication that he had been taking, claiming that it helped him lose weight (he weighed 217½, his lowest weight since he fought George Foreman in 1974), but it also left him drained for the fight.
After eight consecutive knockouts, Holmes was forced to go the distance when he successfully defended his title against future WBC Heavyweight Champion Trevor Berbick on April 11, 1981. In his next fight, two months later, Holmes knocked out former Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion Leon Spinks in three rounds. On November 6, 1981, Holmes rose from a seventh-round knockdown (during which he staggered into the turnbuckle) to stop Renaldo Snipes in the eleventh.

Holmes vs. Cooney

On June 11, 1982, Holmes defended his title against Gerry Cooney, the undefeated #1 contender. There was a lot of racial tension leading up to the fight. Shortly before the fight, someone blew up Holmes’ mailbox and painted black the face and hands of the little white lantern boy statue in his courtyard. Holmes said that if Cooney wasn’t white, he wouldn’t be getting the same purse as the champion (They both got $10 million). Although Cooney tried to deflect questions about race, members of his camp wore shirts that said “Not the White Man, but the Right Man.”

Many felt that Holmes was unfairly slighted leading up to the fight. In their fight previews, Sports Illustrated and Time put Cooney on the cover, not Holmes. President Ronald Reagan had a phone installed in Cooney’s dressing room so he could call him if he won the fight. Holmes had no such arrangement. Lastly, boxing tradition dictates that the champion is introduced last, but the challenger, Cooney, was introduced last.

The bout was held in a 32,000 seat stadium erected in a Caesar’s Palace Parking lot, with millions more watching around the world. After an uneventful first round, Holmes dropped Cooney with a right in the second. Cooney came back well in the next two rounds, jarring Holmes with his powerful left hook. Holmes later said that Cooney “hit me so damned hard, I felt it – boom – in my bones.”

Cooney was tiring by the ninth, a round in which he had two points deducted for low blows. In the tenth, they traded punches relentlessly. At the end of the round, the two nodded to each other in respect.

Cooney lost another point because of low blows in the eleventh. By then, Holmes was landing with ease. In the thirteenth, a barrage of punches sent Cooney down. He got up, but his trainer, Victor Valle, stepped into the ring and stopped the fight.
After the fight, Holmes and Cooney became friends.

Trouble With The WBC

Holmes’ next two fights were one-sided decision wins over Randall “Tex” Cobb and Lucien Rodriguez. On May 23, 1983, Holmes defended his title against Tim Witherspoon, the future WBC and WBA Heavyweight Champion. Witherspoon, a six to one underdog and with only 15 professional bouts to his name, surprised many by giving Holmes a difficult fight. After twelve rounds, Holmes retained the title by a disputed split decision. Boxing Monthly named it one of the ten most controversial decisions of all time.

On September 10, 1983, Holmes successfully defended the WBC title for the sixteenth time, knocking out Scott Frank in five rounds. Holmes then signed to fight Marvis Frazier, son of Joe Frazier, on November 25, 1983. The WBC refused to sanction the fight against the unranked Frazier. They ordered Holmes to fight Greg Page, the #1 contender, or be stripped of the title. Promoter Don King offered Holmes $2.55 million to fight Page, but the champion didn’t think that was enough. He was making $3.1 million to fight Frazier and felt he should get as much as $5 million to fight Page.

Holmes had an easy time with Frazier, knocking him out in the first round. The following month, Holmes relinquished the WBC championship and accepted recognition as World Heavyweight Champion by the newly formed International Boxing Federation.