How good is Larry “Easton Assassin” Holmes?

Via Ken Hisner: If you asked Larry “Easton Assassin” Holmes who was greater, him or Muhammad Ali, he would answer, “me!”

Holmes, from Easton, PA, Boxrec shows 11-3. He was knocked down and in their second fight he was stopped by Southpaw Nick Wells of the Air Force and Texas. He lost in the 1972 Olympic Trials to Duane Bobick by DQ for holding too much. He defeated Philly’s Marvin Stinson twice and later used him as a fencing partner.

As a pro, Holmes made his debut in March 1973 and won his first 17 games with a 17 against Rodney, Duane Bobick’s brother, 34-5, as his first major opponent. In his 22nd game, he defeated Philly’s Roy “Tiger” Williams 23-4 in April 1976.

Five games later, Holmes faced his first ranked opponent, Earnie “Black Terminator” Shavers, 54-6-1, in a WBC title knockout, winning 12 rounds. determined.

This earned Holmes a title match three months later against WBC champion Ken Norton, 40-4, whom he defeated by a split decision. Norton’s mentor, Bobby Goodman, told me at Ali’s Cherry Hill, New Jersey home, “Neither wanted a rematch due to how difficult the match was.”

In Holmes’ fourth defense, he had a rematch with Shavers, 59-7-1, and took the lead in the seventh round but returned to stop Shavers in the eleventh round.

In his eighth defense, Holmes stopped former champion Muhammad Ali, with whom he was a scrim partner at his Deer Lake, PA training camp.

I visited Ali at his camp, and when I saw how fat and out of shape he was, I asked, “why are you in this fight? You used to have one of the best physiques among champions but look at you now. He squeezes his big belly and says, “I like my ice cream!”

During Ali’s final battle, Holmes stopped him, and that was the only time he was stopped in his career. Ali followed this up with future champion Trevor Berbick, 18-1-1, who ended his career.

Holmes continued the defense with wins over former champion Leon Spinks, 10-2-2, Renaldo Snipes, 22-0 and Gerry Cooney, 25-0, all in stoppage time. In the next game, he defeated Randall “Tex” Cobb, 20-2, winning every round giving him a fight so brutal that commentator Howard Cosell had to retire. boxing competition. It’s like two wins in one.

Holmes was 42-0 when he won in a controversial split decision against future “Terrible” champion Tim Witherspoon, 15-0, another former Ali partner and world champion world in the future.

Two games later, “Smokin” Joe Frazier sent Holmes’ son, Marvis, 10-0, in as a sacrifice to face Holmes 44-0, who destroyed the younger Frazier at 2:57 of the day. the first round and then declares, “it’s because of the spanking your dad gave me in the gym!

Next up for Holmes was future champion James “Bonecrusher” Smith, 14-1, stopping him for twelve innings and adding the vacant IBF title. Two games later, Holmes won a second controversial decision, this time against Carl “The Truth” Williams, 16-0. A judge gave it to Holmes 143-142.

After this bout, now 48-0, Holmes in 1985 was poised to be beaten, and that opponent was Olympic gold medalist and world light heavyweight champion Michael “Jinx” Spinks, 27-0. , who defeated Holmes by unanimous decision in 15 rounds . Holmes later made what some boxing fans felt was a racist comment, saying, “Marciano can’t wear my strap!” He is referring to Marciano’s 49-0 record. He said nothing about Spinks defeating him.

In the rematch, Holmes lost to Spinks in 15 decisively controversial rounds. Three fights later, Spinks was defeated in the first round by “Iron” Mike Tyson, who had previously destroyed Holmes, the then-champion having lost to Spinks twice in four rounds. As soon as Tyson, 32-0, put some heavy skin on Holmes, he got on his bike. Holmes later stated, “I grabbed my arm on the rope trying to throw a punch when he caught me!”

Holmes, 53-3, went on to win five consecutive averages when he met former Olympic gold medalist Ray “Merciless” Mercer, 18-0, who, after defeating Tommy “The Duke” Morrison, gave up his WBO belt. mine. Holmes teaches Mercer a boxing lesson, easily defeating him.
In Holmes’ next match, he lost decisively to former Olympic gold medalist and world champion Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield, 27-0, by a unanimous decision over 12 innings.

Another seven wins over average opponents and Holmes was beaten 25–5 by WBC world champion Oliver McCall, by a unanimous decision in the tight 12th round. McCall defeated Lennox “The Lion” Lewis in his previous match.

After four more wins over average opponents, Holmes headed to Denmark, losing to IBO “Super” champion Brian Nielsen, 31-0, from Denmark in a controversial split. Nielsen will be 49-0 when he loses the first time. In Holmes’ next three games, he defeated a pair of former champions in a rematch with “Bonecrusher” Smith, 44-16-1, and Mike “Hercules” Weaver, 41-17-1, before hitting defeated Eric “Butterbean” in the final match Esch, 65-2-3, was dubbed the ‘King of Four Rounds’, causing him to accept a 10th round. In the tenth and final round, Holmes hits the canvas after being punched or stepped on by Esch. Holmes retired after this match in July 2002, 29 years after his debut, with a record of 69-6 and 44 stops.

There you have it fighting with fans. How good is Larry “Easton Killer” Holmes, or as Ali nicknamed him “Peanut Head”?