BoxRec

"Larry Holmes beated Leon Spinks Senseless"


Are there remedial English classes available where you live?

I've heard beated before...

I knew Mike Weaver and he sounded intelligent when he wasn't on TV being interviewed... But after he knocked out John Tate he was stage struck a couple weeks later as he was being interviewed on national TV... "Are you going to seek a rematch with Larry Holmes for the undisputed Heavyweight Championship now?" ... It took a while to answer as if Weaver didn't hear the question...so it was repeated "I think your Mike is working Mr Weaver. Are you going to fight Larry Holmes to unify the Championship?" ... "Um I guess.. I respect him. He beated me, so I will try to get whatever fight I can get that makes the most money." The interview did not go well after that and he sounds so much better off camera it's ridiculous.

You have to prep boxers who haven't had a lot of media exposure with mock questions until they feel comfortable. Leon Spinks was one of the worst.

Tony1244 wrote:Some boxing writers such as Michael Katz predicted an upset.

What I remember from it is Spinks may have won round 1 and/or round 2 and was fighting with ultra high energy. (Cocaine?)

But yes at the end it was well stopped. When Holmes got a smaller opponent like Leon or Marvis hurt he teed off on them.

Katz as a writer and boxing scribe would be no more than a psychod1986 level forum poster in the internet age...the same poor grammar and lack of knowledge

Bricks wrote:

Tony1244 wrote:Some boxing writers such as Michael Katz predicted an upset.

What I remember from it is Spinks may have won round 1 and/or round 2 and was fighting with ultra high energy. (Cocaine?)

But yes at the end it was well stopped. When Holmes got a smaller opponent like Leon or Marvis hurt he teed off on them.

Katz as a writer and boxing scribe would be no more than a psychod1986 level forum poster in the internet age...the same poor grammar and lack of knowledge

I remember him as a pretty good writer.

I've been reading boxing magazines since the 1950's and can't remember a single boxing writer who struck me as being "good." ... LHW champ Jose Torres was fair, but he seemed to try too hard... Jim Murray was a gifted sportswriter for the LA Times who sometimes covered Boxing... The way he ripped Joe Bugner after his Title Fight with Ali was classic. Bugner wouldn't throw punches. "I don't know why Bugner wore gloves. I guess his hands were cold" and "Bugner fought like somebody trying to hide under a bed." And he ripped Chuck Wepner as an Ali opponent, "Chuck may be slow -- but he can't punch."

Kalan wrote:I've been reading boxing magazines since the 1950's and can't remember a single boxing writer who struck me as being "good." ... LHW champ Jose Torres was fair, but he seemed to try too hard... Jim Murray was a gifted sportswriter for the LA Times who sometimes covered Boxing... The way he ripped Joe Bugner after his Title Fight with Ali was classic. Bugner wouldn't throw punches. "I don't know why Bugner wore gloves. I guess his hands were cold" and "Bugner fought like somebody trying to hide under a bed." And he ripped Chuck Wepner as an Ali opponent, "Chuck may be slow -- but he can't punch."

I can see why people talk badly about boxing writers. They are good at ripping fighters apart. Katz ripped the hell out of Cooney; "He can't fight." There was a story of Cooney on his knees in a police station begging the cops to let his friend go who was busted for cocaine and/or a DUI. "Remember when Jack Dempsey was pleading on his knees? I don't either."

Cooney needed to be ripped. With some dedication he would have been good. He peaked against Norton and was strictly a hooker. He had height, power, size, and fair quickness, but lacked strength, conditioning and skills. He had over a year off between Norton and Holmes. He looked a little wasted already.

Kalan wrote:I've been reading boxing magazines since the 1950's and can't remember a single boxing writer who struck me as being "good." ... LHW champ Jose Torres was fair, but he seemed to try too hard... Jim Murray was a gifted sportswriter for the LA Times who sometimes covered Boxing... The way he ripped Joe Bugner after his Title Fight with Ali was classic. Bugner wouldn't throw punches. "I don't know why Bugner wore gloves. I guess his hands were cold" and "Bugner fought like somebody trying to hide under a bed." And he ripped Chuck Wepner as an Ali opponent, "Chuck may be slow -- but he can't punch."

I loved the piercing stare Larry Holmes fixed Marvis Frazier with before their fight... That was the best "You ain't sh!t" look I've ever seen pre-fight. It even nailed Joe Frazier a little little bit it was so cold... Cold man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxfK4YDq8wU

One of my big memories is of Holmes and Cooney mixing it up a bit during the post-fight interview.

Regarding the predictions of a Spinks victory, I seem to remember writers saying that Holmes would have trouble with Spinks' smaller size. Guess they forgot about the Ocasio fight two years before.

Ali didn't immediately impose his size advantage against little dudes like Frazier, Ellis, Cooper, Mildenberger, Lubbers, Spinks, Evangelista, etc.

Holmes was different. If you were a little guy like Ocasio, Spinks, Marvis, or Frank Larry loved it... He brutalized, bullied and pounded you from the bell.

bollox wrote:Leon Spinks...how tall in standing was he?

6'1 1/2".
An inch shorter than Michael.

Holmes didn't look that fit or powerful in the 1st Michael Spinks fight. You figure you can kill any Light Heavy, but Spinks was deceptively big, tall, and strong.

When you get to a certain age, it might be 35. It could be 38 -- you're doing wind sprints and you're having trouble with accelerating to top speed. The problem comes and goes. One day you're dunking with ease and the next time you play you're struggling with your take off. It's an intermittent problem at first. It's ridiculous to think that way, but probably everybody thinks they're the exception to aging. Other people and athletes get old and you just go on forever. "Age is just a number, pretend you're 25" a coach says. "It's your attitude. Archie Moore fought til he was 50."

In the Spinks rematch Holmes looked a lot better. Stronger and more physical. He was loading too much and wanted to dispatch Spinks. Get rid of the little punk who destroyed your chance to make the record books. He didn't quite have the oomph at 36 to get Micheal out, but let's see if they give him the decision this time. "Screw it, I quit. Fk Boxing." People talk about Hopkins, but he didn't get anyone out the last 13 years he fought. At a certain point it becomes a finesse game. You need to call on craft, experience, reputation, technical mastery and outsmarting people. The bullyboy days are over.

I remember Larry Holmes writing in his autobiography,that he fought with a rage,and when he was hurt
that was when he fought in a animal rage,but the last fight he had fought with a rage inside was the fight with Gerry Cooney.

He was fairly raging for Tim Witherspoon... He had to be... Witherspoon was kicking his ass for portions of that fight and Larry had to crank it up big time.

Off his Holmes fight I expected a Hell of a lot more out of Witherspoon for the rest of his career... He only had 15 fights coming in and looked great. He hardly had an amateur career.. That was probably his peak fight so you wonder what the Hell was going on with the kid after that.