BoxRec

was Larry Holmes a nice fella? I have watched a few things lately and there is often a bit of bad blood between him and other heavies of the time. the Ken Norton fight had that edge. he tussled in a car park with Trevor Berbick and I think he has a history of insulting George Foreman. is Larry a prickly character?

Larry is an odd one because, like you have said, he seems to have had run-ins with a few of his compatriots over the years.

I know he 'hates' George Foreman & he's said some unpleasant things about some of his opponents in the past too.

I remember in 1988 shortly after Tyson pulverised him that Tyson would be in prison within few years & although that was an unpleasant thing to say, he actually turned out to be correct.

Why it's odd is that, whenever you see anything about Larry now, he comes across as amiable & affable.

In the recent ESPN documentary called Muhammad & Larry, he came across really well in that; in fact, his wife remarked that the world seems to have forgotten about Holmes as nobody ever comes round to make programmes about him, which is odd as he was such a great boxer with an illustrious career.

Wasn't he compared to the Ali/Frazier/Foreman era quite unfavourably when he was on top?

Yes he was.

He was a surly guy during his career but has mellowed a good deal in more recent years.

basically nice guy who decided late to go for it.
when he thought for himself he made it, he faced
unexpected criticism which made him bitter about
boxing as such. though definitely a more likable
character than ali IMHO ...

one of the most complete heavyweights of all time.
i think it deeply hurt him that before him ali was
the man that shined brighter and after him the old
version of foreman took the more intense spotlight.

had he not been so bitter about things he would have
risen earlier to the place people give him now in the
ATG lists.

Holmes has stayed married, saved and invested his money, and looked after/done his duty by his friends and family his whole life. He gets attacked all the time for his supposed lack of personal charm, whatever, but I respect the way he's lived his life. To me, he seems like an honest guy and a straight-shooter.

I suppose we can put the pre-Norton bitterness down to hyping the fight. he looked a great fighter in the first half of that one. lack of head movement the only dodgy aspect of his game

If any of you are in the uk in october go meet him in cardiff and find out. Ive read lots of stories about alan minter being a complete ass to people, met him this weekend really nice bloke.

Also i think larry was abit bitter during his career for not getting the credit he desrved

misterpunch wrote:was Larry Holmes a nice fella? I have watched a few things lately and there is often a bit of bad blood between him and other heavies of the time. the Ken Norton fight had that edge. he tussled in a car park with Trevor Berbick and I think he has a history of insulting George Foreman. is Larry a prickly character?

I think his public persona is not the real deal.he had to put up with people saying he was in Ali's shadow and his reign was killing hw boxing the press and media got on his back and it bought out the worst in him.he acted boorish and arrogant in public.also he picked up on the racism in America at the time.the cooney thing, the rockeys record thing.....I think holmes should have made more of an effort during his reign to be charming.ironically when came back in 89-95 he did that taking a leaf out of foreman mk 2.

Bottom line a great champion, great businessman,great family man who mellowed with age.a success story and a true top ten hw of all time.some have him in top 3

anyone hear his colour commentary on Viloria - Tyson Marquez?

it's brilliant. he goes off on this fantastic 30 second rant over his co-commentator 'I know this game. you need to be listenin to me now, I KNOW THIS GAME!' when stuff starts happening as he kindof predicted.

anyways. I got pretty major love for Larry.

Adamj1987 wrote:If any of you are in the uk in october go meet him in cardiff and find out. Ive read lots of stories about alan minter being a complete ass to people, met him this weekend really nice bloke.

Also i think larry was abit bitter during his career for not getting the credit he desrved

I've met him. Extremely affable, likes a drink or six. Tight-fisted as all-fvck. Does give the impression he might turn quite quickly if you pissed him off, though.

misterpunch wrote:was Larry Holmes a nice fella? I have watched a few things lately and there is often a bit of bad blood between him and other heavies of the time.

That's a tough question to answer. Personally, I have never met Larry Holmes so it's difficult to comment on the man without knowing him.

That said, from what I have seen of Holmes I have to agree with you, he does not seem to have a nice word to say about his fellow Heavyweights. He once declared that he was The Greatest Heavyweight said on the bxoing documentary entitled "The 10 Greatest Heavyweights Of All Time" and he was offended that Bert Sugar only had him at number 10.

Holmes has also said that after 2 years of sparring with Muhammad Ali, he started getting the better of him and repatedly beat him to the punch... I'm not sure that I believe that.

And lastly we have the infamous line that he said about Rocky Marciano about not being able to carry his jockstrap.

When he pours such distain on his fellow Legends from yesteryear he just comes across as a prat and as one of the most unlikeable pundits in the post.

Larry might be a nice guy - but he certainly does not come across that way in interviews.

Crease wrote:

misterpunch wrote:was Larry Holmes a nice fella? I have watched a few things lately and there is often a bit of bad blood between him and other heavies of the time.

That's a tough question to answer. Personally, I have never met Larry Holmes so it's difficult to comment on the man without knowing him.

That said, from what I have seen of Holmes I have to agree with you, he does not seem to have a nice word to say about his fellow Heavyweights. He once declared that he was The Greatest Heavyweight said on the bxoing documentary entitled "The 10 Greatest Heavyweights Of All Time" and he was offended that Bert Sugar only had him at number 10.

Holmes has also said that after 2 years of sparring with Muhammad Ali, he started getting the better of him and repatedly beat him to the punch... I'm not sure that I believe that.

And lastly we have the infamous line that he said about Rocky Marciano about not being able to carry his jockstrap.

When he pours such distain on his fellow Legends from yesteryear he just comes across as a prat and as one of the most unlikeable pundits in the post.

Larry might be a nice guy - but he certainly does not come across that way in interviews.

I'll excuse the jockstrap comment as it came right after the very tough Spinks loss and was partially provoked out of him. Having said that I have hardly ever heard him say anything nice about another fighter. Without knowing him personally I would have to say that he comes across as an asshole. I respect him for taking care of his family and not pissing away his hard earned money from the ring.

hhaehre wrote:I'll excuse the jockstrap comment as it came right after the very tough Spinks loss and was partially provoked out of him.

And yet since then, he has never once offered an apology for saying it. There's no need to try and piss over a fellow Heavyweight legends reputation. It's just completely unnecessary, and it becomes worse when the gentleman is deceased.

hhaehre wrote:Having said that I have hardly ever heard him say anything nice about another fighter. Without knowing him personally I would have to say that he comes across as an asshole. I respect him for taking care of his family and not pissing away his hard earned money from the ring.

Agreed. There's nothing wrong in giving other guys credit for being good boxers, I think that is a very healthy thing.

I remember when Muhammad Ali was asked in an interview about Earnie Shavers, he widened his eyes and blow through his mouth and said:

"ooohhhhh, he hit hard!!!"



I found it very endearing.