"A Night With the Heavyweights-NBC-TV Special / September.14.1977

[Caractacus]

Remember that 3 hour long Wednesday Evening Live NBC-TV special ?

[Caractacus]

the preliminary

[Caractacus]

Main Event

[Onetimeonly]

I remember the last two. Don't think Lyle was televised.

[Caractacus]

I seem to remember that Lyle vrs Ward was shown on the same 3 hour programme live.
BTW anyone here remember Larry Holmes vrs Fred Houpe aka "Young Sanford shown Live on it too ?

[sweetsci]

I remember this one pretty well. The on-air buildup was that every current top-ten heavyweight, except Ali and Earnie Shavers, was on this card. That's not quite true, but it was an exceptional card nonetheless. Several top-10 heavyweights, fighting basically tune-ups (except Lyle!) on national TV for the public to compare and evaluate. No stupid titles at stake.

Norton - Zanon was the headliner. Young - Ballard was right under that. Norton and Young were prepping for their November fight less than two months later.

Ron Lyle was top 5 and Stan Ward was top-15 when they fought. Sort of a crossroads fight there.

Larry Holmes opened the TV show with the fight against Fred "Young Sanford" Houpe. Holmes was top-5. Houpe was unranked. I'd bet Houpe was picked because he was managed by Redd Foxx of NBC's Sanford and Son. Houpe had appeared on CBS against Duane Bobick 11 months before. Holmes was supposed to fight former top-10 contender Howard Smith. Smith had fought less than a month before in August in what turned out to be his last fight before retiring with eye trouble. But yes, Holmes - "Sanford" was televised.

Only the Leroy Jones - Greg Johnson fight wasn't televised. Jones was in the top-15 at the time and would of course remain undefeated until he got his shot against WBC champ Larry Holmes two and a half years later.

[Caractacus]

The better card would have been
Norton vrs Lyle
Young vrs zanon
Ward vrs Ballard

and the show was a build-up to the Ali vrs Shavers fight the next week also shown live on NBC-TV.

[Caractacus]

BTW after the Ward fight, Ron Lyle Lyle was scheduled to fight Larry Holmes in February 1978.
However on New Years Eve 1977, Ron Lyle was charged with the murder of Verne "Rip" Clark
at his Denver home..

[Caractacus]

always wondered if whenever Lorenzo Zanon was visiting America at that time he would be asked to sign an autograph with the person thinking he was "Julio" from the Sanford and Son Tv show ?

[Caractacus]

remember watching that one ?

[Joson]

I remember the last two. Don't think Lyle was televised.

Lyle vs Ward was definitely televised. Same as Holmes-Houpe and Norton-Zanon. The one that fogs my memory is Young-Ballard, but I'm pretty certain that was broadcast too.

[Caractacus]

yeah, the Lyle vrs Ward fight was definatelly from same NBC-TV live broadcast,
it is the Holmes vrs Young Sanford fight that is curious.
it has different graphics and ring side commentater then NBC-TV
Was it a preliminary or a walk-out fight of the Evening. ?
Who video taped and on what channel was it shown on ?
was it tape-delayed for viewing on a different network to be shown on the weekend ?

[pound per pound]

I never saw Larry Holmes vs Fred Houpe. What else is out there on the web? A young Holmes is matched vs. 12-1 fighter who was never stopped at the time. His jab, hand speed, and power were on display here,

[Caractacus]

I think I read in a newspaper article, that "5 heavyweight bouts" were on the evenings card.
anyone know what the fifth fight was ? maybe it was canceled.
BTW is that Bob Sheridan speaking on the Holmes vrs Young Sanford match ?
He usually did closed-circuit bouts.
Was this shown on closed circuit outside the United States ?

[Caractacus]

I found out who else fought on that particular card that evening.
LeRoy Jones vrs Gregory Johnson
Caveman Lee vrs Henry Walker