What did Larry Holmes have against Tommy Morrison?

[Mintcar923]

Was it also true that the WHITE HOUSE was wired to Cooney's dressing room but not to Holmes? That would make anyone bitter.. I do recall a white fighter giving Holmes a hug and a kiss post fight.. Holmes stopped him with anger and hostility.. I never understood why but it was later in his career..

[soul_survivor]

Like a lot people have already said, holmes was and is bitter. He never liked someone getting more attention than him.

[KnockoutNed]

Holmes had to fight for many yrs to earn respect from the boxing public so when he saw a far less talented palooka like Morrison getting media attention it made him bitter.

[Ben Bolt]

Larry Holmes in 2012: "Gerry [Cooney] is one heck of a guy as far as I am concerned. He's always been that way even when I was getting ready to fight him," said Holmes of his long-time pal. "He's a good guy, man. I mean, I have nothing bad to say about Gerry. I don't know what to say bad about him".
If one listens to Cooney's post-career interviews, one isn't surprised. He seems like a genuin Gentleman Gerry.

Was it also true that the WHITE HOUSE was wired to Cooney's dressing room but not to Holmes? That would make anyone bitter..

Yes. Reagan administration ...

Strange but following him since 1978, I never heard any evidence of his being a racist. Until now. Unless disliking Cooney is what we should consider as proof.
A lot of bad can and believe me has been said about him but being racist isn't really one of them.

A lot of us at the time disliked this fight being built up as white vs black. And so did Larry and Gerry.

In regard to saying he was no Morrison I am pretty sure he meant that he was not going to fold and was a lot harder to hit than Morrison was for Mercer.

Yep, simple as that.

[SouthPawHitman]

I'm not going to accuse Larry of being racist but I do know that his wife did have an affair with a white man. I don't know if that has anything to do with Larry's dislike of Tommy Morrison,Marciano,Jerry Qarry,and Gerry Cooney but its something to think about. Again I'm not saying Larry is prejudice or racist.

Now him and Cooney are really good friends now,but leading up to their fight Larry hated Gerry for no reason.

[ShoulderRoll]

If you come up scratching, kicking, and biting to earn every little penny you have then it pisses you off when you see others handed things on a silver platter due to their skin color.

I don't blame Holmes too much for feeling that way. Life can be very unfair sometimes.

[Ben Bolt]

After all the racist undertones that had been used in order to promote the fight …

… this is one of my favorite moments in boxing history, Holmes saying to Cooney: “Let’s have a good fight!” (1:30 into the vid)
In the end, it was two fighters, victims of ****** pre-fight campaigns, who came face to face with mutual respect for each other.

[billeau2]

Larry Holmes in 2012: "Gerry [Cooney] is one heck of a guy as far as I am concerned. He's always been that way even when I was getting ready to fight him," said Holmes of his long-time pal. "He's a good guy, man. I mean, I have nothing bad to say about Gerry. I don't know what to say bad about him".
If one listens to Cooney's post-career interviews, one isn't surprised. He seems like a genuin Gentleman Gerry.

Yes. Reagan administration ...



A lot of us at the time disliked this fight being built up as white vs black. And so did Larry and Gerry.



Yep, simple as that.

Great piece of information. I grew up believing Schmeling was a ****. Lucky for me people like you provided evidence to the contrary and it turns out Schmelling and Louis became very dear friends.

[billeau2]

If you come up scratching, kicking, and biting to earn every little penny you have then it pisses you off when you see others handed things on a silver platter due to their skin color.

I don't blame Holmes too much for feeling that way. Life can be very unfair sometimes.

Absolutely and lets not forget that Larry took on a man who managed to survive a crime war in a city with 2 major crime bosses who were eventually killed, and who killed at least two men on the street.

[The Old LefHook]

Holmes was often ill-natured, maybe contentious is a better word. Others like Marciano and Louis did not have that contentious streak on the surface. It is clearly evident in Ho'kins, though he seems to have made some kind of peace. Holmes, too, for that matter. In the day, his resentment easily flared. He still would not be a man to sass or provoke.