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By TK Stewart - He was never who we wanted him to be. But that wasn’t Larry Holmes’ fault. In June 1982, minutes after he dealt Gerry Cooney a thirteen round beating in the sweetest victory of his long career, Holmes stepped through the ring ropes in the sweltering heat of the Las Vegas night and said to the boxing beat writers, “I’m sorry I’m not what you guys in the press want me to be. I’m not Muhammad Ali. I’m not Joe Louis. I wasn’t born to be those people. I was born to be myself, Larry Holmes.”
He did everything that was asked of him, and then some, in a boxing ring. But he was the heavyweight champion of the world at a time when no man could have stood outside the long, dark shadow cast by a retired Muhammad Ali. As a result, for most of his years in boxing, a bitter Larry Holmes battled for the respect he felt he deserved - and to quell the voices of his many critics. Not long after Holmes dispatched Cooney in what was, up until then, the largest grossing money fight in boxing history, Joe Gergen, a sportswriter with Newsday newspaper put it best. “There is a deficiency in Holmes that virtually guarantees he will never be accorded the acclaim he feels his accomplishments warrant,” wrote Gergen. “The man simply is dwarfed by the title he carries.” And so it was for Larry Holmes. But last week that view changed when Holmes was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
“It’s a tremendous honor because so many great athletes are already in the Hall of Fame and it’s an honor to be among that group,” said Holmes upon notification that he had been chosen for one of boxing's highest honors. “It’s a pleasure for me to be among the greatest fighters of our world.” Larry Holmes didn’t have the high quality of opposition that Ali had, but that wasn’t his fault either. Instead of names like Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier and George Foreman – Holmes was relegated to facing no names like Lorenzo Zannon, Leroy Jones and Lucien Rodriguez in early title defenses. But it also didn’t help that Holmes was abrasive and ornery toward the boxing press. Holmes wore a hard and sharp edge on his sleeve and his reputation paid for it. As a result, the public never warmed up to Larry Holmes and they never saw the man for who he truly was because they were simply too pre-occupied in comparing him to Ali and not seeing Holmes the individual. [details]
He did everything that was asked of him, and then some, in a boxing ring. But he was the heavyweight champion of the world at a time when no man could have stood outside the long, dark shadow cast by a retired Muhammad Ali. As a result, for most of his years in boxing, a bitter Larry Holmes battled for the respect he felt he deserved - and to quell the voices of his many critics. Not long after Holmes dispatched Cooney in what was, up until then, the largest grossing money fight in boxing history, Joe Gergen, a sportswriter with Newsday newspaper put it best. “There is a deficiency in Holmes that virtually guarantees he will never be accorded the acclaim he feels his accomplishments warrant,” wrote Gergen. “The man simply is dwarfed by the title he carries.” And so it was for Larry Holmes. But last week that view changed when Holmes was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
“It’s a tremendous honor because so many great athletes are already in the Hall of Fame and it’s an honor to be among that group,” said Holmes upon notification that he had been chosen for one of boxing's highest honors. “It’s a pleasure for me to be among the greatest fighters of our world.” Larry Holmes didn’t have the high quality of opposition that Ali had, but that wasn’t his fault either. Instead of names like Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier and George Foreman – Holmes was relegated to facing no names like Lorenzo Zannon, Leroy Jones and Lucien Rodriguez in early title defenses. But it also didn’t help that Holmes was abrasive and ornery toward the boxing press. Holmes wore a hard and sharp edge on his sleeve and his reputation paid for it. As a result, the public never warmed up to Larry Holmes and they never saw the man for who he truly was because they were simply too pre-occupied in comparing him to Ali and not seeing Holmes the individual. [details]
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