After his huge upset of Ray Mercer on February 7, 1992, Larry Holmes signed to meet Evander Holyfield on June 19 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. My brother and I went to see the fight on closed circuit at the Pavilion in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. I was actually pulling for Larry to win, even though he had about a much a chance of winning as I did. Holmes’s payday was $7 million, the largest of his whole career, so his comeback was a success win or lose.
The fight itself was a dud, with Larry trying to do the same thing he did with Mercer by staying in the corner to lure Evander in so he could counter punch. Holyfield wouldn’t play the game and easily landed blows on Larry the entire twelve rounds enroute to a unanimous decision victory. The public was now clamoring for ‘The Real Deal’ to fight something other than 42 year old former champs, so he committed to face Riddick Bowe in the fall. Larry on the other hand refused to retire and returned 7 months later to win a unanimous decision over Everett Martin.
The former great fought 7 more times in 1993 and 1994, which earned him a shot at Oliver McCall’s WBC title on April 8, 1995 back at Caesar’s Palace. I watched him fight courageously but lose a 12 round decision to McCall on pay-per-view, but wondered what he was still doing in the ring. Now 45 years old, Holmes still kept going, fighting once more in 1995 and 3 in 1996. On January 24, 1997 he traveled to Europe to fight chubby Brian Nielsen and lost another 12 round split decision. Sadly, Larry would fight 4 more times before finally retiring at age 52 after beating the sideshow act, Butterbean.
I choose to remember Larry as ‘The Easton Assassin’, the terrific boxer-puncher who held the heavyweight title for 7 1/2 years from 1978 until 1985. Not the fat, over the hill shell of himself who didn’t know when to quit. George Foreman ruined a generation of fighters who tried to mimic him by hanging on way past their prime, and sadly Larry Holmes was one of the worst examples of all.
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