Larry Holmes was born on November 3, 1949 in Cuthbert, Georgia. His family moved to Easton, Pennsylvania in 1954, and after growing up in a family on welfare, Larry quit school in the seventh grade to work in a car wash to help his struggling mother. At 18, Larry started boxing and was good enough to reach the Olympic trials in 1972, but lost later to Duane Bobick.
On March 21, 1973, Holmes turned professional and won a four round decision against Rodell Dupree. After working as a sparring partner for Joe Frazier, Jimmy Young and Muhammad Ali, Larry moved up the rankings. His biggest test came on March 24, 1978 against ranked Earnie Shavers, but Larry easily outboxed Shavers to win a unanimous 12 round decision. That win earned him a shot at Ken Norton’s WBC heavyweight title, and the bout was set for June 9, 1978 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.
At the time, I had just graduated high school and was clueless what I wanted to do for a living. I had only been a casual boxing fan growing up, which meant mostly watching Muhammad Ali’s fights on tv. Now 18, I was looking for a new sport to follow, since my baseball career was over and free agency had ruined it as a fan as well.
When I sat down in my room that Friday night and began watching to Holmes-Norton fight on ABC, I had no idea it would light a spark in me as a boxing fan, with the flame bigger little by little since that night. All through the fight, I would run to my mother’s room to tell her how great a fight I was watching, and when it was all over, I was exhausted from cheering. Larry Holmes won a split decision to become the new champ, and looking back it was just what the sport needed. Norton was fading and past his prime, and his future proved it since he lost every major fight he had afterwards.
It was nice to get excited about a sport again, and it made me look forward to the Ali-Spinks rematch in September. My love for boxing would grow over the years, and I will always have fond memories of Larry Holmes, since he was the heavyweight champion when my love for the sport began.
Holmes made his first successful title defense on November 10, 1978 by knocking out Alfredo Evangelista in seven rounds at the Caesar’s Palace Sports Pavilion in Las Vegas. With Ali now the champ again, Larry would have the cloud of him over his head for a while, which meant dealing with a cynical press who only knew about boxing by writing about it, not doing it themselves.
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