On November 6, 1981, Larry Holmes went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to face Renaldo Snipes. The Friday night bout was broadcast live on ABC tv, what was routine back then but unheard of today. After throwing my nerf football around under the street light in front of my house, I settled in front of my 11″ black and white television in my room to tune into the action.
Snipes was a muscular fighter from New York who had been a regular on NBC sports. Howard Cosell was the long broadcaster as usual, before the days of 2 and 3 man broadcasting teams on fights. Larry Holmes boxed well from the start and was controlling the action until he got dropped by a Snipes right hand in the 7th round. Larry got up from the punch and took control again the following round. While Cosell kept ranting about “The Kid!”, Holmes kept pumping jabs into his face. In the 11th Larry pounded away at Snipes until the ref jumped in and ended the bout. In his post fight interview, Holmes told Cosell, “This was one time I wished the ref didn’t stop the fight, so I could have knocked him out cold.”
What bothered me is that after 3 and 1/2 years, many of the so-called experts in the press didn’t give Larry the respect he deserved. All he did was beat anyone they put in front of him and why to this day he remains one of my all time favorite boxers.
After a year of hype, boxing’s latest ‘Super-Fight’ was signed for June 11, 1982 at Caesar’s Palace Outdoor Arena in Las Vegas between Larry Holmes and Gerry Cooney. Cooney had not beaten anyone young and in their prime, but was fed a string of well past their prime fighters like Jimmy Young, Ron Lyle and Ken Norton by his over protective managers. I personally gave Cooney no chance of winning.
It was great to only have to drive about 3 miles to the Coliseum in Voorhees, New Jersey to watch the closed-circuit broadcast instead of having to drive to Atlantic City or Philadelphia. One of the most disrespectful things I’ve ever seen done to a champion occurred when Cooney was announced second, a tradition reserved for champions. It didn’t matter once the fight started because Holmes showed his superiority from the opening bell. Larry put Cooney down in the second round and hurt him all through the bout. While Cooney landed an occasional left hook, Larry boxed well enough to remain in control.
Gerry tired badly after the tenth round and was finished by Holmes three rounds later. Larry hammered Cooney until he fell into the ropes and was rescued by his manager Victor Valle. It was one of my favorite knockouts ever, to see Larry do as I had predicted and shut the critics up convincingly.
After 4 years, Larry finally started to get the respect he deserved and I was happy to see it. I was only 22 years old at the time and by then boxing was pretty much my whole life. All I did was think about the next big fight and train as if I had one scheduled too. The memories boxing had given me are immeasurable and make me wonder what I ever could have done without boxing in my life.
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