Larry Holmes returned to the ring on November 26, 1982 to face Randall ‘Tex’ Cobb at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. It had been more than 5 months since his knockout of Gerry Cooney and this time he picked a much easier opponent in Cobb. The live broadcast was on ABC tv the night after Thanksgiving and I went over my sister’s house to watch it since she was helping with my resume. I had seen Cobb fight a few times and knew he had absolutely no chance of beating Larry. Cobb turned out to be a human punching bag for all 15 rounds of their bout and was the reason that Howard Cosell decided to give up calling professional boxing. He complained of the recent deaths in the sport and said after the Holmes massacre that he was done. It did turn out to be his last broadcast and I for one wouldn’t miss him.
Holmes returned home in March to face the European champion Lucien Rodriguez in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It turned out to be another easy victory for Larry, who didn’t lose a single round of the twelve round distance bout. The fight was broadcast live on NBC on March 27,1983, where it was a pleasure to listen to Marv Albert and Dr. Ferdie Pacheco instead of the bombastic Cosell.
On May 20, I left my airline job outside of northeast Philadelphia so I could drive to the Spectrum in south Philadelphia to catch Larry’s next title defense vs. Tim Witherspoon. The closed-circuit broadcast was a doubleheader card, with the rematch between Mike Weaver and Michael Dokes as the opening bout. I was rooting for Larry as normal and didn’t have any concerns that he would beat the young contender Witherspoon. After a draw between Weaver and Dokes opened the show, the main event from the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas began.
Witherspoon boxed well from the start and gave Larry more trouble than I expected. In my opinion however, Holmes dictated the pace and showed the poise he needed to control the action. Some rounds were closer than I liked, but when all was said and done Larry remained the champion as he should have. Split decision or not, he kept his title and I ignored the critical press that never gave Larry his just due.
On a different note, the broadcast of the fight done by Chris Schenkel and Angelo Dundee was the worst announcing job I ever had to listen to in over 40 years as a boxing fan. Both of them ranted and cheered Witherspoon on so much that it made me so sick I wanted to throw my VHS tape out the window. It was another sign of the disrespect Larry was shown and why I admired him so much for putting up with the crap.
After 5 years, the ‘Easton Assassin’ was still the champion of the world and the best heavyweight around, so that’s all that mattered to me in June of 1983.
FOLLOW ME ON TIKTOK AT kensoldtimeboxingchat
FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM AT kensoldtimeboxingchat
LISTEN TO MY PODCAST ON SPOTIFY AT kensoldtimeboxingchat
