Heavyweight legend Larry Holmes has revealed the one fight he quit in during his glittering career.
Known as ‘The Easton Assassin’, Holmes’ career spanned just short of 30-years, where he held the world heavyweight championship for seven years between 1978 and 1985. His left jab is often regarded as one of, if not the greatest in boxing history.
In his first 48 professional contests, Holmes remained undefeated. He picked up victories against the likes of Ken Norton, Earnie Shavers, Tim Witherspoon and Muhammad Ali. The first defeat of his career came in September 1985 when he was defeated by Michael Spinks in Winchester, Nevada. They fought in a rematch 7-months later, but Holmes fell short once again in a split decision defeat.
Holmes once spoke out and revealed that he actually quit during an amateur contest against Nick Wells, claiming he could not cope with the frustrating southpaw style of Wells when they faced each other in an Olympic trial match.
Speaking to Sky Sports Boxing, ‘The Easton Assassin’ revealed he quit against Wells when they fought during their respective amateur campaigns,
“The reason why I couldn’t beat Nick Wells was because he was a southpaw, I mean he was coming at me like this and I wasn’t used to that because I was beginning. When he’d throw that punch it would hit me on top of the head and I went down … He was gonna hit me again I said ‘no more I quit, I quit’. I knew I couldn’t handle it so I just quit. So people said I didn’t have the heart and that bothered me, I had to convince themm that I had the heart.”
Holmes never got his chance to box at the Olympics, but went on to have one of the most successful professional careers of all time and is still regarded by so many as one of the best heavyweights of all time.
