Larry Holmes fought 75 fights, winning 69 and losing six – all of which were world title bouts.
‘The Easton Assassin’ is regarded as one of the best heavyweights the sport of boxing has ever seen, with wins over Ken Norton, Earnie Shavers, Muhammad Ali, Tim Witherspoon and plenty more. He was the only person to stop Ali inside the distance, though the fight did come at a time where the latter should not have been fighting.
Still, Holmes was a dominant and powerful champion, defending his title 20 consecutive times, second only to Joe Louis. His campaign spanned from 1973 to 2002, meaning he also faced the stars of the next era in Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, though was defeated on both occasions.
One man Holmes can’t boast stepping through the ropes with is George Foreman, despite being active in the same decades. Speaking on What The Hell Happened With Larry Holmes years ago, he discussed just how close the fight came.
“We had the contracts signed. Don King messed that up by one day, one day he didn’t have the money in the bank when we should have had the money and that’s what messed it up and George pulled right out.
“I would have had the pleasure of punching him in the face because he’s a hypocrite, he’s not really what people think he is, he might be a nice guy for a second or two but say something that he doesn’t like and he goes off. George has a short temper, he’s not a nice guy like me. The people always say ‘what about George?’ I would have had the pleasure of knocking him out. He pulled right out on me.”
That attempt to make the fight happen came in the nineties, with Holmes missing out on the fight earlier due to Foreman’s decade-long retirement between ’77 and ’87.
Upon his return, ‘Big George’ made history with a 1994 knockout win over Michael Moorer to become the division’s oldest ever world champion – a record he holds to this day.
