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Tidbits From Mike Tyson-Larry Holmes Chat at Turning Stone
VERONA, NY (June 4, 2014) — Turning Stone hosted “Kings of the Ring: A Conversation with Mike Tyson and Larry Holmes” today to promoted this week’s ESPN Friday Night Fights (see fact sheet below), promoted by Iron Mike Productions, at the resort casino in upstate New York.
Longtime sports columnist for the Syracuse Post-Standard and Syracuse.com, Bud Poliguin, served as the moderator, asking the two Hall of Famers and world heavyweight champions a series of questions, before the floor was opened for the many fans in attendance to ask Tyson and Holmes questions.
Here are some of the highlights:
Poliguin opened by noting Tyson and Holmes had a combined career record of 119-12, including a total of 44 world title fights between them.
In 1988, Tyson, 21, stopped Holmes, 38, in the fourth round in Atlantic City for the WBC, WBA and IBF heavyweight titles
Holmes: “What I remember was Don King knocking at my door around 9 at night. I was retired two years. Don said he wanted me to fight somebody he said he knew I could beat. I asked him who and he said, Mike Tyson. I said I can’t beat Mike Tyson. Don said, what if I give you 3 ½ million dollars, and I said: ‘Where’s Mike at?’ I’m just glad he didn’t kill me. He knocked me down a few times but I didn’t feel it because the first time he hit me I was numb. After the fight Mike said he loved me and I said, ‘Why’d you knockout my ass?’ Mike’s a great guy.”
Tyson: “It was a great opportunity to be in the ring with one of the great fighters of all time. It was a milestone in my career. He didn’t have time to prepare. I never fought the great Larry Holmes. I had no delusions; by all means, I didn’t fight the Holmes who fought Ali.
“I was very objective in the ring, nothing personal, but I’d have hit my mother. If I had mercy on him, he may have knocked my ass out. He didn’t have enough time to prepare when he fought me. Don didn’t give him the opportunity.”
Holmes: “I’m glad Mike beat me that day or else I’d have nothing to talk about.”
Highlight fight of their respective careers
HOLMES: “Kenny Norton because so many people said I couldn’t do it, my legs were too small, and I was just a copy of Muhammad Ali. But I did the work and had the dedication.”
TYSON: “Buster Douglas. I needed that fight to make me a better person and fighter and have a broader perspective of myself and boxing.”
Concussions in boxing
TYSON: “I’m sure I had some concussions. When I signed my pro contract at 17 there was an unwritten clause that it was possible that you’d die. We knew and saw it but didn’t think it could happen to us.”
HOLMES: “I never thought it would happen to me. My style was to move here and there. I didn’t get hit hard too often. Mike knocked me down, I got up, I thought the next was a slip, and he knocked me down again. I thought I’d get up and hit him with an uppercut but my arm got caught in the rope. I got hit hard by Ernie Shavers, too.”
TYSON: “That was a feat of strength. He looked like he got shot by a shotgun. It was amazing.
HOLMES: “I was amazed, too.”
Tyson as a promoter and a fighter to watch Friday night
TYSON: “We have a young kid from Pittsburgh, Sammy Vasquez. He’s a sensational fighter and a war veteran. We’ve promoted two shows on ESPN and one on ShoBox. In those three we either tied or broke the record for viewers. I’m grateful to be on ESPN again.”
Favorite Boxing Movie
HOLMES: “Rocky, the first one, but I don’t like the guy playing him.”
TYSON: “Raging Bull.”
Sport they would have been in if not boxers
TYSON: “Just a fighter, I never wanted to be anything but a fighter.”
HOLMES: “Fighter…..and running back for the Dallas Cowboys.”
The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.
Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.
The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.
The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.
Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.
Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.
A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.
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This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.
The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.
The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.
De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.
The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.
On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.
The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.
However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.
At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?
Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.
But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.
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