Holmes Not Of The Golden Era But An Authority On It

Published

12 years ago

January 21, 2012

Recently, former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes gave a phone interview to the DesertSun.com on the state of professional boxing, with a major focus on today’s heavyweight division. As most boxing fans know, Holmes succeeded Muhammad Ali as champ and was never quite accepted by the boxing public and his due respect as an all-time great heavyweight fighter/boxer was a long time in coming.

A lot of that was because he wasn’t comfortable during interviews and also lacked Ali’s quick wit and charisma. However, let no one forget that he was Ali’s near equal as a fighter and only Joe Louis held the title longer and made more consecutive successful defenses of it than Holmes did.

Today, the 62 year-old Holmes is no longer camera shy and loves to talk about the sport he dominated as champ for seven plus years. Larry is a tremendous ambassador for boxing and his thoughts and opinions are highly valued. But there is one aspect of Larry’s personality that can be grating sometimes, and that’s the fact that he always refers to himself as being part of the golden age of heavyweights that was dominated by Muhammad Ali, “Smokin” Joe Frazier and George Foreman.

No, Holmes is not a card-carrying member of the golden era of heavyweights. Other than that, the only negative aspect thing a critic could say about Holmes’ career and tenure as champ is, and it’s something he had no control over, is who did he fight as champion that was so terrific or borderline great? In truth, Holmes’ opposition is on par with that of former champ Mike Tyson, who dominated the second half of the eighties with the same authority Holmes did the first half of the decade.

The golden age of the heavyweights really only lasted about five years (1970-75). During those five years Ali, Frazier and Foreman passed the title back and forth among each other. Holmes, who turned pro in 1973, wasn’t even a thought and really hadn’t arrived as a title threat until early 1978. By the time Holmes defeated Earnie Shavers in his first career signature fight, Ali had lost the undisputed title to Leon Spinks. Joe Frazier was two years retired and touring with his band “Joe Frazier and The Knockouts” and George Foreman was a year into his retirement and starting his Ministry.

The reason Holmes can talk so conclusively about Ali and Frazier is because he served as an upper-tier sparring partner for both circa late 1972 through mid 1975. Larry worked with Frazier during Joe’s preparation for his rematch with Ali in January of 1974, being that no other heavyweight in the world was more suited to emulate Ali’s movement and jab better than Holmes. Shortly after that Holmes went to work for Ali and was one of his main sparring partners, along with Roy “Tiger” Williams, in helping him get ready for his upcoming title bout with champ George Foreman.

During the interview Holmes was asked to compare the champions during the Ali and Frazier era to the era dominated by Mike Tyson.

“Tyson would not have been able to stand up in that era,” Holmes said. “He came along at the right time and that’s it. He couldn’t stand up to guys like us, Ali, Frazier. Mike Tyson proved he’s a good fighter and a good front-runner, but if you hit him first, then things change.”

That may be a little bit of an overstatement on Holmes’ part, but it’s more accurate than inaccurate. The part that’s closest to being accurate is both Ali and Frazier at their best would be favored to beat Tyson during his prime, who as Larry said was the ultimate front-runner. Although Frazier may have had some shaky moments with Tyson early, I’d favor Joe to survive and be around to grind Tyson down and stop him after eight or nine rounds. The inaccuracy of the statement is the part where Larry says Tyson couldn’t stand up to guys like “us” because he wasn’t a contender during the so-called golden era of heavyweights.

The fact that Larry was stopped by Tyson at age 38, three years after he lost the title to Michael Spinks, doesn’t really come into play when matching them prime-for-prime. Holmes was looking for a payday when he fought Tyson in 1988 and wasn’t nearly the fighter he was six years earlier. The bout between 21 year old Tyson and 38 year old Holmes is not an indication on how they would’ve matched up prime for prime.

The writer says when Holmes fought, it was part of the heyday of the heavyweight division, but that’s not true as it’s been highlighted above. Today, the division is dominated by Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko. And after the Klitschkos one would be hard pressed to name the third best heavyweight fighter in boxing.

“The Klitschko brothers aren’t carrying it. People are asking me everyday, ‘Who’s the heavyweight champion?’ I don’t know,” Holmes said. “I feel sorry for boxing today because the heavyweight division carried boxing and the middleweights carried boxing. The only thing that’s carrying boxing now is the middleweight division, and people aren’t thinking about the other weight classes.”

On that Holmes is completely right. And just as it was the case when Larry was champ, there’s nobody around for either Wladimir or Vitali to fight to measure them-self against. Holmes needed an empty package named Muhammad Ali to beat up to get the proverbial monkey off his back. The Klitschkos don’t even have that type of fight out there for them.

Larry Holmes may not have been part of the golden era of heavyweights, but he is the greatest heavyweight to come along since the end of that era. And it’s a reach to think of a heavyweight title-holder since Larry’s prime who would be the betting favorite over him in a head-to-head clash. At his best I’d favor him to beat the likes of Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Riddick Bowe, Lennox Lewis and both Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko.

Actually, it’s a little bit sad that Holmes, inarguably one of the greatest all-time heavyweights, is still insecure enough that he needs to tie himself in with those other three (Ali, Frazier and Foreman). Because his accomplishments certainly measure up to the greatest of the greats who have ever held the heavyweight title.

Frank Lotierzo can be contacted at GlovedFist@Gmail.com

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Frank Lotierzo

Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

Published

2 days ago

September 24, 2023

David A. Avila

Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

LONG BEACH, Ca.-A cool autumn night saw welterweights and minimumweights share main events for a MarvNation fight card on Saturday.

Ukraine’s Eduard Skavynskyi (15-0, 7 KOs) experienced a tangled mess against the awkward Alejandro Frias (14-10-2) but won by decision after eight rounds in a welterweight contest at the indoor furnace called the Thunder Studios.

It was hot in there for the more than 600 people inside.

Skavynskyi probably never fought someone like Mexico’s Frias whose style was the opposite of the Ukrainian’s fundamentally sound one-two style. But round after round the rough edges became more familiar.

Neither fighter was ever damaged but all three judges saw Skavynskyi the winner by unanimous decision 79-73 on all three cards. The Ukrainian fighter trains in Ventura.

Bustillo Wins Rematch

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In the female main event Las Vegas’ Yadira Bustillos (8-1) stepped into a rematch with Karen Lindenmuth (5-2) and immediately proved the lessons learned from their first encounter.

Bustillos connected solidly with an overhand right and staggered Lindenmuth but never came close to putting the pressure fighter down. Still, Bustillos kept turning the hard rushing Lindenmuth and snapping her head with overhand rights and check left hooks.

Lindenmuth usually overwhelms most opponents with a smothering attack that causes panic. But not against Bustillos who seemed quite comfortable all eight rounds in slipping blows and countering back.

After eight rounds all three judges scored the contest for Bustillos 78-74 and 80-72 twice. Body shots were especially effective for the Las Vegas fighter in the fifth round. Bustillos competes in the same division as IBF/WBO title-holder Yokasta Valle.

Other Bouts

In a middleweight clash, undefeated Victorville’s Andrew Buchanan (3-0-1) used effective combination punching to defeat Mexico’s Fredy Vargas (2-1-1) after six rounds. Two judges scored it 59-55 and a third 60-54 for Buchanan. No knockdowns were scored.

A super lightweight match saw Sergio Aldana win his pro debut by decision after four rounds versus Gerardo Fuentes (2-9-1).

Photos credit: Al Applerose

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Tedious Fights and a Controversial Draw Smudge the Matchroom Boxing Card in Orlando

Published

2 days ago

September 23, 2023

Arne K. Lang

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Matchroom Boxing was at the sprawling Royale Caribe Resort Hotel in Orlando, Florida tonight with a card that aired on DAZN. The main event was a ho-hum affair between super lightweights Richardson Hitchins and Jose Zepeda.

SoCal’s Zepeda has been in some wars in the past, notably his savage tussle with Ivan Baranchyk, but tonight he brought little to the table and was outclassed by the lanky Hitchins who won all 12 rounds on two of the cards and 11 rounds on the other. There were no knockdowns, but Zepeda suffered a cut on his forehead in round seven that was deemed to be the product of an accidental head butt and another clash in round ten forced a respite in the action although Hitchins suffered no apparent damage.

It was the sort of fight where each round was pretty much a carbon of the round preceding it. Brooklyn’s Hitchins, who improved to 17-0 (7), was content to pepper Zepeda with his jab, and the 34-year-old SoCal southpaw, who brought a 37-3 record, was never able to penetrate his defense and land anything meaningful.

Hitchins signed with Floyd Mayweather Jr’s promotional outfit coming out of the amateur ranks and his style is reminiscent in ways of his former mentor. Like Mayweather, he loses very few rounds. In his precious engagement, he pitched a shutout over previously undefeated John Bauza.

Co-Feature

In the co-feature, Conor Benn returned to the ring after an absence of 17 months and won a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Rodolfo Orozco. It wasn’t a bad showing by Benn who showed decent boxing skills, but more was expected of him after his name had been bandied about so often in the media. Two of the judges had it 99-91 and the other 96-94.

Benn (22-0, 14 KOs) was a late addition to the card although one suspects that promoter Eddie Hearn purposely kept him under wraps until the week of the fight so as not to deflect the spotlight from the other matches on his show. Benn lost a lucrative date with Chris Eubank Jr when he was suspended by the BBBofC when evidence of a banned substance was found in his system and it’s understood that Hearn has designs on re-igniting the match-up with an eye on a date in December. For tonight’s fight, Benn carried a career-high 153 ½ pounds. Mexico’s Orozco, who was making his first appearance in a U.S. ring, declined to 32-4-3.

Other Bouts of Note

The welterweight title fight between WBA/WBC title-holder Jessica McCaskill (15-3-1) and WBO title-holder Sandy Ryan (6-1-1) ended in a draw and the ladies’ retain their respective titles. Ryan worked the body effectively and the general feeling was that she got a raw deal, a sentiment shared by the crowd which booed the decision. There was a switch of favorites in the betting with the late money seemingly all on the Englishwoman who at age 30 was the younger boxer by nine years.

The judges had it 96-94 Ryan, 96-95, and a vilified 97-93 for Chicago’s McCaskill.

In the opener of the main DAZN stream, Houston middleweight Austin “Ammo” Williams, 27, improved to 15-0 (10) with a 10-round unanimous decision over 39-year-old Toronto veteran Steve Rolls (22-3). All three judges had it 97-93. Rolls has been stopped only once, that by Gennady Golovkin.

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland / Matchroom Boxing

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Zhilei Zhang KOs Joe Joyce; Calls Out Tyson Fury

Published

2 days ago

September 23, 2023

Arne K. Lang

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Joe Joyce activated his rematch clause after being stopped in the sixth frame by Zhilei Zhang in their first meeting. In hindsight, he may wish that he hadn’t. Tonight at London’s Wembley Stadium, Zhang stopped him again and far more conclusively than in their first encounter.

In the first meeting, Zhang, a southpaw, found a steady home for his stiff left jab. Targeting Joyce’s right eye, he eventually damaged the optic to where the ring doctor wouldn’t let Joyce continue. At the end, the fight was close on the cards and Joyce was confident that he would have pulled away if not for the issue with his eye.

In the rematch tonight, Zhang (26-1-1, 21 KOs) closed the curtain with his right hand. A thunderous right hook on the heels of a straight left pitched Joyce to the canvas where he landed face first. He appeared to beat the count by a whisker, but was seriously dazed and referee Steve Gray properly waived it off. The official time was 3:07 of round three.

Zhang, who lived up to his nickname, “Big Bang,” was credited with landing 29 power punches compared with only six for Joyce (15-2) who came in 25 pounds heavier than in their first meeting while still looking properly conditioned. One would be inclined to say that age finally caught with the “Juggernaut” who turned 38 since their last encounter, but Zhang, 40, is actually the older man. In his post-fight interview in the ring, the New Jersey resident, a two-time Olympian for China, when asked who he wanted to fight next, turned to the audience and said, “Do you want to see me shut Tyson Fury up?”

He meant it as a rhetorical question.

Semi-Windup

Light heavyweight Anthony Yarde was matched soft against late sub Jorge Silva, a 40-year-old Portuguese journeyman, and barely broke a sweat while scoring a second-round stoppage. Yarde backed Silva against a corner post and put him on the deck with a short right hand. Silva’s body language indicated that he had no interest in continuing and the referee accommodated him. The official time was 2:07 of round two.

A 30-year-old Londoner, Yarde (24-3, 23 KOs) was making his first start since being stopped in eight rounds by Artur Beterbiev in a bout that Yarde was winning on two of the scorecards. Silva, a late replacement for 19-3-1 Ricky Summers, falls to 22-9.

Also

Former leading super middleweight contender Zach Parker (23-1, 17 KOs) returned to the ring in a “shake-off-the-rust” fight against 40-year-old Frenchman Khalid Graidia and performed as expected. Graidia’s corner pulled him out after seven one-sided rounds.

In his previous fight, Parker was matched against John Ryder who he was favored to beat. The carrot for the winner was a lucrative date with Canelo Alvarez. Unfortunately for Parker, he suffered a broken hand and was unable to continue after four frames. Tonight, he carried 174 pounds, a hint that he plans to compete as a light heavyweight going forward. Indeed, he has expressed an interest in fighting Anthony Yarde. Graidia declined to 10-13-4.

The Zhang-Joyce and Yarde-Silva fights were live-streamed in the U.S. on ESPN+.

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