Larry Holmes: An Honest Look Back On a Legendary Career

Exclusive interview by Jesse “New School” Wright

“I wanted to have something to show after all of it was over. I wanted to live like I got a lot of money and that I’m the happiest guy in the world. And to tell you the truth I was happy, and I did have a lot of money, and I appreciated what God had given me. That’s why I was happy.” —Larry Holmes

There isn’t much to say about Larry Holmes that hasn’t already been said. His legendary status as one of the world’s greatest heavyweights precedes any introduction. Between the eras of Ali and Tyson, Holmes was the man. Still to this day though, Holmes receives criticism from naysayers on a wide variety of topics. All the guy ever did was fight, and quite well too.

When I first called, Holmes was in the middle of driving and the connection was quite poor. He didn’t seem to expect the call either. Perhaps he was bothered to be caught off guard, but his initial reaction was quite disgruntled. Being a young writer entrusted with such a privileged task, I thought I was going to throw up before the interview started. If I knew it was going to start in such a manner, losing my lunch would’ve been a guarantee. As he got comfortable, Holmes turned out to be a good sport, but that initial angst never seemed to wear off.

Instead of focusing any resentment on me, the energy immediately transferred to the subjects of the questions asked. What transpired was an incredibly unfiltered and personal look back on an incredible career. For all of the smiles and cheerfulness, there were still many things Holmes needed to get off his chest. In this interview, he covers many of them and leaves nothing unsaid.

JW: You have the best left jab in all of boxing. It’s been ranked by several different people as one of the best. What makes for an effective jab and what is the best result of an effective jab?

What makes the best jab is the quickness of it. That makes it best if you’re quick and the timing is right, and you’re landing it. That makes the best jab.

You can be jabbing all day long and if u ain’t landing it, then it don’t mean nothing. You gotta be quick with the jab because you gotta be able to follow it with the right hand behind the jab and if you do that, you can win every fight.

You don’t have to go to the body, because when you go to the body with the punch you’re giving up your head unless you take a long jab to the body and then you can get away with it. But if you just put left hooks and right hands to the body, you’re chances of getting hit are like 10 to 1, because guys counter that left hook with the right hand.

But they don’t have to worry about jabs no more because they don’t do it. Fighters don’t jab no more. Every fight I watch, if they throw 50 jabs through a 12 round fight, that is a miracle. I threw 50 jabs a round and my opponent doesn’t get away from me. Then when I want to land the right hand to hurt him, I never threw left hooks to the body because you leave yourself open to the right hand. If I threw anything to the body it would be a jab. If you’re in the corner, I’m gonna smother you with my jabs before the right hand turns.

People don’t use the jab. The jab is the most important thing that a fighter can do to stay out of trouble, because you can’t hit me with a right hand if my jab is coming in your face. It blocks the right hand when it’s coming. If I threw a jab and my opponent threw a right at the same time, my jab would win.

JW: Why do you think that it’s become such a lost art form in boxing today?

We don’t have no teachers no more. Ali ain’t here to talk about “My jab my jab.” Larry Holmes ain’t in there talking about “His jab his jab.” Tommy Hearns ain’t in there. The guys who used the jab aren’t there to talk about the jab. Those guys I mentioned do the jab. Duran, he don’t jab, he paws his jab. Camacho, he threw the jab, but he don’t really throw the jab often. That’s why they’re gonna talk about that, because everybody wants to knock you out. You can’t knock people out with one punch.

So what u gotta do is use the jab to set em up. My theory was you make them drunk, then u mug em. You gotta get em drunk first and then you throw that right within your reach. If the fight goes 10 rounds or 12 rounds you’re not getting hit. You’re not getting beat up cause you got the jab in his face. As long as you have a jab in his face he can’t do nothing about it!

JW: The jab and the effectiveness of it, and everything you learned, was that all from Richie Giachetti? Was he the one that taught you everything you know, or did it come before then?

No no no, Richie was a good guy, but Richie didn’t know a whole lot about boxing. Richie learned off of me (both laugh). You know, I learned how to work that jab working with Muhammad Ali. If I called some more names, you’re not gonna know about em, because I learned to work the jab from working with Earnie Shavers. Because them guys were punchers that would hurt me, and if you don’t snap that jab in their face, they’re gonna knock you out. I learned how to jab because I wanted to beat Muhammad Ali through the jab. I wanted to be faster than him. I wanted to be able to hurt him with my jab. That’s what made me work that jab.

It was the same thing with Joe Frazier. Now it wasn’t a punch with Joe Frazier because most of the time he had a fight, so I slapped him. It was a backhanded slap all day long. If you’re jab is fast, and you push it out there in the right spot, nobody’s gonna hit you

JW: I know Richie, God rest his soul, just passed recently. If you were to say one thing you remember about him, one thing you want people to remember about the guy, what would you say?

He’s a motivator. When he’s with you, he’s with you. When he’s against you, he’s against you! Richie worked with you. Richie wanted you to win it. Richie wanted to be known as one of the great trainers so therefore he worked towards that and everything he knew he would teach it to you! There were some things he thought he knew and he would teach you how to do it.

Richie was an all around guy. He was my friend, that’s why he was with me so long. He was my friend, he would get up early in the morning and he would run with me he would exercise with me… sometimes (laughing), until he gained a lot of weight.

When Richie was for you, he was for you and he would fight for you, and he did that. He fought for me a lot of times. You know, we had our ups and downs and there was stuff that I agreed with and disagreed with, but he knew…..Ahhhhh… You know, we talk about Ray Arcel’s, Freddie Brown, and we’re talking about Eddie Futch, Angelo Dundee… Richie knew just as much as they did! Richie didn’t get the opportunity to tell everybody, because… It was all about Angelo Dundee. The press, they loved Angelo Dundee, they loved Freddie Brown, they loved Ray Arcel. They loved them. So they couldn’t do nothing wrong.

When I brought Eddie Futch in they said “Oh now you’re smart, you brought one of the greatest around in here.” Eddie Futch man, he was good, yeah, but he wasn’t good for me. Because when I come back to a corner and the first thing out of your mouth is “How ya feel?” What do you mean how do I feel? I just got hit in the mouth right now. What do you mean how do I feel? Put some water on top of my head! Pour the water on top of my head, and let me cool off! How do I feel? I feel bad after this man hit me in my mouth! Tell me what to do!

JW: You were talking about how Dundee got all the face time, he got all the press, everybody covered him. Keep in mind I was born in 88, but to me you’re a legend. I do all my research on you and one of the things that really irked me, and probably irked a lot of people is that Gerry Cooney, when you fought him… He’s on the cover of Sports Illustrated, there’s a rumor that the presidents (Reagan) got a line going straight to his hotel room, when stuff like that happens for a guy like you, is there extra motivation to just crush a guy? When the press isn’t covering you and you know you’re the better fighter, was there more motivation to crush someone in a situation like that?

Larry: Can I tell you something?

JW: Yes….

This is a white man’s world and the black people got to live in it and be the best we can with what we’ve got. If we get the opportunity, we’ve got to take advantage of it. Gerry Cooney wasn’t a bad guy. All the weight doesn’t go on to Gerry Cooney. The weight goes on the media, because the media wanted the white hope. I understand that. I understand this is our world. I understand if you walk down the street, and you see ten gas stations, nine of them are white. We have to to crawl and fight for what we get and we’re still not doing a good job because we’re still losing the battle. I see it every day when I travel. People will say I’m racist. Well I’m not a racist, I’ve got grandkids that are all white, my daughter’s husband is white. My whole family here in Pennsylvania would shock you if you saw them cause they’re white!

So I’m not a racist, I just call it like it is! If black people could see shit different… They see shit different with the Indians, but the Indians don’t give a fuck, they got all the casinos now. The Chinese had to fight to be the Chinese. I mean everybody except white people had to go through shit. The Jews had to go through it, the Italians had to go through it, the Blacks had to go through it, the Chinese had to go through it. I mean we all had to go through it. So therefore, they have it all, and they expect to have it all. Unless they go to China, but when they went to China, China fought for their shit. They got the guns and whatever they had to get out. When they came to Africa, we laid down and helped them take our brothers and sisters. That’s why we ain’t got nothing.

I want to die being happy regardless of if it’s a white man who buries me or black man who buries me or who buries me. I’m blessed with the opportunities that I had and the family that I got. I’m blessed man!

JW: That brings me to my next question. In everything I’ve ever seen about you, you’re a playful, light hearted guy. You don’t’ seem to let the pressure get to you and you’re always happy and always seem satisfied. But then I listened to your interview with ‘Bad” Brad, and it’s like you look back on it and you seem to have a little resentment that you never got the credit that you deserved. Are there maybe some conflicting feelings about your career in boxing looking back?

One of the things… I hate, but I understand it… Listen, I think I can endorse any product or company, anything. But when you put Mike Tyson out there… You’re kidding… The guy that he raped his girl or he beat this guy or he’ll eat his baby… Come on man! And you’ve got him representing your product! They go “Oh I love you Mike, you’re the greatest!” He ain’t the greatest, he got his ass beat by some white guy that couldn’t fight! And he got his ass beat by Lennox Lewis and then he started turning in to a baby wiping Lennox Lewis’ sweat off, talking about how great he is. He got beat up by Holyfield then he starts biting his fucking ear! COME ON!

So you’re gonna have him endorsing you’re product. What kind of shit is that!? Cause he’s Mike Tyson. I’m Larry Holmes and I never did that shit! I’ve had 75 fights, and I was the champion for 7.5 years, and I ain’t bit nobody’s ear off! (Both laugh) I mean come on.

JW: We see it in boxing today too. There are some guys who are quiet, they’re soft spoken, they’re good guys, they don’t have bad intention or a rap sheet, but they don’t get a push, but the guys with the bad attitudes do. Is there a theme of nice guys finish last in the world of boxing?

You know there’s a lot of nice guys out here now man. Sugar Ray Leonard’s a nice guy. Tommy Hearns, he’s a so-so. Lennox Lewis, he’s a so-so. The reason I say so-so is because, when you come to me, and you say “Larry, can I get an autograph,” and we’re not at an autograph signing, you can get an autograph and a picture too if you want one. But those guys don’t want to take a picture with you, they don’t want to sign an autograph and I want to know why?

I was down in Florida with Mike Tyson, and about 20 champions, and we had a thing to be in the ring. The guy was giving Mike Tyson about $35,000, and Mike Tyson stays for about 10 minutes and says he has to go to the bathroom and then hauls ass to go back to Canada. Those are the kind of times that, you know, made us look bad. You understand what I mean? You can’t do that when people hand you this kind of money. It’s crazy.

JW: Ali came back and fought you, and we know how that turned out. You came back and took a fight with Tyson and a lot of guys do this. What keeps guys coming back for one more? What is it that keeps a person coming back for one more fight against that next up and coming champion?

Well I’ll tell you what kept me coming. First of all, I didn’t think Mike Tyson could beat me. Second, they gave me enough time to get ready for it, and then they changed the time. When you’re off for two years, you need the proper time to get ready, and they only gave me two months to get ready. So then the third reason why you come back is because there’s three and a half million dollars out there. I mean I can’t make $3.5 million in my barn selling beer and wine. In five minutes or a half an hour, I can’t make $3.5 million. That’s what kept me coming back. What makes them other guys come back? It’s the same reason. They don’t have no money. They’re broke. It’s the same reason. They’ll fight till they can’t fight no more. The thing is they love the game of boxing, but mainly they love the fucking check in they’re pocket.

If it wasn’t the money, nobody would do it. I wouldn’t get punched in my face fighting Mike Tyson if there was no $3.5 million. If they say, you wanna fight Mike Tyson, I say hell no I don’t wanna fight Mike Tyson. Well, you can get an ice cream sandwich and a soda, no, I ain’t fighting Mike Tyson. Well, you’re gonna get $3.5 million. Okay, where he at? Go get that motherfucker. (both laugh)

JW: Looking back at that Ali and Holmes documentary on ESPN, you seemed very modest to not spend so much money. You drove a modest car, you lived in a half million dollar house when other guys were buying bigger than that. What made you so modest with spending in a sport where many guys are big spenders?

I wanted to have something to show after all of it was over. I wanted to live like I got a lot of money and that I’m the happiest guy in the world. And to tell you the truth I was happy, and I did have a lot of money, and I appreciated what God had given me. That’s why I was happy.

I was not there to kill nobody. I wasn’t there to kill Muhammad Ali or Earnie Shavers. I was just there to fight to make the money. I prayed for everybody that I fought: don’t let me kill these guys, don’t let me hurt them, don’t let them hurt me. Because we wanna live and we both doing the same thing; trying to earn the money so we can keep whatever we got together. Because that’s the only reason I ever put the boxing gloves on.

JW: If you’re to be remembered for anything, what do you want to be remembered for Mr. Holmes?

I want you to call me Larry. You’re not an itty bitty kid, you’re 26, you can call me Larry. The kids can call me mister if they want.
My thing is man, I’ve done what God chose. What you wanted in life when you was a little boy… Now you’re doing radio. Was that your thing? No, you probably dreamed about being an NFL football player, or basketball player or something, or maybe you wanted to drive cars and be a racecar driver. Well you don’t never know what you wanna do, but guess what? God has a plan and the plan that he laid out, that’s what you’re gonna be doing. Apparently you like what you’re doing, because you’re doing it and you’re not afraid of it, because you called me, without permission.

So you know what? I would say keep on going, doing what God says do. Whatever comes in your mind, as long as it ain’t something stupid, do it. If your brain tells you to rob a bank, don’t do that. If it says kills somebody, don’t do that. If it says rape some girl, don’t do that. If it says to be nice to somebody, do it! If there’s somebody who gets on your nerves, walk away from them. If you can’t walk away from them, tell em kiss your ass. That’s all. Then keep right on going. That’s all.

JW: Thank you so much. Thank you Larry.

Alright. Send me five dollars in the mail! (both laugh)

JW: You got it!

Take care guy!

(Publisher Note: I want to thank Larry’s right hand, Angel for coordinating this interview….)

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