A Class Above the Rest: Larry Holmes Vs Ossie Ocasio

By Kevin “The Voice” Kincade

It had been nine months since Larry Holmes upset Ken Norton to win the WBC version of the Heavyweight Championship. He’d already defended it once against Alfredo Evangelista in a dull fight in November, before “Big Jack” put an end to things in Round 7 with a clipping right hook. He’d called for Muhammad Ali to either face him or retire in the post-fight interview. He didn’t really want to face the old master; but he did want universal recognition as World Champion.

Ali’s time had come and gone and his prolonged victory lap in the aftermath of his win over Spinks was just gumming up the works. One by one the old guard was falling by the wayside. On the undercard, the man from whom he took his belt, Ken Norton, had just gotten decimated in less than 2 minutes to the man Larry was now going to have to face in September, Earnie Shavers.

His opponent tonight, Ossie Ocasio, had earned his shot by twice turning away division spoiler, Jimmy Young, whose career as a contender was now in jeopardy. Transition from one era into another is always tumultuous, especially when following such an era as the one of Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Ken Norton and company. Larry Holmes had his work cut out for him. He was not just going to have to win, he was going to have to be impressive in doing so.

Ossie Ocasio wanted to be one of the “new class” of heavyweights. At 5’11 ½”, he was short for a big man; but he was undefeated at 13-0, with his last two victories coming over one of most dreaded opponents in the division in Jimmy Young. Before those two fights, “Jaws”, as his friends called him, hadn’t faced anyone of note, which is why his victories over the Philadelphia defensive wizard were such big upsets. The 23 year old was brimming with confidence in his original encounter with Young. He wasn’t supposed to be there; but his win over the original proposed opponent, Kevin Isaac, had propelled him to Vegas for a chance at Young, just as his two wins over Young had secured him a shot at Holmes. An undefeated fighter doesn’t know he can be beaten, until he is shown.

The thing about Jimmy Young, though, which worked into Ocasio’s game plan, was his passiveness. Jimmy didn’t look to be in the best of shape for their first encounter, possibly underestimating the young man. In addition to that, Jimmy Young never had what one would call a knockout punch, having only registered 7 knockouts in 22 wins. While he did rally in the mid to late rounds of their first contest, he didn’t’ have the power to really make Ocasio pay for his brashness, for his aggressiveness. Also, Ossie had an awkward style in his own right. He had a quick delivery and came at his opponent from odd angles, which seemed to both surprise and puzzle Young, hampering his effectiveness with his counters.

In the rematch in Puerto Rico, Young showed up in much better condition; but by that time, Ocasio’s confidence was at an all-time high and the hometown crowd was with him. Wanting redemption as well as a shot at Holmes, Young came out more aggressive than is his trademark and got caught in the third with a right hand which put him on Queer Street for the rest of the round. Seeing that he could hurt his man, Osvaldo turned on the jets for the remainder of the fight, and, ultimately, outworking and overwhelming Young with his activity.

One can’t blame Ocasio’s management for taking a fight with Holmes. It was a huge opportunity for their young charge; but Larry Holmes was no Jimmy Young and there were some key differences between the two. First off, Holmes was bigger at 6’ 3” and very fast handed and mobile when he chose. Larry was also far more aggressive than Jimmy Young ever dreamt of being. Being a hungry man, himself, Larry had finally risen to the top of the food chain and he had no intention of giving up his position, viewing every challenger to his title as a man to be stopped like a burglar breaking into his house. And while Larry also had the rap of not having a “knockout punch”, he delivered his punches with far more speed and conviction than Young did.

From the outset, Larry had a disdainful air about him, stalking Ocasio, purposefully, with little to no respect for his opponent. He was a heavy betting favorite and with his former rival, Ken Norton, having been dispatched so easily less than an hour before by his future opponent, Shavers, Larry wanted to make a statement against his young challenger. Ocasio’s wild shots were not having near the success on Holmes as they’d had on Young and while Larry was having much difficulty landing his jab in the early going, his activity was keeping the awkward Ocasio off balance.

A year before, a 6-0-1 challenger had outhustled an aging, out of shape champion; but there was a big difference between a 36 year old Muhammad Ali and a prime of his fighting life 29 year old Larry Holmes. Round after round went in the bank for the champ with Ocasio’s once beaming confident smile knocked off his face by the 5th. Larry’s piston jab was finding its mark, his right hand lead was ripping through Ocasio’s defense and his uppercuts were beginning to snap his head back with regularity. The bout was quickly becoming a mismatch.

By the seventh, Larry was in his groove and Ocasio was wafting in the breeze, seeming looking to survive more than win at that point. The intelligent Holmes had solved the puzzling rhythm of the Puerto Rican and was pressing the attack. Early in the round, he landed one of his telephone pole-like jabs and the 23 year old went down. Larry’s jab had always been impressive. It was fast, hard, and deliberate, thrown with the momentum and stiffness of a straight right. When one examines boxing history for the most potent jabs in the division, the names of Joe Louis and Sonny Liston immediately come to mind; but neither of those men had Holmes’ hand speed. Their delivery of the punch didn’t carry the sheer momentum which the “Easton Assassin” produced.

“Jaws” rose to his feet; but a blind man could see what was coming. He attempted to rally; but only succeeded in leaving himself wide open for a vicious one-two which snapped his head 90 degrees and then down with his body following for the second time. Though he got up, and the referee let it continue, it wasn’t thirty seconds before he was down again from a Holmes combination. It was over.

Ossie Ocasio had earned his shot at the title by besting the # 2 ranked heavyweight in the world. In the wake of Leon Spinks’ monumental upset over Ali the year before, the feeling that any young fighter could win the world title against any man on any given night was still resonating throughout the heavyweight ranks and, at 13-0 Osvaldo Ocasio had been given that opportunity against Larry Holmes.

Unfortunately for Ocasio, there is a reason “upsets” are termed so. An “upset” is a rarity, an anomaly to the norm. It is called “an upset” because it was unexpected. If something “unexpected” happened all of the time, then there wouldn’t’ be anything special about them. Perhaps if he’d been facing a 37 year old champion, things would have been different; but that wasn’t the card he drew.

While the 37 year old Muhammad Ali was touring the globe as World Heavyweight Champion one last time, his heir apparent was already sitting on the throne.

There are contenders and there are champions; and Larry Holmes, who had been overlooked for years on his march to the top, was now the man holding the keys to the kingdom. Anyone who wanted to transcend was going to have to go through him. He had proven in his title-winning effort that he belonged and had dominated the two challengers he’d faced since. Though it was early yet, plenty of opportunity lay just around the corner for Larry Holmes to prove to the world what he already knew about himself: That he was in a class above the rest.

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