“The returning hero, maybe not this time the conquering hero, Muhammad Ali. The man who hasn’t had a good fight for the last five years, not since vanilla. The man who hasn’t even fought since September 15th 1978, he is 38 years of age now and he must undertake the task of reproving himself all over again. The man who has held the title an unprecedented 3 times and seeks to make it a 4th, incredible.”
In the 1980’s the era of Muhammad Ali was completed. The new world champion, his former sparring partner, Larry Holmes, was on his way to the boxing throne. It was Holmes who became the fastest and only boxer who was able to end the fight with Ali before the final bell ever rang and in his own favor.
Three months before this fight; Ali underwent a medical examination at the clinic, the results of which revealed that Muhammad Ali had difficulty in touching the tip of his nose with his own fingers. Could hardly stand on one leg and his speech fairly suffered, as the Parkinson’s progressed. When Ali met Holmes in the ring, he began shouting, “I’M YOUR MASTER AND YOUR TEACHER! EVERYTHING YOU HAVE ACHIEVED, YOU OWE ME!”
For the next half an hour, Holmes dominated the ring. Holmes hit right hooks, uppercuts, keeping his distance, dancing like Ali taught him. Ali could barely pass a jab and was forced to keep his arms up to protect his face from any right or left hooks. By the 10th round; Ali’s coach decided to throw in the towel.
Larry Holmes on winning the match, “There is no question about Muhammad Ali anymore, there is no Muhammad Ali, there is only one, Larry Holmes. Muhammad Ali has seen the bright side and now he’s on the dark side…”
In United States. Albany, a few friends had gathered around the television to watch Ali’s fight. Among them was a 14 year old Mike Tyson. When young Mike was doing time in a penal colony; together with a few other inmates he was brought to an assembly hall where he saw the movie, “The Greatest of All Time”, a documentary on Muhammad Ali’s boxing career. When the movie finished everyone cheered and clapped and Muhammad himself stepped on the stage. He began talking with the boys, who couldn’t believe what they were seeing and it was then that Mike Tyson made up his mind to not only become a boxer but to be the greatest of all time.
The morning after Ali’s fight with Holmes. Tyson’s coach, Cus D'Amato, talked on the phone with Muhammad, “How did you let this amateur beat you? He’s an amateur Muhammad! He’s an awful boxer. And I say that he’s an amateur so why did you let an amateur to BEAT YOU DOWN!” and then he asked Muhammed to talk with a young kid that wanted to be the greatest boxer of all time and tell him to listen to his coach. D’Amato had set two goal for Mike. One, to tear Holmes apart and the second, to take back the championship title.
By 1986, Holmes had already suffered 2 defeats from Michael Spinks. Both on points, made on unanimous decision by the judges. “Gotta say to the Judges, the referees, the promoters; to kiss where the sun don’t shine. And since were on HBO; that’s my big black behind…” Holmes entered retirement shortly thereafter. Mike on the other hand went to fight Trevor Berbick for the title of the heavyweight championship. Mike won by total Knock out.
In the years preceding, Holmes openly spoke out on how Mike Tyson was nowhere near the boxer he is or how he would be able to knock Mike out before the first bell would ever ring. In 1988, Holmes came out of a 2 year retirement to fight Mike Tyson and to reclaim the title of Heavyweight Champion.
“ I’m going to go down in history, not Mike Tyson. He’s going down as an SOB and if he does win the first round, down the line; I’m going to destroy him”
The announcer start, “Ladies and gentlemen welcome to heavyweight history here in Hilton Hall, Atlantic City. Now before the official introductions; I would like to acknowledge a man here in the ring who is indeed a man of heavyweight history. In 1960, he was an Olympic gold medal champion. In 1964, he became the heavyweight champion of the world. In 1974, he again won the heavyweight title. In 1978, he became the only man in heavyweight history to win three World Champions. Ladies and gentlemen, the former three-time heavyweight champion of the world, Muhammad Ali.” Muhammad greeted everyone in the ring, went to Mike Tyson’s corner to give him a last piece of advice, “Destroy him Mike”.
Bell rings and the first round begins, Holmes keeps his distance, he knows he cant match Mike in strength but if he can outsmart him, find an opening, he’ll knock him out with a right hook. Mike keeps his head down, avoiding any hits. Holmes sees Mike keeping his face down so throws an uppercut. But Mike is far faster, he sees it coming, slides and jabs Holmes right in the face. Rounds pass by, Holmes keeps on getting more and more frustrated, he’s getting tired, his legs start to feel like jelly. Mike is turning more and more into a beast, his movements are getting faster with each adding another jab or right hook. Bell rings, each go back to their corners, Holmes says, “Just you wait till the next round”. Bell rings, the start of the fourth round, Mike exists his corner, both reach the center of the ring. Holmes raises his left shield, passes right hook. Mike passes left hook, Holmes tries to stop it. Mike throws a right hook as well. Holmes gets knocked down. The match referee started to begin his countdown, ” 1.. 2.. 3.. 4.. 5.. 6.. 7..” Holmes gets back up, nods he’s fine to the referee. Mike attacks Holmes, Holmes tackles Mike, Mike uppercuts, Holmes feels pain and releases Mike from the tackle, Mike hits right hook, Holmes is knocked down but gets right back up. Mike is starting to get tired and can’t keep on aggressively attacking. Holmes is dancing around the ring, avoiding any hit, Mike is being careful, biding his time, only landing a hit where he sees an opening. Holmes hits a right hook, Mike ducks, begins hitting uppercuts. Holmes can’t stand it, tries to tackle Mike. Mike breaks the tackle, hits a right hook. Holmes legs collapse, he falls flat on his back. The ring is flooded with the audience, the announcer reads, “… in the two minutes 55 seconds of the fourth round, the winner and still the undisputed, undefeated heavyweight champion of the world, IRON MIKE TYSON!”
In a 2019 podcast, Mike talked about Muhammad Ali, “ The thing about Ali was that he didn’t care, even when he was fighting Holmes. He knew he wasn’t going to win. The meds he was on were making him lose focus. But he still stood their and took the beating like a man. And that’s something I can’t do. I’ll fight for this but I’m not like Ali. I’m not willing to die for it, like Ali.”
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