{"id":426168,"date":"2026-01-22T16:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T16:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/426168\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T16:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T16:15:08","slug":"larry-holmes-names-the-undisputed-champion-who-refused-to-face-him-they-can-say-what-they-want","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/426168\/","title":{"rendered":"Larry Holmes names the undisputed champion who refused to face him: “They can say what they want”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Larry Holmes<\/a> firmly believes that one heavyweight, who claimed to possess a superior jab, made a concerted effort to avoid fighting him.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Easton Assassin\u2019 reigned as world heavyweight champion for nearly seven years<\/a>, making a total of 19 title defences between 1978 and 1985.<\/p>\n

After claiming the WBC title by edging a split decision against Ken Norton, Holmes defeated the likes of formidable puncher Earnie Shavers \u2013 and, more controversially, a faded version of Muhammad Ali \u2013 before losing on points to Michael Spinks.<\/p>\n

From there, the American would suffer further defeats to Mike Tyson<\/a> and Evander Holyfield<\/a>, whose following outing saw him lose on points to Riddick Bowe in 1992.<\/p>\n

This represented the start of Bowe and Holyfield\u2019s iconic trilogy, which eventually saw \u2018Big Daddy\u2019 end their rivalry with an eighth-round stoppage victory in 1995.<\/p>\n

Their previous two encounters, however, delivered far more compelling spectacles, with the notorious \u2018Fan Man\u2019 incident<\/a> taking place during their rematch in 1993.<\/p>\n

And yet, before losing to Holyfield, it seems that Holmes had hoped to face Bowe himself, only to discover that his rival\u2019s team was far from interested.<\/p>\n

Speaking with TRU SCHOOL SPORTS<\/a>, Holmes insisted that an attempt was made but, instead, Bowe\u2019s handlers decided to take him in a different direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to fight him and they [Bowe\u2019s team] never accepted the fight. They can say whatever they want.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what I did; people know what I did \u2013 they know how I fought \u2013 and that\u2019s all there is to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holmes added that he would have emerged triumphant in their hypothetical encounter, claiming that his greater stamina would have proved a decisive factor.<\/p>\n

At the same time, though, it must be said that Bowe \u2013 being much closer to his prime \u2013 would have certainly had the edge from a physical standpoint.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Larry Holmes firmly believes that one heavyweight, who claimed to possess a superior jab, made a concerted effort…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-426168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}