{"id":258060,"date":"2025-11-12T04:34:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T04:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/258060\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T04:34:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T04:34:07","slug":"larry-holmes-says-one-heavyweight-without-doubt-hit-harder-than-mike-tyson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/258060\/","title":{"rendered":"Larry Holmes says one heavyweight ‘without doubt’ hit harder than Mike Tyson"},"content":{"rendered":"

During Larry Holmes<\/a>\u2019 illustrious career, he faced some of the biggest names \u2013 and biggest punchers \u2013 of his era.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Easton Assassin\u201d won the WBC heavyweight title against Ken Norton in an unforgettable fight and holds wins over Earnie Shavers, Muhammad Ali, Leon Spinks, Gerry Cooney, Tim Witherspoon and James \u201cBonecrusher\u201d Smith.<\/p>\n

Even past his best, Holmes still shared the ring with a prime Mike Tyson in 1988 and went 12 rounds with Evander Holyfield four years later.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Boxing News<\/a>, Holmes reflected on his achievements \u2013 particularly his world title victory over Norton. But having faced some of the sport\u2019s biggest hitters, who \u2013 out of Shavers, Tyson and Cooney \u2013 hit the hardest?<\/p>\n

\u201cEarnie Shavers, no doubt about it. He could knock the hell out of you!\u201d<\/p>\n

Holmes\u2019 world title eliminator win against Shavers came three months before facing Norton. To understand the power he was up against, look no further than Shavers\u2019 knockout record: 70 KOs in 76 wins from 91 fights \u2013 a staggering 92 per cent knockout ratio.<\/p>\n

Before facing Shavers, referee Dave Pearl entered Holmes\u2019 dressing room for the standard pre-fight talk, giving the fighters a chance to ask questions. Holmes, in a deadpan tone, asked:<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it OK if I carry a knife?\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, it wasn\u2019t permitted, but the remark summed up what \u2018The Easton Assassin\u2019 knew he was up against. A thunderous right hand in the second round turned pre-fight nerves into brutal reality. From then on, Holmes boxed masterfully \u2013 and proved he was ready for a world title shot.<\/p>\n

In 1979, he would have to deal with Shavers<\/a> again \u2013 this time as champion. Dropped in the seventh Holmes recovered to stop his old foe in the 11th round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During Larry Holmes\u2019 illustrious career, he faced some of the biggest names \u2013 and biggest punchers \u2013 of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-258060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}