A retired heavyweight champion believes he should go down in history as the smartest fighter of all time.
Best known as ‘The Easton Assassin’, Larry Holmes had a professional career to remember, where he reigned as the world heavyweight champion for seven consecutive years.
After he defeated Ken Norton via split decision in the summer of 1978, Holmes would go on to hold a version of the heavyweight title up until 1985, defeating the likes of Earnie Shavers, Trevor Berbick and Muhammad Ali during this period.
Holmes would challenge for the world title a further two times before he drew the curtain on his exceptional professional career, but would suffer defeats against Evander Holyfield and Oliver McCall respectively.
In an interview with GQ Magazine, Holmes admitted that he was actually glad that he didn’t break Rocky Marciano’s record when he was beaten by Michael Spinks 40-years ago, claiming that he would rather be remembered for being the ‘smartest’ fighter of all time, instead of the ‘greatest’.
“If they want to say Rocky Marciano was the greatest, they could say that. If they want to say Muhammad Ali was the greatest, they can say that. I wanted to end up as the smartest, not the greatest. I didn’t want to have to keep fighting and living up to that.”
‘The Easton Assassin’ would fight on all the way until the early 2000’s, when he finally announced his retirement from the sport shortly after he defeated Eric ‘Butterbean’ Esch in his 75th and final outing as a professional.
