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Home » Heavyweight legend Larry Holmes talks Ali, Cooney and Fury vs Wilder III

Heavyweight legend Larry Holmes talks Ali, Cooney and Fury vs Wilder III

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  • 2 min read

Heavyweight legend Larry Holmes discussed many subjects recently on an appearance with former opponent Gerry Cooney on Sirius XM.

One of the best to ever do it, Holmes, recalled his fight with Cooney and sparring with “The Greatest” of all time Muhammad Ali.

The veteran also aired his thoughts on the forthcoming heavyweight trilogy between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder.

Snippets from the interview are below. Fans can find the full chat on the Sirius XM app.

    • He never drank or smoked throughout his career, he just wanted to concentrate on one thing, and that was becoming a champion.
    • Sparring with Muhammad Ali added a lot to his legacy. When you tell people he was sparring with him, people didn’t believe him, but one of his best memories of boxing without a doubt.
    • He always had to make sure he was ready against Ali because he knew he was going to lose if not.
    • You don’t want to rush into a knockout. He never looked at Gerry as his enemy but really a sparring partner.
    • His fight against Gerry was great.

    • He approached every fight the same way, every round the same way.
    • The nice thing about Gerry, he was still smiling after the 3rd round. Accidents happen throughout the fight, but it was still generally a clean and fun fight.
    • He thinks if the fight happened today against Gerry, it would go down as one of the biggest fights ever.
    • “Muhammad was floating like a butterfly and was trying to sting like a Bee, but he met a guy named Larry.”
    • If he had the opportunity to say to Wilder, he would say: mind over matter, Wilder and Fury are pretty evenly matched, though.
    • Gerry was a great fighter, no one wanted to give him credit because he fought Larry, but he tried to take him out early and couldn’t. He couldn’t do certain things that he wanted to do.

Catch all things Boxing. @SiriusXM Fight Nation Channel 156. At the Fights w/ @commishrandyg & @gerrycooney: Mon+Fri 12-2p ET.