Who's Seen Maurice Harris/Larry Holmes?

[Russell]

Very late career fight for Larry, one where he supposedly received a very large gift.

For all the bitching of the ones that went against him he certainly seemed to edge the other guy a few times.

Also, Mo' Harris never ceases to amaze me. Emmanuel Augustus has little on the guy in terms of unpredictability.

[Bigcat]

I have very exclusive tales about this fight, i was in Las Vegas the night this fight happened and i watched it on delay.. I think Mo was very young at the time of the bout and he boxed his ass off , was extremely lively and the result didn't go down well with many who watched it from ringside.. I walked to see Johnny Tocco in his office the day later and while i was in his gym the phone constantly rang like it always did.. Johnny closed the office door for one call which was rare because he was kinda impatient and didn't like being bothered too much, The call was from Larry Holmes.. when the call ended Johnny re ran the tape and we watched it again.. Tocco said it was Larry and he was extremely upset becaause thee press hurt him by suggesting this novice outboxed him and made him look foolish.. In fact Tocco said he was beside himself with dissapointment and was after some kind of reassurance that he did enough... Johnny watched the bout and ffw'd the tape in spells and whispered to me and Sterling Mcphereson, the kid stole it but i hate to hurt Larry, i just said to Larry, you have a difficult day at the office but Mo should be proud of himself.. Tocco surrendered later, Larry didn't do enough..But he doesn't need me to tell him that.. Larry bought Tocco's 2 rings, some of the equipment and always looked to Johnny for solid advice.. I thought Maurice won. It was Harris's first proper TV exposure.. He was a very good boxer and i always liked him.. I later got to know him as Lewis's sparring partner along with my own heavy Friday Ahunanya... Harris performance for his age was incredible....

[Russell]

Can you believe he turned pro at 175 pounds and ended up fighting at 260 plus, bigcat?

Have you seen his performance against Sergei Lyakovich? That was an amazing fight.

[Russell]

Speaking of Friday Ahunanya, his first pro loss was against Lyakovich wasn't it?

[Bigcat]

Yes , we were actually surprised when he folded against Mo.. i watched that one with Friday.. Mo like you said was inconsistant , as too was Sergei.. (i remember that awful night at Mandalay bay when Friday lost his first pro fight.. it was bad for Rahman .. and Akinwande too Henry was leading by a mile when Oliver McCall Knocked him out with 20 seconds on the clock.) Yes , Mo for the Holmes fight was around 208 if i remember.. He had a very tough upbringing in NJ... Sergei is a man i like and got to know well, Fridays friend and sparring partner was Samuel Peter , and of course he was managed by the same man as Lyachovich is , Ivaylo Gotzev.. Ivaylo got us the fight with Povetkin in Mannheim, and Friday sparred an awful lot of rounds with Sergei in Arizona for his fight with Brewster.. God Bless..

[Russell]

Amazing stuff as always bigcat. Thanks for sharing your stories.

Another connection, Akiwande against Harris. Akiwande looked amazed when he knocked him out against the ropes with a single straight right hand. :lol:

[Bigcat]

Henry caught Mo cold , and it was a great shot. I grew up around Henry and i always championed his cause as he rose from working in a factory in London to sweeping the streets for pocket cash.. to a world championship.. I was also an amateur the same time as he was, the year be won the ABA title at heavyweight at the albert hall he boxed a dirty filthy fight against a disrespectful Herbie Hide ... Herbie went to shake his hand after the decision and a nasty Akinwande shoved him aside.. I was at ringside when he had his first pro fight in the same arena against Carleton Headly, on the Gary Mason v Tyrell Biggs card in Nov 1989.. He had to always box out of the shadows of Mason, Banjo, Bruno and Notice in the Duff , Lawless camp ... His first main event proper was on TV live in Britain against a massive Italian called Biaggio Chianese whom he stopped with a single uppercut to the forehead which split him wide open and dripping with blood .. The one night i did feel sorry for Henry was when Tyson pulled out of the Buster Mathis jr bout at the MGM because ticket sales were terrible, Henry was to have boxed his toughest test of his life and had it postponed because Mike faked a thumb bone break.. He was due to face Tony TNT Tucker (avatar LOL) Henry cried after the press conference , he was , along with the rest of the undercard and Buster himself inconsolable... besides himself with emotion , i was so glad when he battered Tucker on points in Philly a few months later. If you look at the resume of Henry it was excellent , the victory over Williams to win the WBO and the shutout on Tyson v Holyfield card against Zolkin were great respectful wins yet everyone remembers him for being an octopus against Lennox... Henry struck up a great friendship with Michael Grant and they were almost like husband and wife when in the same place.. i went shopping with Grant and Akinwande to Bernini's in the MGM , they were searching for dressy attire for the Holyfield v TYson night.. the look on the shopowners face when they strolled in was priceless, two 6 ft 8 ish heavys browsing through Versace suits... we did laugh our asses off... We used to have a name for Henry. It was Rudolph.. it goes back to his school days when at 6 ft 10 he looked like he could take the roof off, Rudolph (Roofoff) it kinda stuck, Grant and Akinwande were actually close to Holyfield and in fact when Akinwande was to have boxed Holyfield at MSG (postponed) it was very awkward .. Holyfield and Akinwande were in fact men of honour at Mike Grants wedding a year later... I gotta stop rolling on .. i talk too much .. anyhow , God Bless.........

[good right hand]

I gotta stop rolling on .. i talk too much .. anyhow , God Bless.........

please by all means speak your mind,

its very interesting:think

[Mendoza]

I saw the fight. As a Holmes fan, I must say I felt Harris won a close decision. A draw would have been fine here. The thing is Harris did not press it enough to earn a clear decision.

However, Holmes beat a then 31-0 Nielsen in the fight before this, but was jobbed into a split decision loss because the fight was in Nielsen’s home country.

Holmes was perhaps the most shafted great heavyweight I can think of. Losing vs Neilsen when he should have won is something no ATG heavyweight has experienced. Losing the 2nd Spinks fight was in-justice.

Holmes finished his career at 69-6. If the judges were spot on, and fair, his ring record should be 70-5.

[zadfrak]

Just a whole different ballgame having to take your act on the road and come out with the wins. Sure can't think of too many others getting breaks when Larry was the house fighter. I always like seeing how these guys handle finally having to go in somebody else's backyard and get the results.

The Quinn Navarre fight was also another real close call like that Harris bout.

[DamonD]

I haven't seen it since the year itself, so that's a good 11 years ago now, but I did think Mo outworked Larry and even outjabbed him.

As zadfrak says, the Quinn Naverre fight was a tight one too. Not so strong saying Naverre deserved the win as Mo did, but that was tight.

Henry caught Mo cold , and it was a great shot. I grew up around Henry and i always championed his cause as he rose from working in a factory in London to sweeping the streets for pocket cash.. to a world championship.. I was also an amateur the same time as he was, the year be won the ABA title at heavyweight at the albert hall he boxed a dirty filthy fight against a disrespectful Herbie Hide ... Herbie went to shake his hand after the decision and a nasty Akinwande shoved him aside.. I was at ringside when he had his first pro fight in the same arena against Carleton Headly, on the Gary Mason v Tyrell Biggs card in Nov 1989.. He had to always box out of the shadows of Mason, Banjo, Bruno and Notice in the Duff , Lawless camp ... His first main event proper was on TV live in Britain against a massive Italian called Biaggio Chianese whom he stopped with a single uppercut to the forehead which split him wide open and dripping with blood .. The one night i did feel sorry for Henry was when Tyson pulled out of the Buster Mathis jr bout at the MGM because ticket sales were terrible, Henry was to have boxed his toughest test of his life and had it postponed because Mike faked a thumb bone break.. He was due to face Tony TNT Tucker (avatar LOL) Henry cried after the press conference , he was , along with the rest of the undercard and Buster himself inconsolable... besides himself with emotion , i was so glad when he battered Tucker on points in Philly a few months later. If you look at the resume of Henry it was excellent , the victory over Williams to win the WBO and the shutout on Tyson v Holyfield card against Zolkin were great respectful wins yet everyone remembers him for being an octopus against Lennox... Henry struck up a great friendship with Michael Grant and they were almost like husband and wife when in the same place.. i went shopping with Grant and Akinwande to Bernini's in the MGM , they were searching for dressy attire for the Holyfield v TYson night.. the look on the shopowners face when they strolled in was priceless, two 6 ft 8 ish heavys browsing through Versace suits... we did laugh our asses off... We used to have a name for Henry. It was Rudolph.. it goes back to his school days when at 6 ft 10 he looked like he could take the roof off, Rudolph (Roofoff) it kinda stuck, Grant and Akinwande were actually close to Holyfield and in fact when Akinwande was to have boxed Holyfield at MSG (postponed) it was very awkward .. Holyfield and Akinwande were in fact men of honour at Mike Grants wedding a year later... I gotta stop rolling on .. i talk too much .. anyhow , God Bless.........
Nono, man, carry on! :D

[AnthonyJ74]

I saw the fight. As a Holmes fan, I must say I felt Harris won a close decision. A draw would have been fine here. The thing is Harris did not press it enough to earn a clear decision.

However, Holmes beat a then 31-0 Nielsen in the fight before this, but was jobbed into a split decision loss because the fight was in Nielsen’s home country.

Holmes was perhaps the most shafted great heavyweight I can think of. Losing vs Neilsen when he should have won is something no ATG heavyweight has experienced. Losing the 2nd Spinks fight was in-justice.

Holmes finished his career at 69-6. If the judges were spot on, and fair, his ring record should be 70-5.

I agree. Mo Harris outboxed and outworked Holmes. All Holmes did was land some strong body shots and try to bull Harris around. The Quinn Navarre fight was another close one, but I think Holmes deserved the win. But it was clear that Holmes was slipping badly by that point.

But the thing is, I think Holmes was just never in all that great of shape towards the latter stages of his comeback. I'm sure he would have performed better against Harris and Navarre - and even Nielsen - if he had really trained hard and put the work and time in the gym. I always had the feeling that Larry never really killed himself in training. He probably thought his experience and natural talents were enough to beat most of those no-name guys.

I don't care how old Holmes was - 245-250 pounds was just way too much weight for him to carry. For a guy that won the title at like 209, he was just too heavy. I think the 233 that he carried for Mercer and Holyfield should have been about his upper limit as far a weight. Holmes wasn't really all that big boned or broad like a lot of other heavyweights, so the extra weight just didn't sit as well on him........

[kenmore]

Maurice Harris was a far better fighter than his record indicates. I'm convinced that Harris had serious talent. It's too bad he didn't get a big buildup...I think he might have become a contender.

[Rock0052]

Great stuff, Bigcat. Always look forward to your posts :thumbsup