Larry Holmes

Acting

Larry Holmes

Born 1949-11-03 · Cuthbert, Georgia, USA

Larry Holmes is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 2002. He grew up in Easton, Pennsylvania, which led to his boxing nickname of the Easton Assassin. Holmes, whose left jab is rated among the best in boxing history, held the WBC heavyweight title from 1978 to 1983, The Ring magazine and lineal heavyweight titles from 1980 to 1985, and the inaugural IBF heavyweight title from 1983 to 1985. During his only title reign, he defended his title against 19 fighters, the second most in history behind Joe Louis. He also holds the record for the longest individual heavyweight title streak in the modern boxing history. Holmes is one of only five boxers—along with Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Leon Spinks and Trevor Berbick—to defeat Muhammad Ali; he is the only one to have stopped Ali. Holmes won his first 48 professional bouts, including victories over Norton, Ali, Earnie Shavers, Mike Weaver, Gerry Cooney, Tim Witherspoon, Carl Williams and Marvis Frazier. He fell one short of matching Rocky Marciano's career record of 49–0 when he lost to Michael Spinks in an upset in 1985. Holmes retired after losing a rematch to Spinks the following year, but made repeated comebacks. He was unsuccessful in three further attempts (against Mike Tyson in 1988, Evander Holyfield in 1992 and Oliver McCall in 1995) to regain the heavyweight title. Holmes fought for the final time in 2002, aged 52, against the 334lb Eric "Butterbean" Esch, and ended his career with a record of 69 wins and 6 losses. He is frequently ranked as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time and has been inducted into both the International Boxing Hall of Fame and World Boxing Hall of Fame. When Holmes was nineteen, he started boxing. In his twenty-first bout, he boxed Nick Wells in the semifinals of the 1972 National Olympic Trials in Fort Worth, Texas. Wells, a southpaw known for unprecedently high knockout-to-win percentage for an amateur boxer, with a majority of knockouts coming in the first round, stopped Holmes in the first round. Nevertheless, Holmes was chosen by a selection committee of the National Olympic authorities to fight at the Olympic Box-offs in West Point, New York, where he had a match-up versus a fighting seaman Duane Bobick. Holmes was dropped in the first round with a right to the head. He got up and danced out of range, landing several stiff jabs in the process. Bobick mauled Holmes in the second round but could not corner him. The referee warned Holmes twice in the second for holding. In the third, Bobick landed several good rights and started to corner Holmes, who continued to hold. Eventually, Holmes was disqualified for excessive holding. Holmes invested the money he earned from boxing and settled in his hometown of Easton. When he retired from boxing, Holmes employed more than 200 people through his various business holdings. In 2008, he owned two restaurants and a nightclub, a training facility, an office complex, a snack food bar and slot machines.[citation needed] Holmes currently co-hosts a talk show What The Heck Were They Thinking?

Acting credits

River of Fundament poster
5.9

Visionary artist Matthew Barney returns to cinema with this 3-part epic, a radical reinvention of Norman Mailer’s novel Ancient Evenings. In collaboration with composer Jonathan Bepler, Barney combines traditional modes of narrative cinema with filmed elements of performance, sculpture, and opera, reconstructing Mailer’s hypersexual story of Egyptian gods and the seven stages of reincarnation, alongside the rise and fall of the American car industry.

River of Fundament

2014

No artwork available
NR

A collection of hard hitting clips from the world of boxing. It includes incredible knockouts, referees getting punched, punch-ups outside the ring, clowns of the ring and much more.

Boxing Barmy

1996

Dirty Movie poster
3.2

An outrageous cut-rate producer is about to fulfill his lifelong dream to make a movie about the most offensive, dirtiest jokes ever told. As Charlie and his filmmaking team hilariously struggle to write a script and assemble their award-winning cast, the movie-within-a-movie emerges with one dirty joke after another. Only one can take the crown for writing the dirtiest joke ever told, and Charlie will do whatever he can to be that king.

Dirty Movie

2011

Champions Forever poster
8.3

No other film has the sweeping review of Ali's greatest fights, the legendary fight footage, and the real time relevant comments and conversations with the men who made him "The Greatest." Muhammad Ali was simply the greets and he proved by going up against the most incredible fighters of all time, together they made the world of sports stand still as they battled for dominance.

Champions Forever

1989

Glory Years poster
6.0

A group of former high-school buddies have a reunion in Las Vegas. Thinking to increase their alumni fund, they proceed to use it to gamble at the casinos. Of course, they lose it all. They then get together and try to figure out a way to win it all back.

Glory Years

1987

National Lampoon's Snatched poster
4.1

A nice guy goes into the hospital for surgery and through a series of mishaps suffers every man's worst nightmare.

National Lampoon's Snatched

2011

No artwork available
NR

A collection of bizarre incidents and bizarre characters from the world of boxing. It includes knock-outs, ring invasions, mad parachutists, tears before bed-time and much more (no rabid ear-biting, though).

Boxing Crazy

1997

Half Nelson poster
NR

Rocky Nelson is a New York cop, who after making a major bust and selling the rights of his story to Hollywood decides to try his luck out as an actor. However, when he gets there, the directors think that he is too short to be an actor. He is then approach by someone who offers him a job at a Hollywood security agency, cause he would fit in there being an ex-cop and while working there he could come in contact with some Hollywood heavy-weights who could give him the break he needs. And at the same he gets to live in Dean Martin's guest-house.

Half Nelson

1985

No artwork available
NR

Harry Carpenter quizzes ex-Heavyweight Champion Mike Tyson on what it takes to get to the top in the boxing ring, analysing the styles of great fighters like Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali and Tyson himself.

Mike Tyson Presents: The Heavyweights

1988

Facing Ali poster
7.4

Ten of Muhammad Ali's former rivals pay tribute to the three-time world heavyweight champion.

Facing Ali

2009

Thrilla in Manila poster
7.8

On October 1, 1975, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali was in the ring with his arch rival Joe Frazier for the third time. This fight in the Philippines, which has been nicknamed "Thrilla in Manila," is considered one of the most dramatic boxing matches in history - in the words of the voice-over, "They hated each other." With the help of archive material and eyewitness accounts (including Imelda Marcos), this documentary not only reconstructs the match, but shows us what was happening behind the scenes as well.

Thrilla in Manila

2008

Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson poster
8.0

Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson is a 1993 film made by acclaimed American documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple. Though Tyson was in jail serving a sentence for rape, Kopple used existing interviews with the boxer, as well as her own extensive interviews with those closest to Tyson, to explore the man's history. The film traces Tyson's story from his troubled and tumultuous upbringing, through his rapid ascendancy in the ranks of the boxing world and his subsequent struggle with the trappings of fame. Fallen Champ earned Barbara Kopple a Directors Guild of America award as Best Documentary Director of 1993.

Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson

1993

Mike Tyson vs Trevor Berbick poster
5.0

TYSON WINS W.B.C. CHAMPIONSHIP LAS VEGAS, Nev., Nov. 22— Mike Tyson made history tonight. The 20-year-old slugger from Catskill, N.Y., became the youngest heavyweight champion ever when he stopped Trevor Berbick at 2:35 of the second round of a scheduled 12-round bout. In taking away Berbick's World Boxing Council crown, Tyson knocked Berbick down twice, both times in the second round, pounding him so hard that he had Berbick reeling across the ring at the end in a nearly comic loop-de-loop.

Mike Tyson vs Trevor Berbick

1986

Mike Tyson vs Larry Holmes poster
9.0

On January 22, 1988, Holmes was lured out of retirement to challenge reigning Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion Mike Tyson. Tyson dropped Holmes in the fourth round with an overhand right. Holmes got up, but Tyson put him down two more times in the round, and the fight was stopped. After the fight Holmes once again retired.

Mike Tyson vs Larry Holmes

1988

The Moment After poster
5.3

In the twinkling of an eye, a mass disappearance has occurred. Moments after the turmoil and confusion, the FBI is called in to investigate and locate the missing persons. For Agent Adam Riley (David White), it is personal. For Agent Charles Baker (Kevin Downes), it doesn't matter, it's just a job.

The Moment After

1999

Muhammad and Larry poster
6.4

In October of 1980 Muhammad Ali was preparing to fight for an unprecedented fourth heavyweight title against his friend and former sparring partner Larry Holmes. To say that the great Ali was in the twilight of his career would be generous; most of his admiring fans, friends and fight scribes considered his bravado delusional. What was left for him to prove? In the weeks of training before the fight, documentarians Albert and David Maysles took an intimate look at Ali trying to convince the world and perhaps himself, that he was still “The Greatest.” At the same time, they documented the mild-mannered and undervalued champion Holmes as he confidently prepared to put an end to the career of a man for whom he had an abiding and deep affection

Muhammad and Larry

2009

In the Company of Kings poster
NR

In the Company of Kings follows a fight fan's unforgettable journey into the dark heart of American boxing to talk to eight former World Champs and those closest to his hero, Muhammad Ali, about race, struggle, victory, defeat and picking yourself up off the canvas. Features Larry Holmes, Bernard Hopkins, Tim Witherspoon, Earnie Shavers, the Spinks brothers, Bob Arum and more.

In the Company of Kings

2024

Chasing Tyson poster
6.9

Evander Holyfield knew he could never earn the respect he craved until he defeated Mike Tyson. When the two finally fought, the world witnessed not one, but two of the boxing's most memorable fights.

Chasing Tyson

2015

Muhammad and Larry poster
NR

Through the poetic lens of visionary filmmakers Albert and David Maysles, Muhammad and Larry explores the unique and poignant relationship between two great boxers and two remarkable men who were more than just competitors. They were once teacher and student, and remain close friends.

Muhammad and Larry

1980

Oliver McCall vs. Larry Holmes poster
NR

Oliver McCall vs. Larry Holmes, billed as "Burden of Proof", was a professional boxing match contested on April 8, 1995 for the WBC Heavyweight Championship. After Oliver McCall stunned Lennox Lewis in the second round to become WBC Heavyweight Champion, he turned down a $10 million offer from Lewis for an immediate rematch. Instead he agreed to fight 46 year old former WBC, IBF and lineal heavyweight champion Larry Holmes, who was making his fourth attempt at regaining a heavyweight title after losing to Michael Spinks in 1985. Each of his previous three attempts (against Spinks in 1986 in a rematch, against Mike Tyson in 1988, and against Evander Holyfield in 1992) ended in defeat, although he went the distance in two of the three fights.

Oliver McCall vs. Larry Holmes

1995

Tommy poster
7.9

Co-directed by Gentry Kirby and Erin Leyden, “Tommy” examines Morrison’s remarkable rise to the spotlight, followed by a stunning, confounding, and ultimately tragic fall. He was one of the best heavyweights of his time; a handsome, charming, yet unsettled young star. Born into a troubled family in America’s heartland, Morrison’s initial emergence as a fighter was bolstered by a starring role in “Rocky V.” A few years later he beat George Foreman for the WBO heavyweight title, and seemed primed for more stardom, even in the face of blown opportunities and upset losses. But everything changed in early 1996 when he tested positive for HIV, abruptly forcing him into retirement at age 27. From there, Morrison’s life spiraled further and further downward, plagued by drug problems, jail time, and an eventual denial that he had the virus at all.

Tommy

2017

Larry Holmes vs. Michael Spinks II poster
6.0

IBF Champion Michael Spinks meets former champion Larry Holmes.

Larry Holmes vs. Michael Spinks II

1986

Naked Sport: Welcome to the Sewer poster
NR

Produced by PBS in 1992, this documentary explores the darker side of boxing. It follows the career of a young Shannon Briggs and includes interviews with Evander Holyfield, Larry Holmes, Teddy Atlas, Dan Duva, Kathy Duva, Lou Duva, Bobby Czyz, Bob Arum, Mike Marley and even Muhammad Ali.

Naked Sport: Welcome to the Sewer

1993

Champions Forever - World Heavyweight Champs! poster
NR

Previously unseen footage, seeing and hearing the champions interviewed and talking to each other at a private dinner party hosted by baseball’s legendary great, Reggie Jackson. Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Holmes, Norton. For more than twenty years, these kings of boxing ruled the ring as they passed the world heavyweight title from one to the other. Now for the first time, see them all come face to face – gloves off – in an unprecedented video event. Footage from over 30 fights, which include 15 title matches, featuring interviews and news events as they occurred during each champion’s reign.

Champions Forever - World Heavyweight Champs!

2000