Larry Holmes vs David Bey

Larry Holmes retained the International Boxing Federation heavyweight championship by stopping the previously unbeaten David Bey at two minutes 58 seconds of the tenth round at the Riviera Hotel and Casino’s outdoor arena in Las Vegas on March 15, 1985. Holmes, making the second defence of the IBF title, weighed 224 pounds and entered with 46 victories from as many contests. Bey weighed 233 pounds and had won all 14 of his professional bouts. Carlos Padilla was the referee, and the contest was scheduled for 15 rounds. Holmes was a 4–1 favourite, but Bey had earned his position by defeating Greg Page over 12 rounds for the United States Boxing Association title. Page subsequently won the WBA championship, lending further weight to the challenger’s credentials.

Bey began with confidence and caused Holmes more difficulty than the champion had expected during the first four rounds. He advanced behind an awkward guard, bending at the waist and throwing his right hand in wide, forceful arcs over Holmes’s jab. Holmes remained cautious and spent much of the opening round studying the challenger’s movements rather than imposing his usual pattern. Bey’s unorthodox delivery made him difficult to time, and he was able to make Holmes miss with several right hands while attempting to answer with his own. The challenger was not polished, but he was strong, alert and willing to take the initiative.

Bey had his best success late in the second round. After several of his right hands had passed over Holmes’s shoulder, he caught the champion with a short left hook that shook him noticeably. Another hook struck high on the chest before Holmes moved away and recovered his balance. Holmes later admitted that the first blow had gained his attention. Bey continued to press in the third and fourth rounds, trying to tempt Holmes into leading with the right so that he could counter over the top. The champion blocked many punches with his arms and elbows, but his own attacks were tentative, and he allowed Bey to dictate much of the early pace. Contemporary reports stated that the challenger had won the opening four rounds on the official cards.

Between the fourth and fifth rounds, Holmes’s trainer, Eddie Futch, made the adjustment that changed the contest. He instructed Holmes to stop waiting for Bey, to lead with the jab and then counter the challenger’s reply. Futch had recognised that Bey required room to swing his heavy punches and that he was much less effective when forced backwards. Holmes followed the instructions immediately. In the fifth, he advanced behind a sharper jab, striking Bey to the head and body and preventing him from setting his feet. The challenger, so eager during the opening rounds, began retreating and pawing with his left while keeping his right glove close to his chin.

Holmes now boxed with greater purpose. His jab became faster and more accurate, repeatedly snapping Bey’s head backwards and swelling the area around the challenger’s left eye. He also began landing the straight right after stepping slightly to his own right, a movement that carried him away from Bey’s principal counter. Bey remained dangerous when Holmes allowed the distance to widen, but his attacks became less frequent as the champion crowded him and forced him to punch while moving backwards. By the sixth and seventh rounds, the early advantage had disappeared. Holmes had solved the challenger’s awkwardness and was controlling both the distance and the pace.

The decisive change came in the eighth. Holmes fired two jabs, stepped to his right and drove a straight right hand against the side of Bey’s head. The challenger fell in the centre of the ring. Holmes added a left hook as Bey was going down, the punch landing behind the head, but no foul was called. Bey rose from the couch, still unsteady, and Holmes attacked at once. The champion drove him across the ring with a succession of punches and finished the assault with an uppercut that sent Bey down for the second time, his left arm becoming entangled with the lower rope. Bey rose at eight, his legs unsteady and his expression confused. The bell sounded before Holmes could resume the attack.

Bey had not fully recovered when the ninth began. Holmes continued to advance behind the jab and landed straight rights whenever the challenger attempted to hold his ground. Bey showed courage and remained upright, but much of his earlier confidence had gone. He was slower in bringing back his hands and increasingly unable to avoid Holmes’s right cross. The champion did not rush recklessly. He worked methodically, making Bey carry his weight in close and striking whenever the challenger attempted to move away. At the end of nine rounds, Holmes had moved clearly ahead, with Harold Lederman scoring the bout 87–82, Dalby Shirley 88–81 and Tom McDonough 87–82.

Holmes came out firmly in the tenth, sensing that Bey had little left beyond his determination. He pursued him around the ring and repeatedly drove overhand rights through and around the guard. Bey was forced from one corner to another, unable to mount a meaningful counterattack. During the final minute, Holmes trapped him near the ropes and landed a hard right that sent the challenger staggering across the ring. Bey reached the opposite corner but could not escape. Holmes followed and struck him with further right hands as he stood dazed and largely defenceless.

Padilla intervened after another clean right struck Bey flush on the head, stopping the contest with only two seconds remaining in the round. Bey had not gone down for a third time, but he was no longer defending himself adequately and made no complaint about the referee’s action. Holmes had turned a difficult opening into a decisive victory by altering his tactics, increasing the pressure and denying the challenger the space required for his wide punches. Bey said afterwards that he had expected Holmes to be easier to hit and acknowledged that the champion had shown more speed and resilience than anticipated. He also said that a cold had affected his stamina, though the principal cause of his defeat was Holmes’s ability to adjust after the early rounds.

The victory raised Holmes’s record to 47–0 and extended the championship sequence that had begun with his defeat of Ken Norton in June 1978. He earned a reported $1.525 million, while Bey received approximately $130,000. Holmes announced afterwards that this would be his final defence and said he intended to retire on June 9, the seventh anniversary of his victory over Norton, unless promoters produced an exceptional offer. The retirement did not last. He returned three months later to defend against Carl Williams and continued his pursuit of Rocky Marciano’s unbeaten 49–0 record. Against Bey, however, Holmes had shown that at 35 he remained capable of overcoming early difficulty, reading an opponent and finishing with the authority of an established champion.