Larry Holmes vs James Smith

Larry Holmes retained the International Boxing Federation heavyweight championship at the Riviera Hotel’s outdoor arena in Las Vegas on November 9, 1984, when James “Bonecrusher” Smith was withdrawn because of a badly cut left eyelid at two minutes ten seconds of the twelfth round. Holmes, weighing 222 pounds, was five pounds lighter than Smith and entered the ring unbeaten in 45 professional contests. The champion was making his first defence of the IBF title and fighting for the first time in almost a year. He had relinquished the WBC championship the previous December after failing to reach terms for a compulsory defence against Greg Page, and had subsequently accepted recognition from the recently established IBF. The match was scheduled for 15 rounds, with Davey Pearl as referee. Holmes received a reported purse of $1 million and Smith $175,000.

Smith had earned his opportunity by producing one of the notable heavyweight upsets of the year. Five months earlier in London, he had knocked out the unbeaten Frank Bruno in the tenth and final round after trailing for much of the contest. That victory established the strength of Smith’s right hand and provided the principal point of interest in Las Vegas. His professional record stood at 14 victories and 1 defeat, the loss coming in his debut against James Broad. Holmes, by contrast, had held heavyweight championship recognition for more than six years and possessed a large advantage in experience. Smith was dangerous when permitted to plant his feet, but his movements were deliberate, and he lacked the champion’s speed, balance and command of distance.

Holmes took possession of the opening rounds with his left jab. He boxed upright, moving sufficiently to prevent Smith from setting himself and striking repeatedly through the challenger’s guard. Smith advanced with his gloves held high, looking for the overhand right that had rescued him against Bruno, but he was slow in bringing his feet into punching position. Holmes was able to score and move away or tie him up before the return came. During the first four rounds, the champion also landed several straight right hands, though Smith accepted them without being seriously disturbed. Holmes appeared increasingly willing to remain within range and search for a decisive blow rather than content himself with the steady accumulation of points.

That change brought danger in the fifth round. Holmes missed with a right, and Smith countered with a heavy right hand of his own. The punch shook the champion and forced him to hold immediately. Holmes used his experience well, fastening onto Smith and walking him around the ring until his head had cleared. Smith tried to free his arms, but could not create the room needed for another full blow. When the action resumed, Holmes returned to the jab and completed the round without further mishap. The incident showed that Smith’s chances depended upon catching Holmes during the champion’s increasingly ambitious attacks rather than attempting to outbox him.

Holmes restored control in the sixth, but the seventh produced an injury that troubled him for the remainder of the contest. Smith ducked beneath a right hand and came upward from his crouch, his head striking Holmes above the brow. A deep cut opened and began bleeding freely. Percy Richardson worked on the wound between rounds, but the flow was difficult to contain. Smith attempted to make the injury count, pressing forward more urgently and forcing Holmes to work at a faster pace than he had intended. The challenger’s attacks remained crude in places, but his strength and persistence ensured that the champion could not relax.

Smith landed another hard right in the eighth round and again made Holmes hold. The champion had been trying to load his right hand, leaving himself open to Smith’s slower but powerful counter. Eddie Futch corrected the fault in the corner, instructing Holmes to return to movement, make greater use of the jab and shorten the path of his right hand so that Smith’s counter would pass over his shoulder. Holmes followed the advice. From the ninth round onward, he boxed with greater caution, circling away from Smith’s right, scoring with straighter punches and refusing to remain stationary after delivering them. Smith continued to advance, but the challenger was now being made to reset before each attack.

The tactical change reduced Smith’s opportunities and allowed Holmes to resume his clear lead. The champion’s face remained marked by the cut, and his corner was required to attend to it after every round, but his boxing became more orderly. Smith’s own features began to show the effect of the repeated jab and right hand. His forward movement grew slower, and although he continued to carry the threat of one heavy punch, he was increasingly obliged to absorb several blows before getting close enough to deliver it. There were no knockdowns, but Holmes was winning the greater part of each round by accuracy and activity.

In the eleventh Holmes produced the punch that determined the outcome. He threw a short right hand of the kind Futch had requested, beating Smith to the target and tearing open the challenger’s left eyelid. The cut was severe and immediately impaired Smith’s vision. Holmes recognised the damage and concentrated his attack upon the injured side, using the jab to lift Smith’s guard before following with the right. Smith completed the round but returned to his corner bleeding heavily. His seconds attempted to close the wound, though it was apparent that the flesh around the eye had been badly divided.

Holmes continued to aim at the injury in the twelfth. Smith remained willing to come forward but could no longer defend himself effectively from punches approaching his left side. Referee Pearl halted the action and took the challenger to the ringside physician, Dr Donald Romeo. After examining the wound, the doctor informed Smith of its seriousness and asked whether he wished to continue. Smith replied that the contest should be stopped. The cut later required 20 stitches. There was no protest from the challenger or his corner, and the decision was justified by the extent of the damage.

Holmes was well ahead at the time of the stoppage. Glen Hamada had scored the completed rounds 109–100, Henry Elespuru 108–100 and Duane Ford 108–101. The figures reflected the champion’s control, although they did not fully convey the danger he had faced from Smith’s right hand in the fifth and eighth rounds or the complication caused by his own cut. Holmes later said that he had entered the contest with a damaged thumb and, many years afterwards, disclosed that he had undergone haemorrhoid surgery only three weeks before the fight. His later claim that he earned $3.5 million differs from the $1 million purse reported at the time. Whatever his physical difficulties, he had been required to work harder than expected against an inexperienced but determined challenger.

The victory carried Holmes’s record to 46 wins without defeat and extended a championship reign that had begun with his defeat of Ken Norton in 1978. Smith’s challenge ended because of injury rather than exhaustion or a knockdown, and his two successful right hands demonstrated why he remained a dangerous heavyweight. He would later fulfil that promise by knocking out Tim Witherspoon in the first round to win the WBA championship in December 1986. In Las Vegas, however, Holmes’s jab, composure and ability to alter his tactics had been decisive. Smith supplied resistance and occasional danger, but the champion won almost every round and was moving towards a wide points victory when the damaged eyelid brought the proceedings to an end.

I thought Larry Holmes showed exactly why championship experience matters against James “Bonecrusher” Smith. Holmes had been out for nearly a year after flattening Marvis Frazier, while Smith had earned his chance by stopping the unbeaten Frank Bruno in London. That Bruno win made Smith attractive because everyone could see he carried a serious right hand, but one punch was never going to be enough against a fighter as seasoned as Holmes.

Holmes controlled most of it with that long jab, but he made life harder than necessary by standing in range and looking for the big right. Smith caught him heavily in the fifth and troubled him again later, proving he was dangerous. A clash of heads opened Holmes up, and for a spell, the champion had blood to deal with as well as Smith’s pressure. The difference was that Holmes could adjust. He got back on his feet, shortened the right hand and stopped giving Bonecrusher the distance he needed.

By the eleventh, Holmes had cut Smith badly around the left eye. The damage worsened in the twelfth until the doctor advised the stoppage at 2:10. Holmes was miles ahead on the cards, 109-100, 108-100 and 108-101, but Smith had made him work harder than those scores suggest.

For me, this was not vintage Holmes, but it was clever Holmes. He got hurt, got cut, changed the plan and took the challenger apart piece by piece. That is what champions do.