Larry Holmes vs Scott LeDoux

Larry Holmes retained the WBC heavyweight championship at the Metropolitan Sports Centre in Bloomington, Minnesota, on Monday, July 7, 1980, stopping Scott LeDoux at 2 minutes 5 seconds of the seventh round. Holmes, defending the title for the seventh time since winning it from Ken Norton in 1978, entered unbeaten at 34-0 and weighed 214¼ pounds. LeDoux, the local challenger from Minnesota, came in at 226 pounds with a record of 26-8-4. The contest was scheduled for 15 rounds and was fought before 6,491 spectators, who paid a gate of $253,000, then reported as the largest in Minnesota boxing history. Muhammad Ali was among those at ringside.

LeDoux had the backing of most of the crowd, but Holmes quickly made plain the difference between a willing contender and an established champion. From the opening round, the champion’s left jab was the governing punch of the fight. Holmes used it with the economy and authority that had become his mark, keeping LeDoux at the end of his reach and denying him the close, rough exchanges in which he might have hoped to make the contest awkward. LeDoux came forward bravely and tried to answer with wider punches, but he was made to pay for every advance. By the end of the early rounds, Holmes had the pattern he wanted: left hand first, right hand when LeDoux was squared, and a steady step away whenever the challenger tried to close him down.

The first five rounds were one-sided without being spectacular. Holmes did not need to hurry. He measured LeDoux, jabbed at the head, and gradually marked the challenger’s left eye. LeDoux’s best moments came when he tried to lunge over the jab or make Holmes fight at closer quarters, but he could not sustain the attacks. Holmes’ balance remained sound, his feet kept him just outside the challenger’s heavier swings, and his jab repeatedly forced LeDoux to reset. The scoring reflected the champion's control. Referee Davey Pearl, judge Richard Steele, and judge Harold Lederman each had Holmes ahead 60-53 after six rounds, with Holmes winning every completed round and scoring the sixth 10-8.

The decisive damage came in the sixth round. With roughly half a minute remaining, Holmes landed a short right uppercut as LeDoux was coming in. LeDoux went down to his knees, the only official knockdown of the fight. He rose and protested to Pearl that he had been thumbed in the eye. Accounts from ringside noted that he had also missed with a wild right hand and appeared to catch himself awkwardly near the ropes as he fell. The referee ruled it a knockdown, and the round went to Holmes by two points on all three cards. LeDoux survived to the bell, but the condition of his left eye had become the central issue of the fight.

At the end of the sixth, and again in the opening moments of the seventh, the ringside doctor was asked to inspect LeDoux’s eye. The challenger’s left upper eyelid was cut and swollen, and his vision was plainly impaired. He was allowed to continue, but there was little sign that he could change the course of the contest. Holmes resumed behind the jab, landing with little resistance. Pearl later said he had been told LeDoux could continue, but that he intended to stop the bout if the challenger was struck hard again. Holmes then landed three lefts and a right to the head, unanswered, and Pearl stepped in at 2:05 of the round.

The stoppage was correct. LeDoux was game and wanted to go on, as he had a hard career against good, heavyweights throughout, but he was no longer defending himself adequately and could not see properly through the damaged eye. Later reports stated that his retina had been damaged. Holmes, though not producing a clean knockout, had won every minute that mattered. His jab had reduced the challenger from an eager local hope to a damaged target, and the right hand in the sixth removed any remaining doubt about the direction of the fight.

For Holmes, it was another successful defence in a title reign that had already become workmanlike and commanding. He had beaten Norton for the championship, then stopped Alfredo Evangelista, Ossie Ocasio, Mike Weaver, Earnie Shavers, Lorenzo Zanon and Leroy Jones before coming to Minnesota. With the stoppage of LeDoux, he recorded a seventh consecutive successful title defence inside the distance, a mark compared at the time with the run of Joe Louis. His next defence would be against the ageing Ali, but in Bloomington, he had done what was required of a champion on the road: he quieted a partisan crowd, controlled the challenger with first-class fundamentals, and left with his title intact.