Word: ezzard
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...This is the first time Tyson is going to meet some talent; Spinks is a thinking fighter," says the venerable trainer Ray Arcel, 89, who carted 13 opponents to Louis before beating him with Ezzard Charles. ("And you know something? As happy as I was for my guy, that's how sad I was for Joe.") Nothing can touch boxing for beautiful old men. "Tyson is learning how to think too," Arcel says. "He's picked up a lot from those old films he studies, including a little Jack Dempsey." He first saw Dempsey in 1916 in New York City...
...Ezzard Charles' misfortune was to succeed Joe Louis, Holmes' sorest miscalculation came in following Muhammad Ali, who claimed to be bigger than boxing and was correct. Often graceless in public, Holmes has a gentler streak that comes out in private, for instance, when discussing Ali, whom he served as a sparring partner and studied as a man until Holmes' embarrassing skills & necessitated his firing. "I always sat myself in the back," he says, "and just watched. Today's fighters don't discipline, they don't dedicate. But worst of all, they don't sit themselves in the back...
Arcel has frequently referred to Holmes as "the most underrated heavyweight champion in history. He followed that overpowering salesman Muhammad Ali. Gene Tunney beat Jack Dempsey, but Dempsey was still called champ. Ezzard Charles was never forgiven, even by his own people, for beating Louis. It's just time Larry Holmes was recognized as a true and great champion." After all, he has worn the belt for more than four years...