Publication title: North Adams Transcript. North Adams, Mass.: Oct 7, 2008.                                                             
                                                                     
                                             
BROCKTON (AP) - Brockton gets its first look at its new RockyMarciano statue.

The World Boxing Council unveiled a small reproduction of the statueat city hall on Monday. It shows the undefeated heavyweight champ inboxing trunks and gloves raising his arms in victory.

Mayor James Harrington says the real 24-foot bronze statue will beerected outside city hall and dedicated next year, perhaps onMarciano's Sept. 1 birthday.

Stephen Marciano, Rocky's nephew, called the statue "beautiful."The World Boxing Council agreed to put the statue in Brockton aftercity residents protested the original decision to put it in Boston.

The Brockton native, who died in a 1969 plane crash in Iowa, was theonly heavyweight champ to retire undefeated, with a 49-0 record.

 


For Holmes, a 1-2 punch of recognition: Hall of Fame, overdue acclaim:Heavyweight's reign solid, unspectacular
J Michael Falgoust.  USA TODAY.  McLean, Va.:Jun 6, 2008.  p. C.10  


Abstract (Summary) 
It will always include Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano, and sometimes a contemporary such as Evander Holyfield. In 1992, at 42, Holmes dealt Ray Mercer, an undefeated contender and 1988 Olympic gold medalist, a devastating loss.




The roll call for all-time great heavyweights is a short one.

It will always include Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano, and sometimes a contemporary such as Evander Holyfield.

Larry Holmes is rarely mentioned, unless as an afterthought.

"They said my legs were too small, that I was just a copy of Muhammad Ali," says Holmes, whose 20 consecutive successful defenses of the heavyweight title from 1978 to 1985 was second only to Louis' 25. "No one would give a penny for my career."

Holmes (69-6, 44 KOs), who once said Marciano "couldn't carry my jockstrap," will be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame on Sunday in Canastota, N.Y.

He feels it's recognition that is long overdue, but nostalgia hasn't softened his tone. "I'm glad I said it," says Holmes, 58, who felt cheated after failing to tie Marciano's 49-0 mark when he lost to Michael Spinks in 1985. "That wasn't a sling against Marciano. ... I love me."

Holmes' reign came in an era when sanctioning bodies multiplied and mandatory defenses as well as stripping champions of their belts became the norm.

The Easton, Pa., native also never had a foil the way Louis had Max Schmeling or Ali had Joe Frazier and George Foreman. Though Holmes was spectacular in lifting the WBC belt from Ken Norton in 1978, he didn't win adoration two years later for pummeling an aged and already neurologically damaged Ali into submission.

So instead of the public embracing Holmes, who like Marciano defeated every discernible challenger in a less-than-spectacular era, there was a never-ending casting call for "the next Ali." Meanwhile, welterweights Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns were waging memorable battles to capture the public's imagination.

"When you are a great, well-rounded fighter, in order for people to appreciate your greatness, they need to see you in against another great fighter," says Max Kellerman, a boxing analyst for HBO. "Great offense, like a young Mike Tyson, overwhelms mediocrity. Well-rounded skills, like Larry Holmes, don't overwhelm mediocrity."

Holmes lacked the humility of Louis, Ali's charisma, the game-changing left hook of Frazier, Norton's Herculean physique or the menacing lure of Foreman.

What he did have, however, was a toughness that belied his guile and a "shotgun" jab -- the perfect combination of Louis' power and Ali's speed -- that's perhaps the best the division has ever seen. He developed it by working as a sparring partner for Ali for four years and possessed a right hand that would come behind it and earn him the nickname "Easton Assassin."

"I used to be able to knock Ali's jab down with my left hand and counter with my right," says Holmes, who left Ali's camp in 1975. "My jab had more power on it than his. That's how I used to test myself. I tried to be better than Ali."

When Holmes upset Norton, he did so despite tearing a ligament in his left arm six days before. A year later, he rose from a knockdown vs. Earnie Shavers, anointed by Ali as the hardest puncher ever, to stop him in 11. Holmes destroyed former heavyweight champion Leon Spinks, who twice took an older Ali the distance, in three rounds.

In 1992, at 42, Holmes dealt Ray Mercer, an undefeated contender and 1988 Olympic gold medalist, a devastating loss. That earned him a shot at then-champion Holyfield, who won but failed to dominate.

"When I was right, you couldn't touch me," says Holmes, scheduled to be a guest on ESPN2's Friday Night Fights today (8:30 ET). "Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, none of them."