  larry holmes (born november 3, 1949) is a former professional boxer. he grew up in easton, pennsylvania, which gave birth to his boxing nickname, the easton assassin. holmes, whose left jab is rated among the best in boxing history,10 things to still appreciate about larry holmes was the wbc heavyweight champion from 1978 to 1983, the ring heavyweight champion from 1980 to 1985, and the ibf heavyweight champion from 1983 to 1985. he made twenty successful title defenses, which places him third behind only joe louis' twenty-five and wladimir klitschko's twenty-one. holmes won his first forty-eight professional bouts, including victories over earnie shavers, ken norton, muhammad ali, mike weaver, gerry cooney, tim witherspoon and marvis frazier, and fell one short of matching rocky marciano's career record of 49-0 when he lost to michael spinks in 1985. holmes retired after losing a rematch to spinks, but made repeated comebacks and was unsuccessful in three further attempts to regain the title, the last in 1995. he had his last fight in 2002 and ended with a career record of 69-6.the professional record of larry holmes at boxrec he is frequently ranked as one of the greatest heavyweights of all timehistorians rankings of the top 10 all-time heavyweights and has been inducted into the international boxing hall of fame and the world boxing hall of fame. ==early life== holmes was the fourth of twelve children born to john and flossie holmes. when the family moved to easton in 1954, holmes' father went to connecticut, where he worked as a gardener until his death in 1970. he visited his family every three weeks. "he didn't forsake us," said flossie holmes. "he just didn't have anything to give." the family survived on welfare. to help support his family, holmes dr
1949_births African-American_boxers Boxers_from_Pennsylvania Heavyweight_boxers International_Boxing_Federation_champions International_Boxing_Hall_of_Fame_inductees Living_people People_from_Cuthbert,_Georgia People_from_Easton,_Pennsylvania People_from_Northampton_County,_Pennsylvania World_Boxing_Council_champions World_heavyweight_boxing_champions