Page 8 THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, JULY 5. 1978 0 M
Holmes has little respect for Spinks
United Press International
NEW YORK — Larry Holmes,
the WBC heavyweight champ,
keeps seeing all the problems that
befall his WBA counterpart, Leon
Spinks, and he laughs at him.
Holmes doesn’t have a whole lot
of respect for Spinks, either as a
fighter or a citizen of the commu-
n ^I think he’s a jackass for getting
in all that trouble,” Holmes says,
talking about Spinks’ repeated
brushes with the law. He ceitainly
isn’t setting himself up as a good
example of a black man. He says he
wants to be a model for the kids in
this country. Some model, isn’t heP
Holmes simply is sitting back
waiting now to see what happens in
the Sept. 15 return between Spinks
and Muhammad Ali at New Or
leans. He’s convinced it’s only a
matter of time until all the con
troversy over who is really the world
heavyweight champion will be set
tled and is equally sure that when it
is, he’ll come out on top.
Unlike a great many others.
Holmes does not believe Ali merely
“loaned” Spinks his title so that he
could beat him in their return and
thereby become the first man ever
to win the heavyweight crown three
times. . ,
“I think Ali gave it everything he
had in their first fight,” says the 28-
year-old, Easton, Pa., battler who
won the WBC championship by
outpointing Ken Norton in Las
Vegas last month. “I don t believe
he ‘loaned’ Spinks his title.’
Pearson wins
Firecracker
United Press International
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A
slow car lagging several laps behind
gave David Pearson the final push
he needed to pass Gale Yarborough
Tuesday and win his fifth Firec
racker 400 stock car race.
Pearson’s Mercury and Yar
borough’s Oldsmobile were running
nose-to-tail after the race’s fifth cau
tion flag was lifted 17 miles before
the end of the $186,000 event. Then
they approached Baxter Price chug
ging along in an outpaced Chev
rolet.
“I saw that car coming and talked
quite a bit on the radio with my
crew about what to do,” Pearson
said. “I kept trying to get Cale to
pass me but he hung back to save
gas.”
Pearson, who averaged 154.324
mph, pulled up behind Price,
paused a few seconds, then maneu
vered around him and soared across
the finish line by a car length.
Cale said I blocked (his view of)
the car,” Pearson said. “Cale should
have been looking farther ahead
than that. What we planned to do,
we did, and it won it for us. I think
the longer the race went, the better
1 ?. ot -
I knew I was where I shouldn’t
have been but I couldn’t just disap
pear,” Price said.
The first-place showing, good for
$18,450 in prize money and con
tingency fees, put Pearson far ahead
of other Firecracker winners. The
closest contender has won only
three of the Fourth of July races.
Yarborough took second place.
One lap back were Darrell Waltrip,
third in a Chevrolet, and Richard
Petty, fourth in a Dodge. Lennie
Pond was fifth in a Chevrolet, two
laps back.
“Flowers for
All Occasions”
Holmes says he’d like to see Ali
beat Spinks in September and then
retire, but whatever happens in that
fight, he feels he’s better than either
man.
“I can beat anybody in the
world,” he says. “Ain’t nobody can
whip me.”
So far, he has the record on his
side. He has won all of his 27 profes
sional bouts, including 19 by knock
outs. So elated was he over beating
Norton last June 9 that he im
mediately fastened his new WBC
title belt around his waist after the
fight, took off like a shot out of his
dressing room and dove into a
nearby pool at Caesar s Palace
where the contest was held.
Holmes has one thing in common
with Spinks. He is a grade school
dropout and it bothers him enough
so that he’s now taking courses with
a view toward getting his equiva
lency diploma.
“I think you need an education,
he says. “You need it to be able to
read newspapers and contracts. I m
not the best reader in the world, it
takes me time to read, but I m not
the dumbest, either. I m not afraid
to admit I was a dropout, that I need
help. Seventh grade was as far as I
got.
“My Daddy couldn t read or
write, but you couldn t cheat him
out of a dime. He could count
money. So can I.
Holmes earned $500,000 for his
fight with Norton, who was paid $2
million for his end. Getting the
smaller share doesn’t bother him
that much because he feels that will
all change now that he holds a title
of his own.
“I couldn’t make this kind of
money shining shoes or working in
car wash,” says Holmes, who has
done both.
“I made $50 a week washing cars.
Before that, I used to walk all the
way from Easton to Phillipshurg,
New Jersey, shining shoes. I d walk
into bars and say. Mister, mister,
shoe shine?’ Sometimes, I d shine
their shoes and they wouldn't pay
me. I’d remember those guys and
the next time they asked me to do
their shoes. I’d polish their socks.
The fact that Spinks comes from a
ghetto area in St. Louis draws little
sympathy from Holmes, who didn t
exactly originate from the lap of lux
ury himself.
know how it feels not to have
shoes,” he says. "I knew how it feels
to be on welfare, to smoke dope and
get high on wine. I ve tried it all.
I’ve traveled a lot of miles.”
Holmes is guided by his
manager-trainer, Richie Giachetti,
whom he says has helped him a
great deal outside the ring as well as
inside it. He also has learned con
siderably from Ali, on whose payroll
he was twice as a spar,.
W hat I lc,inied fo, .
\s.is determinationurfi ‘
says Holmes. “Hehasi
that, and working v
Picked it up myself. Hi
me I was fast. That s
wanted me for, mysM
hundreds of rounds win
did me .i lot of
after that He’s smart.! I
fight with Norton, h ^ J
win, and he was right;
Dirry Holmes feelsi
ting started now.
€
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