sports
Battalion/Page 11
June 3, 1982
lard-luck Holmes plans to silence critics
United Press International
NEW YORK — World Box-
ouncil heavyweight cham-
Larry Holmes is like a man
Ing a getaway car — people
throwing roadblocks in
|t of him and he keeps
jiing through them.
But Holmes always will be on
un from critics whom he
won’t give him the respect
e deserves.
jHolmes, unbeaten in 39
jhts, will make the 12th de-
mse of his title on June 11 in
gupas
urlong
l y EmM be interesting, to
' mthe least, but to Lar-
KJolmes, who used to
'ork in a car wash, the
Kuen! Gerry Cooney
the getfjiist another fender to
: dub as® albeit a $10 million
Imgs foi I|
knowt
Ut '‘’ u «
i thing! K
tkandwiBVegas, Nev., against undefe-
ipirit ofiled No. 1 contender Gerry
ernessfBney, a murderous puncher
H turns opponents to oatmeal
■ his famed left hook.
as “inttjCooney is white. Holmes is
tftheclii jjt Cooney is a power-
n Stocii
had gom
iccts will
jb in the!
lalton d
he wast!
which ku I
hen I ( continued from page 9)
I be hi!., id win the tournament. That
tnaninn pned like the closest the team
Sever been.
|I would love to have that
n hapf) 1 |ingall through next season.”
d the Af litJjougP! Tulsa ran away
ing with h, (he NCAA championship
i .353 ’ |inastounding 36 strokes over
even Ail ' lond-placeTCU, Furlong sees
he AIAW tourney as a closer
the Bm» e .
solid maiBWe should have played a lot
enn. Berthan we played,” she said,
ect ref lfter that tournament, we
M.“Heiftped and looked back at it
uemaiiill knew that even though it
nageroB the worst we’d ever played,
ill fortkltill finished fifth.
season*Maybe it gave us a little in
to manaftitive for the AIAW tourna-
winter lent. We’ve heard that the
irse at Ohio State is pretty
|g. Tulsa’s players aren’t very
Igoff the tee, and aren’t very
()ng long hitters. At Stanford
was a pretty short course.
Ice they (Tulsa) are so dead
•ight down the fairway, it was
■heir advantage.”
■urlong, who finished sixth in
I season’s national rankings,
■ been preparing for AIAW
■ionals by playing in the city
■mpionships in San Antonio.
LSI ling into today’s final round,
irlong has shot a 72-70 for a
puncher. Holmes is a boxer-
puncher. Holmes doesn’t like
Cooney and Cooney doesn’t like
Holmes. It will be interesting, to
say the least, but to Holmes, who
used to work in a car wash, it’s
just another fender to dry, albeit
a $10 million one.
Holmes is used to obstacles.
The biggest one was put in his
path on June 9, 1978. After 14
rounds, then champion Ken
Norton and Holmes had fought
to a virtual draw. The fight
would go to whichever won the
15th and final round. Two out
of three judges gave Holmes
that last round — one of the
most action-packed ever in a
heavyweight championship
bout — as Holmes and Norton
stood toe-to-toe testing each
other’s shock absorbers.
The car wash days were gone
forever. Holmes was now WBC
heavyweight champion. Now he
sees a car wash only when he
drives one of his Rolls Royces
through one.
Holmes is THE heavyweight
champion although, on paper,
there are two. Mike Weaver
holds the World Boxing Asso
ciation version of the title. Weav
er could have been the WBC
champion but a fluweakened
Holmes rallied to stop him in 12
rounds on june 22, 1979, at New
York’s Madison Square Garden
in his third title defense.
Holmes, 33, now owns a re
cently custom-built house (11
rooms, 9 bathrooms), in Easton,
Pa., where he has lived since
1956. The house has a pool in
the shape of a boxing glove, a
The fame and recogni
tion of a Muhammad
Ali elude Holmes, and it
doesn’t help that his
career followed All’s
like a caboose on a
freight train.
sauna, a jacuzzi, a five-car gar
age, a white baby grand piano,
and a gym.
For all Holmes has accom
plished, he still comes across as a
hard-luck guy. The fame and
recognition of a Muhammad Ali
elude him, and it doesn’t help
that his career followed Ali’s like
a caboose on a freight train.
He derailed Ali in 11 rounds
on Oct. 2, 1980, a hot night in
Las Vegas when the three-time
champion’s corner stopped the
slaughter with Ali’s face a puffy,
purple mess. Even that didn’t si
lence the critics, who com
plained he “beat up an old man.”
A victory over Cooney, espe
cially a knockout, could stop that
talk.
Along with his anger at his
critics, Holmes will carry into the
ring against the 25-year-old
Cooney an announced personal
dislike for the 6-foot-5 Irishman
from Huntington, N.Y., and
what he represents.
“If he was black, he would not
be in the position he’s in now,”
Holmes said. “He hasn’t paid his
dues. He hasn’t fought any con
tenders.
“If he was black, would he be
made the No. 1 contender for
beating Dino Dennis? Greg Page
and Mike Dokes have fought
better fighters. They deserve a
shot more than he does.
“If he was black, would he be
making the money he’s mak
ing?” Holmes asked. “Would I
be splitting the money with him?
I don’t begrudge him a thing. I
couldn’t make the money if
Cooney didn’t help me.”
Besides resenting Cooney’s
money-making power, Holmes
has a genuine disrespect for
Cooney as a person and points
out that the postponement from
March 15 to June 11 because of
Cooney’s shoulder injury bears
that out.
“He’s like a little kid. He trainer, Victor Valle. ‘“My have fought me in March. I be- Z
doesn’t have a mind of his own,” shoulder hurts. Tell me what to heve he had a shoulder injury C
Holmes said. “That’s why I call do.’ They (Cooney’s handlers)
tell him how to feel, how to think but that’s not the whole prob-
lem, only half of it. The other ^
him ‘Looney Cooney’.
‘“Oh Victor,”’ said Holmes, and what to do.
mimicking Cooney talking to his “If he was a man, he would half is with his mind. ”
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two-shot lead over Texas A&M
teammate Susan Yantis.
Furlong, who seems to have a
knack for overtaking leaders on
the last day of competition, defe
ated Yantis in the 1981 city tour
ney by rubbing out a three-shot
lead with a final-round 72. Fur
long won the San Antonio title in
1979, but missed the event be
cause of her injury in 1980. She’s
now defending the title she won
last year.
As for the professional career
she’s striving for, Furlong said
she’ll go through the usual proc
edure starting next July. In
order to earn an LPGA tour
card, Furlong must shoot four
qualifying rounds of 75 or better
and must also pass a written test,
all at a golf school which will be
held in Houston.
“The percentages are that
usually only 10 or 12 of about
125 entries get their cards,” Fur
long said.
If she earns a tour card, Fur
long won’t be entering her
career without some experience
among well-known profession
als. She qualified for the U.S.
Women’s Open in 1981 and said
she hopes to do so next month as
well.
“There’ll probably be about
80 pros and amateurs vying for
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about 13 spots in the Open,”
Furlong said. “Last year, they
cut the field in half after the first
36 holes. I had shot a 76 on the
first 18 and I thought that was a
terrible score. I thought, ‘Gosh,
I’m going to have to shoot a 72
today to make the cut.’
“So, I set a score that I was
going to try to shoot for, but I
found out quickly that the more
you worry about what you have
to shoot, the worse you’re going
to do. As soon as I was two or
three over par, I figured that I’d
have to get all birdies to get a low
score, and I ended up shooting
an 82.”
So much for the 1981 U.S.
Women’s Open.
Kitty Holley, the Aggie
women’s golf coach, sees a possi
ble national championship for
Furlong during her senior year.
“I’ve been very pleased with
what she’s done this year,” she
said. “She had a good year, and I
think she’ll have a great year
next year.
“She ought to win everything
in sight — and she’s definitely
going to try to.”
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