Amazon.com Review
An odd twist of publishing fate once again has former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes locked with and overshadowed by the presence of Muhammad Ali; David Remnick's superb biography of the Greatest,
King of the World, was published at the same time. The image of his former sparring partner--the beloved, quick, and graceful Ali--haunted Holmes throughout his career, which is too bad, because Holmes was a terrifically skilled fighter who could both box and hit. Like so many boxing stories, Holmes's begins on the wrong side of the tracks; he fights himself out and up from there. Straight-ahead, hard-working, cautious at times, and free of attending glitz,
Against All Odds mirrors Holmes's style in the ring and out of it. Its strength is its candor. Holmes never could hide his emotions--or his petulance. His autobiography makes clear his respect for Ali, his hatred of Don King, and the angers that raged around his fight with Gerry Cooney. Indeed, rage is a character in itself. "It was the part of me that always scared me a little because I never completely accepted the fact that I had it in me," Holmes writes. Accept it or not, he rode it to the title, and, no small feat, held that title for seven years.
--Jeff Silverman
From Publishers Weekly
There could not be a more appropriate subtitle for this autobiography chronicling the rise of the man who was the heavyweight champion from 1978 to 1985. One of 12 children, Holmes and his family were moved from rural Georgia to Easton, Pa., by a father who then abandoned them to the most abysmal poverty. Holmes didn't have a chance to finish grammar school?he began work at 13?but while there he was introduced to wrestling and boxing. In 1968, at the age of 19, Holmes began to train as a boxer with Ernie Butler. A couple of years later, he had the good fortune to work as one of Muhammad Ali's sparring partners and the good sense to learn from him. In 1973, however, he had the misfortune to tie himself to Don King; eventually he would have to battle his manager for even 50% of his winnings. Holmes's portrait of the promoter is so devastating that readers may come to dislike King as much as Holmes does. Equally depressing are his observations about many other figures in boxing and the racism that still governs the sport. Despite all this, Holmes managed to draw on the lessons of his impoverished childhood: he saved enough money to buy and develop land in Easton, allowing him to live as a wealthy man. Berger (Smoking Joe) is adept at explaining Holmes's unwillingness to live with injustice (he once turned down a $30 million purse for boxing in South Africa) and his resolve to triumph over it. In a memoir that is by turns saddening and inspiring, Holmes comes across as a heroic American athlete.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
