Retirement Is a Thing of the Past : Holmes Meets Williams, Sights on Marciano’s Record

Larry Holmes meets Carl “The Truth” Williams Monday night, and, Holmes says, it “ain’t the last fight. I might as well break the record.”

So much for retirement, which is what the 35-year-old International Boxing Federation heavyweight champion talked about before and after he beat David Bey last March 15.

Now he talks of breaking Rocky Marciano’s record of 49-0. Marciano is the only heavyweight champion to retire unbeaten.

A victory over Williams would make Holmes 48-0.

Holmes is a 7 1/2-1 favorite to win the scheduled 15-round bout against an opponent who is 16-0 but lacks experience against top opposition. In his last bout, Williams got up from two first-round knockdowns to score a 10-round decision over former contender James “Quick” Tillis.

Holmes has been criticized for fighting relatively unknown opponents instead of men such as Pinklon Thomas, the World Boxing Council champion.

“I could break the record Monday night, just give me two more opponents,” Holmes quipped after a recent workout.

But Williams is big and strong and has scored 12 knockouts, and Holmes was hurt by lumbering James “Bonecrusher” Smith and by Bey.

The fact that Holmes could be slipping and prone for an upset, plus his goal of breaking Marciano’s record, induced NBC to pay him $2.3 million to head a prime-time telecast, beginning at 6 p.m. PDT.

Holmes repeatedly has said that money is the main reason for him to continue--boxing is a business, and Holmes has made it an extremely lucrative one.

“I’ve made $99 million . . . give or take 89 million,” he said.

But money and the record are not the only reasons Holmes has decided to continue to challenge Father Time, who has an excellent record against aging boxers.

“There is another reason now I don’t retire . . . I still like it,” Holmes said. “I like it so much now my wife is starting to like it, too.”

Diane Holmes, the champion’s wife, just smiled.

The 25-year-old Williams showed up at a news conference held for other fighters on the card and said: “I’m fighting a 35-year-old Larry Holmes. He’s a shell. I’m fighting Pop Holmes.

“Larry Holmes is an old lion, and I’m a young lion, and I think my time has come.”

“All of a sudden I’m old,” said Holmes, who sometimes gets rankled by suggestions his legs might be going. “Thirty-five, and I’m old. You get old the way you want to get old, and I’m still young yet. My age is 35 and I’m 28. I’m getting ready to give this young man a boxing lesson.

“I might be slipping. But what makes up for my slipping is my experience.”

Experience, plus a willingness to pay the price. Holmes does not get far out of fighting shape, and his recent flurry of activity seems to have honed his fighting trim.

After going a year between his first-round knockout of Marvis Frazier and his 12th-round win over Smith, Holmes will now be fighting for the third time in a little over six months.

“If I wasn’t crazy about myself, I wouldn’t be unbeaten,” Holmes said. “I have a few losses in between, but because I am crazy about myself, I sacrifice.

“I ain’t what I used to be. I’m better than I used to be.”

Two of Holmes’s victims, Frazier and Randall “Tex” Cobb, will fight 10-rounders on the card at the Lawlor Events Center on the campus of the University of Nevada-Reno.

Frazier, a son of former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier, will meet Tillis, while Cobb will fight Eddie Gregg.

Cobb, who lost a one-sided 15-round decision to Holmes in 1982 when Holmes was still World Boxing Council champion, was asked about Holmes’ change of mind on retirement.

“Nobody was surprised,” Cobb said. “He’s a fighter, and when he gets the record, he’s going to come back one more time.”