Tyson refuses handshake

Press, 3 December 1987, Page 60

Tyson refuses handshake

NZPA-AP New York When the ex-heavy-weight champion,/Larry Holmes, arrived tor yesterday’s news conference to promote his January 22 comeback fight against Mike Tyson, he extended his hand to the man who now owns the title.

Tyson; however, was not interested in the gesture.

“Fighting is a business,” Holmes said. “When it’s over, you try to "leave a person with good feelings, with a sense of friendship. But when I went to shake hands with Mike Tyson, he pushed it away?’ Holmes seemed hurt by the slight Why pad Tyson, who was 12 years old when Holmes won the title in 1978, not Shaken hands with the longtime

champion? "Because, I didn’t want to,” said the new champion, who is undefeated in 32 fights with 28 knockouts. Holmes, who celebrated his thirty-eighth birthday last month, was more talkative. He has been away from boxing since April, 1986 when he lost a second straight title fight to Michael Spinks. “People say I’m old and washed up,” Holmes said. “Those same people said I shouldn’t begin boxing. They said my legs were too small, I couldn’t punch, I was a carbon copy of Muhammad Ali. I didn’t listen. I fooled them. I accomplished more than anybody thought I could. I won more than anyone thought

I would. I was heavyweight champion for 7J4 years.”

Spinks ended that reign in September, 1985, halting Holmes’ 48-fight winning streak one short of the record held by Rocky Marciano and then winning the rematch as well. Both fights were close decisions in T-ac Vegas, Nevada, and Holmes vowed he would never fight in that city again. The Tyson match will be held in the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

“I’m not fighting because I want to fight for SUS 3 million (SNZ4.6O million),” Holmes said. “The money sounds good, but I have SUS 3 million (3NZ4.60 million). There’s a lot of pride in me. I’m

nobody’s cakewalk. I don’t lay down for anybody. I’m not Tyrell Biggs or Pinklon Thomas or Bonecrusher Smith (three of Tyson’s victims). I’m Larry Holmes. “I have a lot of respect for Mike Tyson as champion,” Holmes said. “I have his picture up on the wall in my gym. The only bigger pictures are the ones of me and Ali. That picture is coining down.” However, Tyson is already counting Holmes among his 31 previous victims.

“The only way he is going to win is if there is a sniper in the balcony and he shoots me in the head,” Tyson said, adding: “I want to instill in his mind that his era M over. It’s my era now.”