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- Throughout his career, Cosell aspired to be more like the trusted journalist Cronkite than the entertainer Carson. And one of the main points of historian John Bloom’s biography, There You Have It: The Life, Legacy, and Legend of Howard Cosell (University of Massachusetts Press, 2010), is that Cosell was an innovative, probing, and fearless reporter. Cosell defended Ali when the boxer was stripped of his heavyweight title. He spoke on behalf of Tommie Smith and John Carlos when they were sent home after their protest at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. And he denounced boxing and refused to work in the sport again, after announcing the horribly one-sided Holmes-Cobb championship fight in 1982.
briandmyers · 4929 days ago · link ·
I always admired Cosell for his exit from boxing, after the obscene Holmes/Cobb fight in 1982. I saw that fight on TV, and felt the same way Howard did; and I have never been a boxing fan since.
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thenewgreen · 4928 days ago · link ·
I'm interested in learning more about this Holmes/Cobb fight. Was it just obviously fixed?
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briandmyers · 4928 days ago · link ·
No, not as far as I know. Holmes was the better fighter, and he pummelled Cobb for the full 15 rounds, because Cobb was a tough SOB and would not quit, and Holmes could not knock him out. The refs should have called the fight after 4 or 5 rounds tops, but they just let the blood continue to flow for round after round. It was an exposition of how much of a blood sport heavyweight boxing had become. By the way, Cobb was incredible in "Raising Arizona" as the bounty hunter.
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briandmyers · 4928 days ago · link ·
Ok, I just re-watched the fight, and it wasn't quite as bloody as I remembered, but still a very one-sided beating. I'm fairly sure that Cobb was chosen for that bounty hunter role because he was the epitome of "relentless", at the time.
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briandmyers · 4928 days ago · link ·
Here's the link to part 1 of 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOqZ1Q9OHkQ
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thenewgreen · 4928 days ago · link ·
Wow, I know so little about boxing. I absolutely recognize Cobb from is AMAZING performance in Raising Arizona.