For Holmes, It Wasn't So Elementary

Because two of the three judges decided he had won the stunning 15th round, Larry Holmes, once a $3-an-hour steel worker out of Easton, Pa., joined Muhammad Ali, Leon Spinks and Ken Norton and became this year's fourth heavyweight champion. And then, when he tried to raise his arms in the traditional signal of victory last Friday night, he nearly passed out from pain and exhaustion. "Oh God, help me hold them up," he moaned to Richie Giachetti, his barrel-chested manager and trainer.

"It was the greatest display of courage I have ever seen in a ring," Giachetti was saying Saturday morning, only a few hours after Holmes had taken a split decision and Norton's title at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. "Both of his arms were hurting so bad it was agony just to keep his hands up. How he was able to throw punches and win the round I'll never know."

As an audit of the officials' cards showed, if the unbeaten Holmes was to become champion in his 28th professional fight, he needed to win the final round. After 14, all three judges—Harold Buck, Lou Tabot and Joe Swessel—had the fight dead even at 133-133 on the 10-points must system. In Nevada the referee doesn't score a fight.

Six days earlier, Holmes and Giachetti were wondering if there would be a fight to score. While sparring with Luis Rodriguez—no kin to the old welter-weight champ—Holmes suddenly left the ring clutching his left arm. His elbow had collided violently with Rodriguez' elbow.

"It feels funny," Holmes told Giachetti, who packed the arm in ice. An hour later they were at the Desert Springs Hospital, where the fighter was examined by Dr. Anthony Serfustini and Keith Kleven, a physical therapist, who found torn tissue in the biceps.

"How bad is it?" Giachetti asked.

The answer: bad enough to postpone the fight.

"For how long?"

"Four months."

Holmes shook his head. "No way," he said. "What can you do for me now?"