Larry Holmes and Gerry Cooney on Friday Night at the Fights

According to a press release, SIRIUS XM radio will rebroadcast the Gerry Cooney/Larry Holmes interview on Friday Night at the Fights on August 6th, 2010 at (7:00 pm ET/4:00 pm PT), on SIRIUS channel 125 and XM channel 241.

Last Friday, former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes was on the SIRIUS XM boxing talk show hosted by former heavyweight contender Gerry Cooney and boxing authority Randy Gordon.

Cooney and Holmes discussed their much anticipated 1982 heavyweight title fight as well as the racial tension surrounding it, and their relationship from the time of the fight and now.

Interview Highlights

Larry Holmes, on the racial tension that surrounded the fight: “Gerry and I had respect for each other as fighters, as men, as human beings. It was just the other people just wanted black, they wanted white. Black people wanted the black man to win, white people wanted the white man to win. No two, three ways about it. But Gerry and I just wanted to win, we wanted to fight. And not because we don’t like each other but because there was a big check waiting for us when we finished fighting.”

Holmes: “I’ll tell you another thing: If Gerry Cooney would have fought me six months or a year later he would have been heavyweight champion of the world and all those critics out there would have been saying, ‘Oh, man he’s the greatest, he’s the greatest.’ But they pushed him when he was not really ready to be pushed.”

Gerry Cooney, on the biggest fight of his career: “The big thing for me was that, listen, I was in there with the man…and I went 13 rounds with the man and I fought with my heart. And he was just better that night. You know, he had more experience. I wish I’d had a couple of fights. I didn’t fight in 13 months but all being said I was with the heavyweight champ of the world, the greatest guy in the ring…and I showed up pretty good for it.”

Holmes: “I liked Gerry because Gerry was bringing me 10 million dollars. I wanted to kiss him and hug him, but I couldn’t do that in front of all those people out there in Las Vegas. Guess what, we are good friends now. I get a chance now to hug him. I don’t kiss him but I hug him.”

Gordon, the former editor-in-chief of The Ring magazine and a former chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission, and Cooney host Friday Night at the Fights on SIRIUS XM Radio every Friday at 7:00 pm ET (SIRIUS channel 125 and XM channel 241), where they discuss the latest boxing news with listeners around the country, interview personalities from around the sport, and preview the biggest fights on the calendar.

From these interview quotes it appears Holmes is a very humble grateful man. It takes a lot for a champion to admit that they would have been beaten had the fight taken place under different terms, especially when they clearly won the fight. Holmes also has a good sense of humor, stating he would like to hug and kiss Cooney for giving him the opportunity to make $10 million dollars. For $10 million dollars, I know I would star in Brokeback Mountain 2.

I personally have had SIRIUS XM radio for two years in my business company car. It definitely was excellent for those long road trips or even being stuck in traffic; from virtually any major genre of music to your favorite sports talk shows, I am a huge fan of SIRIUS XM radio.

So, for those of you who have SIRIUS XM radio, you should definitely tune in every Friday to XM channel 241.

Unfortunately, I no longer drive that company car anymore but if the powers that be over at SIRIUS XM radio want to hook me up with a new complimentary SIRIUS XM radio in my Lexus or even my assistant’s Prius, since she usually drives me every where, then I would not be mad at you.