What was behind Larry Holmes jumping off a limo to drop kick Trevor Berbick?

Question

I've seen the clip several times but was wondering if there was more to it than prefight hype.

Answer 1

If there ever was a straight shooter in boxing, it was Larry Holmes.    Larry was ticked about something, and he still has that ghetto punk street thug sense he had while growing up.  It wasn't prefight hype, as Larry never fought Berbick after the jumping and kicking.  Larry wanted to take a chunk out of Berbick, and Berbick wanted to goad Larry into another fight.

Answer 2

Holmes had a mean temper,he seemed to hate everyone.I remember seeing an interview when he verballed Gerry Conney prior to their fight and was going to punch Cooney for no reason,then after that when he was beat by Mike Spinks in 1985 saying Marciano couldnt carry his jockstrap,not to mention his infamous rant against the then undisputed heavyweight champ Mike Tyson in 1988,calling him a s****.etc,he also called Lennox Lewis,all in all not a really pleasant person!

Answer 3

Berbick was never a very stable guy.  He did say something to Larry about his wife.  Larry was a little annoyed with Trevor to begin with because Trevor liked to mouth off.  Those two really didn't like each other.  

Larry was a little bitter during his career for a few reasons.  First, living in Ali's shadow, then being slighted in favor of the unproven Gerry Cooney.   BTW, it was not Larry, but Snipes who got cut with the sissors.  During the post interview, after Larry stopped Reynaldo, Howard Cosell brought Gerry Cooney over and Larry didn't want to be bothered with all the hype.  Meanwhile, Cosell, had already interviewed Snipes, who continued ranting that the fight should not have been stopped.  It was stopped justly.  

Larry had already reached a point where he was sick of the hoopla.  Thought it's not his fault,  the press treated Cooney like he was the champion.  It went beyond envy for Larry.  How much can one person take.   It was like cheating to win a sporting event, then coming to your house after hours to talk about it.  

Larry's behavior wasn't the best.  He told Cosell,  "This ain't about Gerry Cooney.  I wont talk to him until his name is on the contract.  If you bring him over here I'll slap his face.  We'll fight right now".   There was a lot of talk but Cooney had not yet signed a contract to fight.  When Larry charged at him, Snipes was in the middle while his trainer was cutting off his gloves.   He got cut in the process.

With due respect to Berbick, (rest his soul) he always seemed to dislike Larry and never hesitated to let Larry know.

Answer 4

Larry Holmes never got the respect he felt he deserved, not ever from Trevor Berbick.  I remember one time Renaldo Snipes stabbed Larry with a pair of scissors off the press row table at ring side.  Nobody gave Larry a fraction of the respect they gave Ali, he had probably the biggest shoes in boxing to fill.  Even when Larry beat Ali, it was an old and infirm Ali, and the press vilified Larry.  The guy couldn't catch a break so he got ornery and often snapped at them.  He knew he wasn't going to get any positive press anyway, so he tended to dis them as much as they dissed him.

He realized early he would never come close to the razor sharp wit and gift of gab Ali had, and he quit trying.   The Berbick thing was simply frustration.  Holmes got tired of being treated like just another boxer, he thought because he was the champion, he should be treated like a champion, and few people really appreciated Holmes while he was champ, they compared him to Ali, and Larry came up way short.

Answer 5

He's a little off in the head.  Too many head punches, in my opinion.

Answer 6

Berbick was mad that Larry wouldn't give him a fight and started taking things to far. If i remember he said something derogatory about Larry's wife and that really pushed him over the edge. Larry wasn't a mean guy its just the press didn't respect him and was always jumping on the band wagon of  a guy they wanted to beat him so familiar? ( mayweather) But h**l if a guy was talking about my wife i would have reacted the same way