I went to Easton, PA last spring for the Easton Arts Tour, and while this sculpture of the former heavyweight champ was not part of the tour, I did happen upon it while checking out a band and food tent set-up in Scott Park. Scott Park is located in Easton where the Lehigh River merges with the Delaware River, as you can see in the picture below. I was curious who Scott Park was named after, and you want to hear something hilarious? The mayor of Easton doesn’t even know – he was quoted last December as saying “Our Scott Park is named after somebody — we don’t know who Scott is.” Does anybody? If so, please share in the comments section below.
But back to Larry Holmes; he was the fourth of twelve (!!!) children born to John and Flossie Holmes, and the family moved to Easton in 1954. To help support his family, Holmes dropped out of school when he was in the seventh grade and went to work, with jobs at a car wash and a quarry, among others, and started boxing at age 18. According to the text on the base of this sculpture, “The Easton Assassin perfected his boxing skills establishing a crucial left jab that became The Champ’s trademark, as he maintained the title of Heavyweight Champion for 7 1/2 years from 1978 – 1985, which was longer than any other fighter in boxing history, including the renowned Joe Louis.”
Hmm, I was surprised by that claim, as I thought maybe Muhammad Ali would have been champ longer than Larry Holmes, so I did a little research, and according to numerous sources, this claim on the Larry Holmes sculpture base is wrong! According to ESPN, Joe Louis was reigning heavyweight champ for 12 years, and Wikipedia describes the reign in number of days, and for Joe Louis they say 4,270 days, while Larry Holmes is listed as 2,011 days! It also lists Jack Johnson ahead of Larry Holmes, with Johnson having 2,291 days as champ. What is going on here? Is it just a case of local pride bending the truth? Statistics aside, here’s two more views of the champ’s sculpture.
So who is the artist of this sculpture? I didn’t see a name posted anywhere around the sculpture, but I did find out online that it’s artist Brian Hanlon, who has “Hanlon Sculpture Studio” in Toms River (NJ) and completes about 15 sculptures a year and has done numerous sports figures.