Larry Holmes vs. Randall "Tex" Cobb was a professional boxing bout contested on November 26, 1982 at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, USA. https://boxrec.com/en/event/2263 The fight was contested for Holmes' World Boxing Council heavyweight championship, which he had held since defeating Ken Norton for the title in June of 1978.
Holmes defeated Cobb by unanimous decision in a heavily one-sided bout.
Background Larry Holmes Holmes entered the fight against Cobb having not lost in forty career fights. https://boxrec.com/en/event/2263/988 He had made twelve successful defenses of his WBC championship since his victory four years earlier, with his most recent victory coming against Gerry Cooney on June 11 of the same year in a high profile fight in Las Vegas. https://www.thefightcity.com/holmes-vs-cooney/
Randall "Tex" Cobb Cobb had been fighting professionally since 1977, having taken up boxing after initially training as a kickboxer. He won his first sixteen fights against a collection of journeyman fighters before taking on former championship contender Earnie Shavers in Detroit in August of 1980. Cobb knocked out Shavers in the eighth round of their fight to extend his unbeaten record. https://boxrec.com/en/event/1949/26785 After that, he fought Ken Norton in San Antonio three months later; Cobb lost a split decision in what would be Norton's final win as a professional (he would be knocked out by Cooney in less than a minute in his next bout). He then faced future world champion Michael Dokes in the co-feature bout of a card in Las Vegas in March 1981, and was defeated by majority decision. Entering the Holmes fight, he had won his previous three fights, all against journeymen, with two knockouts.
The fight As mentioned above, the fight took place on November 26, 1982 at the Astrodome. Scott Crosson served as the referee, with Arlen Bynum, Chuck Hassett, and Chuck Minker serving as the official scorers at ringside. Holmes weighed in for the fight at 217.5 pounds while Cobb weighed in at 234.25 pounds. https://boxrec.com/en/event/2263
Although Cobb managed to go the distance against Holmes, the fight was never in doubt. Over the course of fifteen rounds, the champion was in control the entire time and the challenger took a significant amount of punishment. https://www.boxing247.com/boxing-news/40-years-on-looking-back-at-the-larry-holmes-randy-tex-cobb-fight/254649 Holmes won every round on two of the judges' scorecards, with judge Chuck Hassett scoring one round in Cobb's favor. https://boxrec.com/en/event/2263/988
Aftermath This fight is notable as being the last professional fight that Howard Cosell called in his broadcasting career. Reporting for ABC Sports, Cosell was horrified and disgusted by the amount of damage that Holmes' punches had taken on Cobb, calling it at various points "brutal" and "savagery". https://www.boxing247.com/boxing-news/40-years-on-looking-back-at-the-larry-holmes-randy-tex-cobb-fight/254649 Cosell had become disillusioned by the sport he had been identified with so closely for many years, and this fight, combined with the nationally televised bout that resulted in the death of Duk Koo Kim and the beating Alexis Arguello had taken from Aaron Pryor in their world championship contest in the same weekend just two weeks earlier, caused him to announce his disassociation with the sport ten days following the Holmes-Cobb fight. https://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/06/sports/sports-of-the-times-cosell-says-i-ve-had-it.html
Cobb never fought for the world heavyweight championship again. In 1984, he replaced Trevor Berbick as Buster Douglas' opponent on three days notice; he would fall via majority decision to the future world champion. This was the first of four fights that Cobb would lose consecutively; he was defeated by Dokes by a technical decision when he was unable to continue after an accidental foul, lost by majority decision to Eddie Gregg, and then suffered the only knockout of his career when journeyman Dee Collier knocked him out in the first round. https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/585 Cobb later gained fame as an actor, although he would continue to fight until 1993. He would later say about Cosell, "I can do my sport no greater service" than to be responsible for his leaving the sport. https://www.boxing247.com/boxing-news/40-years-on-looking-back-at-the-larry-holmes-randy-tex-cobb-fight/254649
Holmes continued to make defenses of his WBC championship, fighting four times in 1983. He defeated Lucien Rodriguez in his first fight after facing Cobb, then defeated future champion Tim Witherspoon by split decision in a fight that some felt he had lost. After knocking out Scott Frank following the Witherspoon fight, Holmes signed to fight Marvis Frazier instead of defending against the WBC's mandatory challenger Greg Page. The WBC in turn refused to sanction the match as a championship defense, and the title was vacated after Holmes' first-round knockout victory. Holmes continued as the lineal champion and became recognized as the first International Boxing Federation champion before the year was over; he held both championships until September 21, 1985, when he lost for the first time in his career, a close decision to reigning light heavyweight champion Michael Spinks.
Undercard The co-feature of this Don King Productions event was a USBA heavyweight championship bout between Greg Page and James Tillis, which saw both fighters knocked down during the course of the contest. Page won by technical knockout after Angelo Dundee, Tillis' trainer, stepped in the ring and requested the stoppage.
In other fights on the card, future lightweight world champion Jose Luis Ramirez won the North American Boxing Federation championship by knocking out Frankie Moultrie while Carlos De Leon, in his first fight since he lost the WBC cruiserweight championship to S.T. Gordon, won a decision over Ivy Miller.
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