BOXING

When former world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes arrives at the Venus de Milo in Swansea on Wednesday for the 11th annual Celebrity/Scholarship Dinner to benefit the UMass Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research, he plans on regaling the crowd with stories about his illustrious boxing career.

A self-described comedian, Holmes will have the audience enthralled with tales about being in the ring with Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, sparring with Joe Frazier and traveling the world with gold around his waist.

Former New England heavyweight champion Paul Poirier will meet with Holmes prior to the dinner, but he'll be there to talk about just one fight — the one he had against Holmes in 1993. It was the final bout of Poirier's career, and the New Bedford native gave Holmes a valiant battle before "The Easton Assassin" broke Poirier's rib in the fourth round, leading to Holmes winning by TKO in the seventh.

That night has never been far from Poirier's mind. Now a 53-year-old grandfather and a custodian for the Third District Courthouse in New Bedford, Poirier was working this past Friday afternoon when his cell phone rang. It was a voice he hadn't heard in almost two decades, and he spent the next half hour reminiscing with Holmes about the fight.

"I asked him, 'Hey Larry, do you know what you did to me in the fourth round?' And he said he didn't," Poirier said. "I said, 'You broke my rib!' And he said, 'I apologize, I didn't mean to do that to you, Paul.' Can you believe that? Eighteen years later, and the former heavyweight champ of the world is apologizing to me. That just shows you what a great guy he is."

POIRIER'S JOURNEY

The two men both rose up from challenging childhoods to become boxers. Poirier, who is currently working on a book about his life and has much of his personal story on his website, www.paulrocky.com, turned pro at age 15 and eventually became the youngest boxer to ever fight in the Boston Garden. Under the tutelage of famed manager Vinnie Vecchione, Poirier compiled a record of 21-0 by the time he was 17 years old, and the promoters saw a great future ahead of him. But at that time, Poirier became a Jehovah's Witness, and his religion clashed with his career.

"I was heartbroken over it, because when I was left I was Vinnie's No. 1 guy and I knew I was hurting him by leaving," Poirier said. "But I had to do what I had to do."

Poirier spent the next 15 years raising a family and working both on the fishing docks and for the New Bedford school system. He always hoped to return to the ring, and was inspired by George Foreman's comeback after 10 years out of the ring in the late 1980s. Poirier spent months trying to locate Vecchione, and once he did, the two got back into the boxing game together.

In 1990, Poirier returned to the ring for the first time in 15 years, fighting in places like New Bedford High, the old Armory building and the Roseland Ballroom in Taunton. Now a heavyweight, he rattled off nine straight victories including capturing the New England Heavyweight belt three times. He then moved up to face world title contenders like Alex Stewart, who had fought Tyson and Foreman and handed Poirier his first career loss, and Tony Tucker, who shortly after defeating Poirier fought Lennox Lewis for the WBC crown.

Poirier was resting on the couch one day in 1993 when he received a call from Vecchione.

"He was always playing jokes. He used to do this thing where he'd tell you to put the phone up close to your ear so he could tell you something, and then he'd hang up on you," Poirier recalled. "When he called me to tell me I was going to fight Larry Holmes, I told him to put the phone close to his ear and I hung up on him. He called me back and said, 'You knucklehead, I'm serious, I got you a fight with Larry Holmes."

HOLMES' RISE

Holmes turned pro just about three months prior to Poirier and put together a run of 28 straight wins by the time he took the WBC Heavyweight Title from Ken Norton. He went on to be a world champ for the next seven years, defeating the likes of Earnie Shavers, Leon Spinks and even Muhammad Ali during that reign. He retired in 1986 after back-to-back losses to Michael Spinks, but then was lured out of retirement to fight the Undisputed Champion of the World, Mike Tyson, in 1988. But Holmes said it wasn't for the $2.8 million purse claimed on Wikipedia.

"Nah, it was for $3.5 million," Holmes said with a laugh. "You think I would have got in the ring with Mike Tyson in the prime of his career for only $2.8 million?"

"But if Don King didn't make that offer, I wouldn't have come out of retirement. Because I knew I was going to get beat, and pardon my language, but he kicked my butt."

Holmes retired again after the fight and focused on music with his band Marmalade, as well as other entrepreneurial endeavors.

"I was out there singing and hanging out with the Temptations and Kool and the Gang, just having fun," he said. "I kept getting offers but why would I want to go back in the ring when I was having so much fun?

"Eventually I went back so I could make a few dollars," Holmes said with his trademark candor. "That's what my second comeback was about — to not get hurt, to not hurt the other guy, and just make some money. Don King and Bob Arum used to get mad at me at tell me I was supposed to say I fought for the love of the sport, but I always fought for the love of money. I wouldn't have gotten punched in the face for free."

It was in the midst of that second comeback when he faced Poirier on USA Network's "Tuesday Night Fights."

POIRIER VS. HOLMES

At the time, Poirier was 34 and Holmes was 43, but the former world champion had a 20-pound advantage and still possessed his devastating left hook. Holmes said he was sure there was a lot of manufactured animosity heading into the bout for the purposes of hyping up the fight, but Poirier recalled one funny incident from the weigh-in.

"When I got on the scale, I saw the number and told Vinnie that there must be a problem, because I didn't weight that much," he said. "But then Vinnie told me to turn around, and there was Larry with his foot on the scale."

On the night before the fight, Poirier was relaxing in the pool with his sparring partner (and future Tyson opponent) Peter McNeely when McNeely noticed Holmes watching from a balcony over the pool. He told Poirier to look up, and the soon-to-be opponents locked eyes for a moment before a smile broke on Holmes' face.

"He told me not to exert myself, and I told him not to worry, that I was saving it all up for him. He just walked away laughing," Poirier said.

The next day was a different story. The fight was held at Casino Magic in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi and broadcast to a national audience.

"I play that fight over again and again in my mind," Poirier said. "I remember it like it was yesterday."

When the two men met in the middle of the ring for the referee's instructions, Poirier tried to stare down Holmes — even though Holmes had four or five inches on him.

"Vinnie squeezed the back of my neck and told me to cut it out," Poirier said. "He said we only wanted to fight him, not get him all yanked up."

Instead, the crowd at Casino Magic did that for him. After three lackluster rounds in which Holmes seemed to be going through the motions, the crowd began to turn on him.

"In the third round, he stopped fighting before the bell rang and was pointing at some people in the crowd who were heckling him, asking them if they wanted to get in the ring," Poirier said. "That must have fired him up, because when the bell rang for the start of the fourth, the real Larry Holmes came out."

In that round, Holmes nailed Poirier with a right body shot that cracked his rib, and Poirier went down a few seconds later. He went down again in the sixth, and Vecchione decided not to let his fighter go out for the seventh. The USA cameras caught Poirier in his corner arguing with Vecchione that he could continue.

"More! More!" he yelled. "Vinnie, I can do it!"

But his manager knew what was best, and Holmes was awarded the victory by TKO.

After the fight, Poirier retired for good with a career mark of 31-3 with seven knockouts, turning down a $50,000 offer to fight Eric "Butterbean" Esch to once again return to his life in New Bedford.

NOT A REMATCH, BUT A REUNION

Poirier said it was a "fluke" that he found out Holmes was coming to the area.

"My brother-in-law saw that he was coming for the UMass dinner and he sent me the link, because he knew I had fought him," Poirier said. "So I called the number and said I wanted to buy a ticket, and I told them who I was."

A few days later, Poirier was out having dinner with his wife when he got a return call from Nora Barnes, the Director of the Center for Marketing Research.

"She told me she was very sorry, but she couldn't sell me a ticket," Poirier said. "When I asked her why, she told me it was because it would be her honor to give me a ticket."

"When I was talking to Paul it became clear to me that he was going to need a little extra time with Larry before the event, so I called and asked if he'd be willing to do that," Barnes said. "He's just fantastic. He said absolutely. I'm happy to see that our scholarship dinner has also led to this reunion."

These days, Poirier spends his time working, babysitting his grandson, riding his Harley and working on his new passion, building Adirondack chairs. You'd never guess he's the guy who went six rounds with the former heavyweight champ of the world.

Meanwhile, Holmes said to this day, he still has guys coming up to him saying they know they could go a round with him.

"I always say, 'You buying? Because that's the only rounds I do these days,'" he said, chuckling.

Poirier's boxing legacy, though, is well known to his friends in and around the city. Knucklehead's Bar and Grill has created a permanent exhibit of Poirier's career, including many of his personal mementos. He plans on having Holmes autograph a 16x20 photo he has of the two of them in the ring and displaying it there, as well as a forthcoming gift from the Chief Court Officer of the Third District Courthouse, Donald Gaudette.

"He got me a t-shirt signed by Manny Pacquiao," Poirier said. "His wife is from the Philippines, so they made a few calls and went to great lengths to get it for me. But Donald told me, 'I'm doing it as a favor because you're a model citizen of New Bedford, and people should look up to you.' It means a lot that someone would do that for me."

But "The Champ," as he's known by those close to him, might be underplaying his place in boxing lore. Holmes certainly thinks so.

"People like to be a part of history, and that's what boxers are," Holmes said. "They might think that a guy like Paul might have been forgotten if he didn't fight someone like me, but the truth is, it took guys like Paul to make me what I am today."