Don Rowe always knew Leatrice “Lee” Holliday had the “gift for gab.”
Whether it was in a 30-second timeout during a basketball game or in a break in the football or baseball action at Aberdeen High School, Rowe witnessed Holliday’s ability to take control of a situation with his knack for selling himself.
It’s no wonder Rowe, who coached Holliday at Aberdeen High from 1973-76, believed Holliday would become a politician.
But Holliday has taken his people skills and ability to promote things in a different direction. In addition to his work building and developing properties and financing in Chicago, Holliday has spent most of the past 20 years as a boxing manager. After years of working with younger fighters, Holliday will reach the pinnacle of the boxing profession Saturday when his fighter, Eric Molina (23-2), takes on Deontay Wilder (33-0) for the WBC heavyweight title at Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. The fight is the first championship boxing event in the state of Alabama.
Rowe, who also works as a correspondent for The Dispatch, will be at ring side watching the fight and seeing his former player in action on the sport’s biggest stage.
“I think this is his passion right now,” said Rowe, who also worked as a junior high football coach at Aberdeen High. “He is really into boxing. He always has loved sports. This keeps him involved in sports on a much larger scale as far as he has ever been involved with personally. He is rubbing elbows with Don King and going to Pacquiao-Mayweather fight. It is a much bigger stage for him. It fits his personality.”
Holliday, 57, played football, basketball, and baseball at Aberdeen High from 1973-75. The former safety, point guard, and second baseman went on to play basketball (two years) and baseball (four) at Mississippi Industrial College, a historically black college in Holly Springs. The school, which was founded in 1905 by the Mississippi Conference of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, closed in 1982.
But Holliday already had left Aberdeen in 1979 and moved to Chicago, where he started his professional life as a businessman. He said he found his way into boxing after meeting Oliver McCall in Chicago in 1990. McCall went on to beat Lennox Lewis for the WBC heavyweight title in 1994. Holliday then attended McCall’s title defense against Larry Holmes in April 1995. He said he recalls being “totally mesmerized” by seeing boxing greats like Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, and Muhammad Ali and promoters like Don King at the fights.
It didn’t take long for someone to ask Holliday if he wanted to get into boxing as a manager. Holliday said he started managing boxer Kenny Murphy and soon found his stable growing because he said the boxers “appreciated the way he treated them.”
These days, Holliday no longer is awed by the greats of the sport. Instead, he hopes Molina, a Mexican American from Raymondville, Texas, can do what very few people believe he can do and hand Wilder his first professional loss.
“I think Eric Molina is going to be Deontay Wilder’s toughest test,” Holliday said. “He kicks like a mule and is not afraid. If Deontay Wilder thinks he will walk through this kid, no way.”
Holliday said he never has had a fighter of Molina’s stature. He said he is his best fighter in terms of attitude, strength, and character. He also said there is no way he could have imagined growing up the son of a sharecropper that he would be managing a fighter who has a chance to win a world title. He credits King and Al Haymon, an adviser/manager to Floyd Mayweather Jr., for helping to make the fight happen.
“I understand this moment. It is huge,” Holliday said. “It is not something I take lightly to fight for the WBC crown.
“I think Eric is going to beat Wilder. The writers and the media are not giving us a shot. They’re saying Eric is scared and that the opportunity is a gimmie.”
But Holliday said Molina, 33, has bounced back from a loss to Chris Arreola in 2012. He said Molina was moving up from cruiserweight to heavyweight and took the fight against Arreola on short notice. Since then, Molina has won his past five fights, including the last three by technical knockout (TKO). He said Molina will fight at 240-245 pounds and that he has fought a solid list of contenders to get ready for his shot at Wilder.
On Jan. 17, 2015, Wilder, who has ties to Columbus and Oliver Miller, a local martial arts instructor, beat Bermane Stiverne by unanimous decision to win the WBC heavyweight title. Holliday said he was with Wilder in his dressing room praying prior to the title fight. He also said he was back in the locker room after the fight celebrating Wilder’s victory.
Now, though, Holliday will be in the other corner trying to take that title away. He said he and Wilder will remain friends, but the matchup Saturday is another chapter he never would have believed would have been written.
After all, Holliday admits he knew his family as “poor” when he was growing up on a plantation. But he said his mother and father never allowed him to feel like they were living a “poor” life because his father always made him feel like he was rich. He said the “humbleness” his parents stressed to him at a young age is something he has tried to carry with him throughout his life. He said he sees that same trait in Molina, which is why he is so proud that he is managing him for his chance at the heavyweight championship.
“Every day is a huge blessing,” Holliday said. “I don’t miss a day without giving thanks for those who have given me huge blessings. To be on this stage, I am not surprised. I am grateful. I truly believe in God’s work every day, and I try to show him gratitude, honor, and respect. Without those three things there is nothing you can’t achieve, and I have a fighter who believes the same thing.”
Rowe said Holliday had that mind-set when he was a student-athlete at Aberdeen High. He said Holliday, who was 5-foot-5 or 5-4, never would have been on anyone’s recruiting list because of his size, but he always hustled and made the most of his abilities. Rowe also said it didn’t hurt that Holliday was a “politician” who could “talk his way in or out of any situation.”
On Saturday night, Holliday hopes to be talking like the manager of a champion.
“It has been a long time for Leatrice,” Rowe said. “I can’t think of anybody who deserves it more because he has worked hard at it.”
NOTE: Tickets to see Wilder-Molina and several other under-card fights can be purchased through the University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics ticket office website. The price of admission ranges from $25-$200.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.