November 26, 1982: Larry Holmes wins a unanimous decision over Randall "Tex" Cobb at the Astrodome in Houston, and retains the Heavyweight Championship of the World.
This fight was broadcast live on ABC on the night after Thanksgiving, meaning families may have been watching it together. It was 13 days after Korean boxer Kim Duk-koo was fatally injured in a live televised fight with Lightweight Champion Ray "Boom-Boom" Mancini.
Between them, these 2 fights led to changes in boxing. The maximum of 15 rounds was reduced to 12. A standing eight-count for any knockdown was required. And any fighter knocked out automatically had his license suspended for 45 days, for his own safety.
Howard Cosell, for years ABC's lead boxing announcer, called the Holmes-Cobb fight. He was so appalled by the beating the Cobb took that he vowed never to broadcast another professional prizefight. He kept that vow, as the only fights he broadcast thereafter were the amateur ones, with tighter rules, in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Upon hearing that Cosell was quitting boxing, Cobb said, "I can do my sport no greater service."
As of November 26, 2022, Holmes and Cobb are both still alive. As far as I know, neither has been mentally impaired due to boxing.
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November 26, 1982 was a Friday: As I said, the day after Thanksgiving. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was in midweek. There were 2 college football games that day, both of them major rivalries, and both clashes between highly-ranked teams. Number 2 Penn State beat Number 5 University of Pittsburgh, 19-10 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. And Number 3 Nebraska beat Number 11 Oklahoma at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Penn State was then an independent, and thus had no Conference Championship to win. Nebraska clinched the Big Eight Conference title. Penn State went to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, which became a de facto National Championship game, because they were playing the Southeastern Conference Champions, Number 1 Georgia. Nebraska went to the Orange Bowl in Miami, and played Number 13 Louisiana State University.
The games were being played at the same time, the Orange Bowl on NBC and the Sugar Bowl on ABC, and Nebraska's only hope of winning the National Championship was to blow LSU out, and hope that Penn State beat previously undefeated Georgia in a dull game. Instead, it was a very good game, although for those of us who don't like Penn State, it was a bad result: The Nittany Lions won, 27-23. And the Tigers held the Cornhuskers to another classic, with Nebraska winning, 21-20. So Penn State got the National Championship.
There were 8 games in the NBA:
* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Phoenix Suns, 110-99 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Utah Jazz, 137-103 at the Boston Garden.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 120-102 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 132-118 in overtime at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.
* The Washington Bullets beat the Indiana Pacers, 87-85 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Chicago Bulls, 122-120 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio. George Gervin led all scorers on the day with 44 points.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Diego Clippers, 117-115 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena). Magic Johnson scored 32 points.
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Denver Nuggets, 127-106 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.
And there were 6 games in the NHL:
* The New Jersey Devils and the Vancouver Canucks played to a tie, 4-4 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Hartford Whalers, 4-3 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).
* The Washington Capitals beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-3 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landcover, Maryland.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the St. Louis Blues, 8-6 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Minnesota North Stars played to a tie, 6-6 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
* And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 6-5 at the Winnipeg Arena.
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