My 1 day visit to the Atlantic City Boxing Hall of Fame.

[repsac]

Since there were no posts about the Atlantic City Boxing Hall of Fame, i figured i should share my 1 day experience attending the events from Yesterday.

 

So i was trying to make it out there on Thursday, because more than anything i enjoy attending a live boxing card. But work prevented me from going on Thursday and Friday. And Sunday was a no go as well because of work. The only day i was able to make it there was on Saturday. Left NYC at 6am, and drove to AC to meet with my friend who's doing some work for the ACBHOF. Walk in and was able to check out the displays of memorabilia, boxing robes, gloves, posters, etc. Of course i brought along about a dozen gloves with me.

 

The inductee class of 2019 fighters included Bernard Hopkins, Roberto Duran, Virgil Hill, Iran Barkley, John Brown, Micky Ward, Tim Witherspoon, and Kevin Watts.

 

Listens to some speeches by some local boxing figures like Nigel Collins, Russell Peltz and Larry Hazzard.

 

Got a couple gloves signed right away by Kelly Pavlik and Angel Manfredy. Kelly is cool i met him several times. Meeting Manfredy was great, told him how i liked playing with his character in Knockout Kings. Walking around, i run in Sugar Ray Seales. We chat for a bit, then i get him to sign a glove in a gold marker, to match his 1972 Olympic Gold Medal. He told me a lot about some of the venues he fought in, a certain fighters. I was interested in his fights with Hagler, and John LiCicero. I saw Hector Camacho Jr walk in. I approached him and showed him a pic i took when i was 16 years old of his dad against Sugar Ray Leonard. He pulled out his phone to snap a pic of it.

 

At one point they laid out tables for fighters to sign stuff for a small fee. I gladly paid for a few things, especially considering i didn't pay for anything at the IBHOF 2 weeks earlier. Paid $25 for a signed pic of Michael Spinks, and then he signed a glove for me. Paid $20 for a signed Al Cole pic, and he signed a glove for me as well. Then the biggest name shows up, Manos de Piedra otherwise known as Roberto Duran. My buddy met him the day before and got a couple things signed for free, but said that today he would be charging. I didn't care, i needed to get Duran. It was $50 to get 1 of your own items signed, i chose to get 2 gloves signed. I was so nervous standing next to him haha. Hung out for a little bit longer and met rapper Roxanne Shante. I told her how i was trying to meet her at the Sheild vs Hammer card. She's very knowledgable about boxing. Her first fight she attended was Sugar Ray Leonard vs Marvin Hagler. We talked about boxing for a good 20 minutes.

 

Ran into former title challenger John Thompson in the elevator. When i saw him a few months ago he was still wearing a neck brace because of a sever injury to his neck from a motorcycle accident. Said he's much better, no more neck brace and that he might be doing some stem cell medical procedure. Hopes to be cleared to resume his career.

 

Afterwards we headed to the Beer Hall where another signing event was talking place with much of the same fighters. I got Ray Mercer and Tim Witherspoon to sign gloves for me. Both really nice guys.

 

Then to my amazement, Larry Holmes walks in. Now i can't tell ya how much this meant to me. This was one of THE fighters my father enjoyed watching. After my father passed away, i was considering driving to Easton to look for him, but i never did. Now he didn't seem to be in a great mood, so when i walked over to him with a glove in hand i chickened out and retreated back to the bar to leave my glove there, only to return to try and get a pic. My friend yells out at me, bring your glove, and Tim FUCKin Witherspoon is there saying, "yea bring your glove, you gonna get it signed!". WTF peer pressure from Terrible Tim? hahaha. So i come back with my glove, and we both end up getting our gloves signed by the Easton Assassin. I didn't talk to him because he was being a bit hounded, so i just jetted off to make room for other people to talk to him or take a pic.

 

As my trip was nearing it's end, i end up talking to Junior Jones, or Poison! I've run into him 3 times in the last month. First time at the Wilder vs Breazeale fight, then at the IBHOF 2 weeks later, and now at the ACBHOF 2 weeks after that. Not sure how it happened, but he's joined my boxing crew. We exchange phone numbers and he said he most likely will attend the Kownacki vs Arreola fight on August 3rd with us. WHAT? How crazy is that?

 

Shoutout to John Iceman Scully for the great stories.

 

Had a blast, hopefully next year i can go for more than just 1 day.

 

P.S. Met Chuck Zito and the actor that played Young Tommy in Goodfellas. :)

 

[LondonRingRules]

Re: My 1 day visit to the Atlantic City Boxing Hall of Fame.

 

--- Ace report Reps. You must have a warehouse for your boxing memorabilia by now. Might consider starting your own boxing glove biz!

 

Has Larry Holmes ever been in a good mood in his life? Only thing you're missing is kids to pass all this stuff on to, or did I miss that part of you life?

[repsac]

Re: My 1 day visit to the Atlantic City Boxing Hall of Fame.

 

--- Ace report Reps. You must have a warehouse for your boxing memorabilia by now. Might consider starting your own boxing glove biz!

 

Has Larry Holmes ever been in a good mood in his life? Only thing you're missing is kids to pass all this stuff on to, or did I miss that part of you life?

 

Thanks. I only just started getting gloved signed. In like 10 years i gotten maybe 8 gloves signed, but now it's been about 40 or so in the last few months. Nope, no kids thankfully. :)