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Which boxers have you met and what were they like?


chaconfan

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Let us make a list of all the boxers you have met, and tell us if they lived up to your expectations, or were very disappointing for whatever reason.

I have tons of stories, the most dramatic being when Pat Barrett hit a doorman with a bottle in Bolton Lancashire, because he was refused entry to a nightclub, for reasons best not discussed, but well known, to those who know a little about him.

Please don't pretend to have met guys that you really haven't, as it is not a competition.

A great addition would be to post pictures of yourself with the boxers.

I have tons to add, and will edit this later, but for now the list starts with,

Pat Barrett

Evander Holyfield * Any with an asterisk, I have a little story to tell. Not always very interesting to all, but hopefully to some.

George Foreman*

Chris Pyatt

Najib Daho. Anyone remember him?

Ricky Hatton

Zeljko Mavrovic

Oleg Maskaev

Dannel Nicholsen *

Tommy Morrison

Bonecrusher Smith

Tim Witherspoon *

David Haye

Frank Bruno

Lennox Lewis

Johnny Nelson

Jnr Witter *

Chris Eubank*

Nigel Benn

Micheal Watson*

Ken Buchanan

Mike Tyson

Joe Frazier *

Tony Tucker

Marvin Hagler *

Ray Leonard *

Roberto Duran *

Thomas Hearns *

Roy Jones Jnr *

Junior Jones *

Ken Norton

Buster Douglas

Jake Lamotta

Robin Reid *

Richard Towers

Jess Harding*

Alex Garcia ******

Reggie Johnson

Joe Egan

John H stracey

Alan Minter

Edited by chaconfan
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Re: Which boxers have you met and what were they like?

 

My list is very small. I probably have met more but it's all I can think of at the moment.

 

 

In person I have met:

 

 

Promoter Tommy Gilmour, Paul Graham

 

Referee Dave Parris

 

Boxers Ricky Burns, Iain Butcher, Mitch Prince and Barry Morrison.

 

 

Never really got into a deep conversation with any of the but they were all pleasant enough.

 

 

 

On the phone I have interviewed:

 

Scott Harrison, Gary Cornish, Tommy Langford and Lloyd Ellett - Hopefully I will do more soon.

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Re: Which boxers have you met and what were they like?

 

Ha ha thanks for responding to the thread pal, but no cheating. I never included promoters or managers. I used to have Brian Hughes round my house, and have met many trainers, including Emanuel Stewart.

I also have spoken on the phone to Earnie Shavers.

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Re: Which boxers have you met and what were they like?

 

The boxers I've met have all been local to South Wales.

 

Former boxers

Steve Robinson

Gavin Rees

Steve Sims

Tony Borg

Gary Lockett

Jamie Arthur

Eddie Avoth

Dario DeAbreu

Kevin Hayde

 

Current boxers

Lee Selby

Nathan Cleverly

Craig Evans

Robbie Turley

Frankie Borg

Craig Kennedy

Luke Robinson

Liam Williams

Lewis Rees

Jerome Samuels

Chris Jenkins

Darren Morgan

Alex Hughes

Dai Jones

Danny Griffiths

 

Will add more once I remember them

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Re: Which boxers have you met and what were they like?

 

Thanks pal. I thought more people would comment, and that we would have people telling us of how they got drunk with Joe Louis and Ray Robinson, then took five women back to Joe Walcotts house.....and not a word of it would have been an exaggeration, of course.

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Re: Which boxers have you met and what were they like?

 

I met Muhammad Ali at a book signing nearly 20 years ago but he wasn't saying anything to anyone apart from his minders. I've only ever queued for 2 autographs and the other was Tom Baker! I've met Spencer Oliver a couple of time and he's a nice guy. Edit: Actually I checked and it was nearer 25 years ago. Christ I'm old.

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Re: Which boxers have you met and what were they like?

 

--- An the opportunity of a lifetime presented itself when I was 16 after taking my two buddies down to the Astrodome to see Ali and Terrell train the week before their unification fight.

Terrell was prime aged and impressive looking, and of course the training was light, just a show for the rubes to see two heavyweight champs in action to promote the fight. OK, Terrell's 45 minutes was up and he put on his robe to walk back to his dressing room, a temp 10'x10'x10' cube erected next to Ali's cube.

Ali emerged before Terrell got there and started screaming at him as they confronted. The whole gym rushed around, so Ali jumps in with a big wild swing on Terrell who returned the favor as an explosion of action jostled all of us around while the training camps struggled to contain their fighters. Terrell made it to his cube so Ali jumped into the ring with his robe on to dance around, shout, and shadow box for a few minutes before tossing it to his trainers. Crowd had dispersed to the ring fringes, everything serene now, but suddenly Ali popped through the ropes to sprint to Terrell's cube, slamming the door shut upon which all hell broke loose.

I was right on Ali's tail with my buds trailing, but the door was locked! I ran to a corner and asked my buds for a boost so I could grab the top wall to pull myself up for a look. The cube was really rocking with screams punctuating the score, so imagine my shock to see Ali with a folding metal chair screaming while running round the room pounding on the walls with Terrell's trainer on the opposite side keeping pace with his chair. Ernie was naked sitting up on the table with a towel covering him as he pounded his street shoe on the table while shouting.

Just as I started to jump in and grab a chair, a security guard grabbed my ankles to pull me down as another guard unlocked the door to lead Ali out, still shouting. He promptly resumed his workout that consisted primarily lying on the ropes letting his sparmates pound on him, a preview of Rumble in the Jungle Rope A Dope.

The net impact on me is my high suspicion of boxing experts and media who reported the event in high feudal drama that Terrell called Ali Clay to anger him, when in fact they were best buds from way back, former sparmates, and brilliantly complicit in their staging of the publicity.

Alas, I was too poor then to afford the tickets to the fight, but had I managed to jump in on the action, Ali would have loved it and surely given me a couple of tickets, only a split second of poor timing that the Fates cursed me with that kept me from meeting Ali and Ernie in the most personal way possible, but it's still a good story.

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Re: Which boxers have you met and what were they like?

 

Very interesting pal. I have read MANY times of how Ali punished Terrell all the way through the fight, saying what's my name? what's my name? Did this not happen? I have the fight in my collection, but cannot hear anyone speak, is why I ask.

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Re: Which boxers have you met and what were they like?

 

--- They were friends outside the ring.

 

Inside Ernie looked to tear Ali a new one in a brawl, but as soon as he hurt his eye it was all Ali, his best fight where he showed some class over a well prepped peer.

 

But he also showed his mean streak as he did talking about Frazier and Foreman. Regardless, the name thing was always used as a stunt just like he wanted Wepner to call him nigger so they could brawl on a talk show, most always BS.

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  • 1 month later...

Re: Which boxers have you met and what were they like?

 

As an 11 year old boy, I met both Larry Holmes and Roberto Duran at a Central Park press conference before their respective fight at msg in June of 1979. Larry Holmes totally ignored my fathers request for a picture with my sister and I. Duran, on the other hand, didn't hesitate to take a pic with us and signed an autograph. He then chatted with us for a few minutes. By his actions, you could tell he loved children.

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Re: Which boxers have you met and what were they like?

 

As an 11 year old boy, I met both Larry Holmes and Roberto Duran at a Central Park press conference before their respective fight at msg in June of 1979. Larry Holmes totally ignored my fathers request for a picture with my sister and I. Duran, on the other hand, didn't hesitate to take a pic with us and signed an autograph. He then chatted with us for a few minutes. By his actions, you could tell he loved children.

I also met Duran and he seemed to appreciate that people liked him. Holmes ignoring your fathers request surprises me, but I believe you 100%. Thanks for joining in.

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Re: Which boxers have you met and what were they like?

 

--- An the opportunity of a lifetime presented itself when I was 16 after taking my two buddies down to the Astrodome to see Ali and Terrell train the week before their unification fight.

 

 

This was such a great story man, thanks for sharing it with us!

 

In your opinion, were fighters like Ali and Terrell outdated when compared to modern boxers?

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Re: Which boxers have you met and what were they like?

 

--- Ali and Terrell would be in the mix today, but they'd have to learn how to fight southpaws. Ali would also have to stay in better shape and otherwise take a lot of antisocial media stick for his antics.

 

Btw a big complaint about older fights is fighter ID. Often the guys look almost identical and in the same trunks, so as they move around the ring we can't visualize which is which. I notice this sometimes happens today which could explain poor judging on occasion.

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Re: Which boxers have you met and what were they like?

 

I've met Ali many times as a kid, but I do not remember most of it.

 

Chaco, I need to hear that Foreman story!

 

It isn't very interesting but I traveled down to Cardiff to see Lewis v Bruno. Lewis wanted a neutral stadium, as Frank had at the time, far more supporters around London, and maybe Cardiff was the biggest, available, neutral stadium. Anyway, when we got there, the stadium was nowhere near full, so people just moved into better seats. I take bigger risks than most, and tried my luck sitting next to celebs. I ended up, right behind Foreman, who was commentating for HBO I think. In between fights, he got up to go somewhere, and I am not shy in gushing my love and respect for legends, having kissed Leonard, Frazier and Duran on the cheek, and hugging them all, so I said to him, Hi George, I have been a fan since I was a kid, I watched your fights live on TV, and never thought I would ever be lucky enough to meet you in person, please can I shake your hand? He looked down at my hand, and walked right through me, without saying a word. Thanks for showing interest pal, hope you enjoy the site.

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Re: Which boxers have you met and what were they like?

 

It isn't very interesting but I traveled down to Cardiff to see Lewis v Bruno. Lewis wanted a neutral stadium, as Frank had at the time, far more supporters around London, and maybe Cardiff was the biggest, available, neutral stadium. Anyway, when we got there, the stadium was nowhere near full, so people just moved into better seats. I take bigger risks than most, and tried my luck sitting next to celebs. I ended up, right behind Foreman, who was commentating for HBO I think. In between fights, he got up to go somewhere, and I am not shy in gushing my love and respect for legends, having kissed Leonard, Frazier and Duran on the cheek, and hugging them all, so I said to him, Hi George, I have been a fan since I was a kid, I watched your fights live on TV, and never thought I would ever be lucky enough to meet you in person, please can I shake your hand? He looked down at my hand, and walked right through me, without saying a word. Thanks for showing interest pal, hope you enjoy the site.

 

Damn he did you like that?! Well, people are people. They have good moments and bad moments. I guess you caught him at the wrong time!

 

Thanks for the story :)

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Re: Which boxers have you met and what were they like?

 

Damn he did you like that?! Well, people are people. They have good moments and bad moments. I guess you caught him at the wrong time!

 

Thanks for the story :)

I don't know if you are aware, but he was very well known for being a surly, bully, in the 60's and 70's. He was greatly disliked. He craftily pretended to reinvent himself, which worked incredibly well, gaining him massive popularity. It was however, an act, as people I know and people I have spoken to on other forums, have all confirmed that he is only nice when he is camera, or has to be for a signing, or something similar. Thanks for your interest.

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Re: Which boxers have you met and what were they like?

 

I also met Duran and he seemed to appreciate that people liked him. Holmes ignoring your fathers request surprises me, but I believe you 100%. Thanks for joining in.

I think it had a lot to do with Don King being by his side when he not only ignoRed my father, but several other fans nearby. Duran loved the people and spoke to my father in Spanish with respect.

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Re: Which boxers have you met and what were they like?

 

I think it had a lot to do with Don King being by his side when he not only ignoRed my father, but several other fans nearby. Duran loved the people and spoke to my father in Spanish with respect.

 

King being there, is not a good enough reason to dis your fans. You having fans is what makes you rich and famous.

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