Have we got any fight fans?

I've followed Boxing all my life as my Uncle is a hardcore fan.

Thought I'd start this thread to get some conversations going.

Yep.

I haven't followed the sport in the past 40 years or so, but I was big fan before that.

One of my highlights was going to the last fight at the "old" Madsion Square Garden in 1967. The main bout featured lightweights Ismael Laguna and Frankie Narvaez. Laguna won in a unamimous decision, which caused a full-fledged riot. Hell, the crazed Narvaez fans even tossed the large music organ from it's perch in the middle deck down to the floor. Bottles were flying everywhere!

As my brother-in-law and I ran out (covering our heads) we crossed the street only to see Muhammad Ali and his entourage. I was 17 at the time and I brushed past his bodyguards and handed him a newspaper I was carrying. He signed his name and I said, "Thanks champ", which prompted a smile from him (he was then stripped of his title because he refused to be inducted in the military draft, but he was still truly the heavyweight champ). What made it even nicer was that there was a picture of him and basketball player Wilt Chamberlain on the page that he signed. The caption below the picture still referred to him by his birth name - Cassius Clay.

I have that signed page hanging on my wall now.

I spent MANY hours at the "old" Garden going to boxing and wrestling events.

WOW!!
That's a great story! Man, I really want to go to the States and visit all the legendary spots!!

That's awesome how you got his autograph!! As i was reading your post, it was playing out like a movie in my mind!! Imagining the chairs flying around, you running through the crowd and then running into Muhammad Ali and his entourage!!
_________________________________________________________________________

Has anyone heard of these fighters: Jeff Fenech or Kostya Tzyu? (sp)

Not me. Here's a link (below) to an awesome boxing records site:

BOXING RECORDS SITE - CLICK HERE

Great site!!

Thanks for the link!!

It is! I can spend hours looking up stuff on it.

Remember the headline on the back page of the newspaper that Michael Corleone picked up (to read about Vito being shot)?


You can look up the facts to that fight on this site.

I don't follow team sports at all, but I'm a boxing fan--I tape all the fights shown on US TV so I can fast-forward the dull parts or do frame-by-frame on the KO's.

As a kid, I watched "Friday Night Fights" on TV with my uncles. My favorite was Kid Gavilan, a Cuban welterweight with his famous "bolo" punch. I went to one or two fights with my uncles at the old Garden that SC described.

I also crossed paths with Ali:

One day in 1987, I had business in a Chicago suburb. I flew in that morning and out the same afternoon. While waiting at an unusually empty gate area at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, I looked up from my book--and, standing not 100 feet away, there was Muhammed Ali! He was all by himself. Superficially, he looked great: trim, not fat like most former heavyweight boxers, no gray hair, no obvious marks on his face. But his eyes told a different story: he was a million miles away, lost in space. After a minute, a little white woman walked up to him, took his arm, turned him around, and started walking him to his gate. Just then a group of little kids came over and started talking to him. A ghost of a smile came over Ali's face, but it, too, was a million miles away.

Poor guy: he was without a doubt the world's most famous man just a few years earlier--and now reduced to a shell.

That's awesome. Hahaha!!!

This site even has a forum! Looking up stats on past fights is great. Thanks again for the link! I'll be spending some time in here for a while.

Wow!! You guys are killing me with your stories!! That's great to cross paths with him, But sad to have seen what you did. He really was something!!

Turnbull, make sure you check the link to the site SC posted up. It's got everything!!

I guess that's how it was with me and Joe Louis. I had only seen him as an old man, moving around slowly, etc. My dad used to sing his praises and always got kind of quiet when we'd see Louis on tv in his later years.

I only just realized that Rocky Marciano died so young! 45 years of age!!

Turnbull, you're much too modest. You forgot your headline event there against plawrence:



The mind boggles at the possibility.

SCENE: Flashback, the mid 1950's, New York City. Madison Square Garden, its air tinged blue thick with cigar smoke is sold out for the light-heavyweight championship bout between two of Brooklyn's native sons. In the distance you can hear the sponsor's theme song playing ("to look sharp, and to feel sharp, too") as Gillette's announcer, Jimmy Powers, is announcing the combatants.

Powers: "In this coooooornnnneer, representing the Five Families theory, a favorite son from Brownsville.... Turrrrnnbuuuullllll".

Crowd (in unison): "Turnbull's a good man, Turnbull's a good man".

Powers: "And in thisssss coooornnnnerrr, from Flatbush's Ebbetts Field, the 6-5 favorite representing the SIX Families idea.... Plawwwwwwww".

Crowd (in unison): "Windbag, windbag".

Referee, J. Geoff Malta, replete in his red and white striped shirt is giving the fighters their last minute instructions and warnings as the microphone picks up a few words between the boxers.

Turnbull: "You're going down, chump. You're gonna feel like a 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupe ran over your head".

Plaw: "Chill out pepper eater, I'm gonna knock you out faster than a Bob Feller fastball from 1946 when he struck out 348 in 371.1 innings".

The bell rings, the combatants jump off their stools and come out swinging. Two big haymakers miss each other and their momentum swings both fighters completely around, knocking them out. They flounder helplessly on the mat as the ref counts them out.

The crowd, too weak from its pre-fight frenzy starts to file out of the Garden amidst cries of "It was Barzini all along" and "Tattaglia's a pimp".

Once again, the issue remains unresolved.

Yep... the Rock went way too soon. A plane crash.

My best friend is first cousins with David Tua from Samoa. He lost to Lennox Lewis on points.

That's an amazing story, SC. Running from a riot right into Ali.

When I was a kid, I used to go to the Scranton Catholic Youth Center whenever there was a card every two or three months. There were a few local fighters, including a crowd favorite and heavyweight, Jerry Foley, who would usually win as they would bring in a punching bag for him from some place. He wasn't really good, and I believe he was mildly retarded. The crowd would chant "Fo-Ley", much like the way other crowds were chanting"Ali."

My family was shocked therefore when we turned on ABC Wide World of Sports around 1980 and saw him fighting in France with Ken Norton providing the color commentary as if Foley were legitimate. It turns out that a good fighter was supposed to fight this star French heavyweight, but cancelled out two days before. ABC had trouble getting a replacement, so Foley was brought in and gave the Frenchman a surprisingly good fight, hitting him with a few good punches.

My uncle was part of the group who would put the cards together in the 1970s. Many of the fighters were young,new professionals from Philly, NJ or NY. I remember one fighter, who lived about an hour away and was very impressive in his first several pro fights in Scranton. After his wins, usually by KO, he would shower, change, come out and thank the guys who put the fight together. He went on to become the heavyweight champ of the world, Larry Holmes, a few years later. A group of us had our picture taken with him when he was a nobody, and most of my face was blocked by my brother, who now has the picture.

There was an 80 year old guy, who would come to the fights, who was a former boxer, named Kid Mango. In his day he was locally famous for boxing kangaroos. I remember him telling my brother and me, "Dem bastards don't fight fair." After the last fight of the night the old guy would fake a fainting spell so he could get a ride home.

Oddly enough, I remember the name Jerry Foley, although I'm not sure why.

I looked him up... he fought Mitch Green (who beat him) in Green's first pro bout. Green went on to fight Mike Tyson some time later and went ten rounds with him (only to lose in a unanimous decision). I don't remember the details, but there was some bad blood between Tyson and Green before the fight. Tyson was still undefeated at that point in his career but he couldn't knock Green out!

He was a character. when I was in high school, I would see him often because he would "train" in a gym near an old athletic field where I would have track practice (shotput).

At the time there was a well known fighter, Ossie Ocasio. I'm sure you remember him. Foley wanted to get a fight against him, and he explained to me that he knew Ossie frequently hurt his hands. He had it planned out how he could beat this top ten heavtweight: "Let Ossie pound me in the head for 8-9 rounds until he breaks his hands, and then he's mine."

That's hilarious!

I just read this now. What a stark difference from SC's encounter. I never saw Ali in person although he used to train in Deer Lake, PA, which was a little over an hour from me.

I pulled up alongside Joe Frazier once on South Street in Philadelphia. It was the summer of '83 because the Sixers had just won the championship.

I think one of the saddest things I've EVER seen on tv was a view of Ali at a baseball game two years ago. He was sitting in the stands with his wife, and was announced to the crowd. Of course he got a standing ovation and the tv cameras focused on him waving (weakly) to the crowd. After the ovation died down the cameras focused back on the game but the announcers were still talking about Ali. The camera then moved back to Ali and he was sitting there drooling as his wife was cleaning up his face. The camera quickly moved away, but it wasn't soon enough for me. That sad image will remain with me forever.

Not the sharpest tool in the shed but a classy guy and a GREAT fighter. I'll never forget when he got knocked out by George Foreman. That may have been the hardest punch I've ever seen thrown. Frazier was actually lifted off his feet from the force of the blow.

In 1983 he still looked like he could rip the guts out of a grizzly bear. As a fighter, he was always on the attack...except for the moment you mentioned. That was a heck of a punch.

Kind of reminds me of a story:

It must've been 1985 or '86 and I was driving a cab in the City. I was stopped at a red light behind two other cars. The light changed but the first car in line didn't move. A few seconds passed and still, no movement. I was about to honk my horn when the guy in between us REALLY leaned on his horn and wouldn't stop. The driver of the first car opened his door and SLOWLY walked up to the second car. I SWORE the first car's driver was Sonny Liston (but he was already dead at that point). I could only see the second driver "slink down" in his seat. (Nothing happened and as the light cycled back for a second time we all proceeded). But I gotta tell ya, this first driver was ONE SCARY LOOKING DUDE.

You remember Sonny Liston?? He'd be one to tear the guts out of a grizzly!

I'm only 21 so I don't remember the old timers, but I follow the sport very closely now. We're only a month away from the fight of the year - Miguel Cotto vs. Antonio Margarito in a welterweight title bout! The winner will likely face Oscar De La Hoya in December in the final fight of his career.

In reality, both fighters were, uh, "advised" by Frankie (Mr. Gray) Carbo to take a flop...

Nick Tosches' "The Devil and Sonny Liston" is a good read. Lots of good photos, too. If you get the book, check out the size of Sonny's hands.

Sonny Liston was a beast!! I always liked watching his fights on VHS.

I think I remember watching the Tyson VS Green fight! Tyson..he could have really been something!! What an Idiot he was sometimes.

Yes he was (a beast).

I remember clearly talking about him and Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) fighting for the first time. Liston was heavily favored to win and Clay was busy talking up the fight (as only he could) in the media. Liston was getting quite upset over Clay's antics and I predicted he'd knock Clay out in the first round.

I guess I was wrong.

Haha yeah!!

Hey, SC. I know you haven't followed the sport in a long time, But do you remember when Tyson fought "Buster" Douglas?
Buster didn't allow himself to be intimidated by Tyson and let him in his head. Tyson, nearly knocked him out in the 9th round, But Buster got up, fought on and knocked Tyson out in the last Round!!! A great moment in Boxing history!!

I may post a link from You Tube if I can find it.

I was shocked when Douglas beat Tyson. NOBODY expected that to happen!