What is your favourite Boxing memory?

Awesome story.

 

This sport has given me so many memories, it's really hard to pick one.

One that really stands out is when I was 14, and my dad took me to watch Johnny Du Plooy vs Mike Weaver 1.
It was at an open air stadium. It seemed like about 20, 000 people there. Huge crowd. ELECTRIC atmosphere.

Du Plooy never rose beyond fringe contender status, but at the time, he was massively hyped and the golden boy in my part of the world. We all knew Weaver since he had beaten Coetzee some 7 years before.
Naturally, a lot of folk wanted revenge for that.
I didn't tell anyone, not even my dad, but I wanted Weaver to win. Nothing against Du Plooy, but I was a fan of Mike's. Total honour to say I've seen him live.

So there I was, a young wide-eyed kid, just absorbing the atmosphere. I had been watching boxing for years, but always on TV. Watching it live is a totally different experience.
There were quite a few tough-looking guys in the crowd, a lot of talking, shouting, laughing. I saw 2 guys get into it, in the crowd. Crazy stuff. Damn, those ring lights were bright. Never seemed that bright on TV.

The prelims start and the fights come and go. During one really boring fight, someone in the crowd shouts:
"For God's sake ref, stop the fight! They're killing each other!"
Howls of laughter everywhere.

The main fight was awesome. Weaver looked like a goddamn monster-so muscular! Du Plooy started fast, looking to end things early. Weaver played it cool, taking punches on the ropes, but not getting hit by anything too hard.
But the crowd! Oh jeez...
Big international fights were hardly a dime a dozen in my country, least of all a clash between heavyweights. The fight had been hyped for weeks beforehand.
Anything Du Plooy landed was greeted with craziness and bedlam.
My own father, dear old mild-mannered dad, who never even used the 'F-word' in his entire life, lost his mind.
He punched the air, swinging like a madman, kicking at thin air, going absolutely insane. I had never seen my dad like that before. Absolute madness.
Over the years, I've seen others do it too, but this was my dad.

Weaver came on strong later in the fight and was getting the upper hand. I never knew how hard a heavyweight could punch, until I heard these big, booming shots just smashing against flesh. You could hear them clearly despite the cacophony from the crowd.
Weaver won in the end, leaving all but me thoroughly disappointed.

And I thought it was great to go with my dad, because he was the one that got me into the sport in the first place.

 

Watching Pryor - Arguello 1 on TV with my dad. It was a terrific fight and listening to my dad break down the fight as it went on was great (having been a former amateur boxer, he was a huge boxing fan and we'd always watch the fights every on my visitation weekends). I think this one also stands out as it was close to Christmas and I wanted Crossbows and Catapults badly. During a commercial I asked him if he could give me a hint on what Santa was going to lug down the nonexistent chimney that year. his "hint" was "The Afterlife". I did get what I was hoping for, but never thought to ask him what in the world that hint was all about. I think he was pulling my chain on that one, lol.

 

I remember watching many Mike Tyson fights at 3/4am UK time.
He was such a draw. The menacing, focused look, his bull-like neck, his all black shorts & footwear, no gown, the look of dread on his opponents face.
I thought he’d beat Marciano’s record easily !
Great excitement.

 

And what a fight Holyfield-Qawi I was,eh ? My favourite fight of 1986 without a doubt.

 

Ali-Foreman - my own favourite boxing moment ever.

 

The first time I got whacked by someone who could throw a good punch in a mock boxing match and decided I needed to redeem myself lol- It happened and I’m not proud of myself at all for it:

 

For me Foreman v Moorer second place the Gatti v ward trilogy. When I wasn’t alive AIi v Foreman and Marciano v Charles 2

 

Marcos Maidana schooling Broner was timeless, watching AJ knock Wladimir out in a packed pub was monumental, announcing the start of a new era after the heavyweight division was in the dumps for so long and with a British Heavyweight at the helm.

 

Meeting and shaking hands with Liston as a kid after a training session in Plymouth Ma. at the White Cliffs in November 1964.
Meeting Rocky Marciano as a kid at the Brockton Fair...

 

Great fight, I watched it with my dad when it happened, too. But most significant for me was Foreman getting smacked out by Ali.

 

WOW!

 

Not necessarily my favourite memory but one I just thought of.

In a pub in Oxford on a Sunday afternoon to see Barrera-Morales 3. The fight had happened the previous night but me and my mate didn't know the result and didn't have access to Sky so we were looking desperately for anywhere that would show it. We found one place but they said they didn't show boxing because it tended to cause fights. We convinced them that it was something we really wanted to see and that we didn't think it would be a problem because no-one else would know the boxers or care about the fight so they put it on for us in the middle of a Sunday afternoon and we watched a re-run of the fight 'live' as it were. And we were right, no-one else in the pub gave a ****. I had it a draw and my mate had it for Barrera but it was a great way to end the trilogy.