Boxers who were known as sparring partner's in the beginning of their career.

Weirdly, it's a career trajectory not as much followed now at the top. Holmes being Ali's sparring partner is well known. Btu Tyson, Lewis, Bowe, Holy, Wlad, etc. were never dedicated sparring partners. They would do the occasional one-off but managers never wanted to show their cards for a future match-up.

 

Holmes also sparred with Joe Frazier a good bit, going to Philly sometimes when Ali wasn’t in camp. What an education.

Mike Weaver sparred with Ken Norton a lot coming up. He had a roughly .500 start and didn’t take training seriously and it was Norton who gave him the nickname Hercules and encouraged him to give boxing his all, that he could make a good living at it.

Norton and Frazier sparred frequently.

All those Kronk guys sparred each other. (And many outsiders, too, once the gym became known as a hotbed.)

Dwight Muhammad Qawi was a sparring partner for James Scott in Rahway prison when both were incarcerated. Dwight (whose last name was Braxton before he converted to Islam and changed it) got off to a good career start once he was released and came back to Rahway to beat Scott for his first big win in James’ last fight.

Aaron Pryor sparred with Howard Davis Jr and Ray Leonard, although I’m not sure how much of a fixture he was with either as far as whether those were short stints or regular gigs.

Marlon Starling got his jaw broken by Thomas Hearns when the Hitman was training for his first fight with Ray Leonard. According to The NY Times, Hearns was wearing 18-ounce gloves. Not sure but I think Marlon was only in camp with Thomas for the one fight.

Most accomplished fighters sparred with other good fighters on the way up, often when they were young working with an older, more accomplished fighter (i.e. the younger guy was the sparring partner), but in more cases than not it’s for one camp or maybe another if they do well and get invited back. That has to do with money and geography (if you travel to spar with someone, you expect to get paid and hotel/food/travel). Guys who spar frequently usually live relatively close together (Holmes came up in Pennsylvania so that’s why he got so many rounds with Ali at his Deer Lake, Pa., and he could also drive to Philly to work with Frazier from time to time.

 

Yes, in the days of big budget training camps and managers hiding their cards, having a Wilder or Joshua in camp as did Wlad seems to always be a one-off. It all seems more strategic.

 

How do you work out Johnson was not better than Griffin? Johnson beat all their common opponents and Griffin lost to them.
For which fights was Martin a sparring partner for Jeffries? Martin was Ruhlin's spar mate not Jeffries.

Armstrong was Jeffries sparring partner on occasion.as he also was for Johnson.

For which fights did Griffin train and spar with Fitzsimmons?

I've also never read that McVey was a sparring partner for Carpentier and Carp makes no mention of it in his autobiography, nor of McVey training him , or of them having been friendly.
McVey's closest friend was Johnson, whom he lived with for a time.
Jeffries v Johnson in1903 would not have been an even match Johnson was still developing both as a fighter and physically.

 

Edit just found a mention of Griffin being in camp with Jeffries for the 2nd Fitz fight,no mention of him training Jeff though.Source." The Fighting Blacksmith" by Gilbert Odd.
Johnson was a sometime sparring partner of Joe Walcott,Tom Sharkey and George Gardner. Jack Dempsey of Carl Morris, George Godfrey of Dempsey,Lou Ambers of Tony Canzoneri,Jersey Joe Walcott of Joe Louis,Harry Wills of Johnson,Larry Holmes of Muhammad Ali.Al Blue Lewis of Ali.Jeffries of Corbett.

 

Witherspoon was beating up Ali in 1980 sparring camp but nobody gave much thought to it as Ali often took it easy an let sparring partners take shots at him

 

Correct me if I am wrong please. But wasn't Larry Holmes a sparring partner for Muhammad Ali early in his career?

 

Yes, as I have posted.Jimmy Ellis too.

 

So your saying in 1904 Johnson hadn’t developed into his prime yet and was not nearly as good as the 1910 version?
Because Jeffries said after their fight even when he was in his prime he could not have beaten Johnson as he was too fast. So even a 1904 Jeffries by his admission could not have beaten the 1910 version of Johnson.

 

I think he meant Jeannette was trainer for Carpentier ... I believe prior to his Dempsey title bout ...

 

Holmes played Ali in sparring for Frazier in prep for I believe the Thrila, and played Ali in sparring for Shavers in prep for his fight with Ali.

 

Some time after their bout Jeannette and Carpentier had a spar, Jeannette was retired by then.Carp floored him.

 

It was said byJeff ,on the train returning Jeffries to his home and said to Bohun Lynch representing the Times.