Yes, I would. Who are you to say what I can't do? Klompton, I respect you only to a point, you're obviously too short sighted to see that someone would give something way for free. I do give things away for free. Just had a BBQ over the weekend. I paid $175 for a pork shoulder, case of beer, charcoal, and various other amenities and I make roughly $35,000 a year (not that much). I REFUSED ANY PAYMENT FROM MY FRIENDS IN RETURN. I had a hell of a lot of fun cooking the shoulder for 16 hours, shredding it, drinking beer with my friends. And guess what, they're all architects that make way more money then me! I'll say it again, and Klompton you just proved it. You don't deserve anything for free, you're barely even humble enough to deserve anything. Oh, get this I also work 80 to 120 hours a week and that doesn't bother me either. You're a broken man of poor capitalistic ideals. Sad to see that. And now you're demanding the stuff that I give away for free? You obviously didn't understand the point I was making and that's fine. I give away stuff all the time, to people that deserve it. You seem like one of those crazy hoarders, hell bent on seeing a result from hard work. You've been broken into assuming that "everything has a price". That's bull****. It would be like throwing free stuff into a bottomless hole if I gave it to you. I'll distill this one for ya, I give stuff away for free for people that will put excellent use to it. Gave away some expensive Adidas training gloves that I wasn't using to a kid that wants to be in the local police league. You sir, demanded my stuff simply because you're a collector. Also, keep in mind I did say, "That's how you conduct your business". I do respect that, however, at the same time I felt it useful for you to see the other side of the fence.
Bingo. Thank you for saying this. I appreciate the work that Fight Collectors do. It's admirable and I thank the collectors for doing so. I only said if I had the money I'd give them away for free. I like to give things away for free, especially if someone else can do something greater with it then me, or if they truly deserve such a thing because I'm letting it go to waste. In the case of posters like Raging Bull, it's a hobby/job and he does an incredible job working hard to procure these films and selling them to people that would want them. Raging Bull and others, I deeply appreciate your hard work and I hope you continue to make steps that unveil the rare boxing history that a lot of us never had the chance of seeing. I do understand the hard work and money aspect, but at the same time I'd give away the films for free (also take notice, I do not have the money right now, so I am not giving away fight films for free). However, that's how some people conduct business (and I respect that right). And Klompton, you're silly for jumping down someone's throat because they said the dreaded f-word (free). You should get over the fact I would give things away for free. I'm not a collector, I'm a writer. We're in different fields with wildly different perspectives. And being a writer, I try to get things out that I think people could use. I write for pay and for (gasp!) free. I understand the hard work that goes into a product only to have a publisher decide that an article doesn't fit the theme of their magazine or newspaper and I have to give it away because I think the message is more important then having to pay for the message.
Here's my last post on this (for now). As for the free thing. I do burn DVD copies of fights for friends that I think would be interested in the sport. That's more of a case of getting the sport out there because I think a lot of people are misinformed about boxing and deserve to know or see something that would prove them otherwise. Think I'm lying? I reburned Larry Holmes entire career (which is mainly the title fights and his comeback) for some kid that I worked with while I was doing community service for a DUI (what can I say, I like Hemingway and Bukowski, and those sad drinking days are long gone) at Millersville University. That's about 15 DVDs there. Mainly at Millersville too, I've given away many DVDs (and they're a tad costly when you buy as many as I do) on Sugar Ray Leonard, Duran, Bennie Briscoe, because a lot of current boxing fans are jaded and misinformed (see general section). When a kid would speak up about "Floyd Mayweather Jr/Joe Calzaghe/Bernard Hopkins is the best..." I'd show up the next day with Tommy Hearns (or some other fighter) fights and say, "Here, watch these and tell me Floyd would take his straight right tomorrow". The next day the kid usually tries to give the DVDs back to me and I'll always respond, "Keep 'em and show your friends or give 'em to someone else that likes boxing". I copied about half my library for an anthropology professor that loves boxing, but wasn't aware that you could obtain fights in such a way. I'm just trying to be a person here to advance the sport. I never said that making people pay for fights was bad or that fights should be given away for free. The collectors on here do great work. That's something I can appreciate, so I'm sorry if I riled your feathers.
I agree entirely. I've spent about $5000.00 on my collection and why should someone pay for the films and then give them free. Some I had to convert from the reel-reel. that costs money.
it's bull****. There is no, I REPEAT, no known or found film or Grebin fights. If there was it would be priceless. Even Jim Jacobs searched forever for some and failed. So don't believe when they say there is.
Like I said, people like you simply break it down to copying a film and if it were that easy you would already have this stuff. If you want it that bad get off your lazy ass and find it, stop expecting people to do the leg work for you and then give it to your for free.
I enjoy when you post about boxing, but seriously you have to agree to disagree here. You want money, great. Enjoy your money. I just like to see things go to people that I think can make better use out of a product, even if it means giving it away for free. However, you want money for it. I understand that, but you have got to see my side of things instead of coming across like a demanding curmudgeon. This is my last post on this thread since the one person I'm trying to get an honest comment out of is too stubborn to make that move. I already admitted you are right in asking for a price, I never said it was wrong. I even gave respect to the people that make that hard work and effort, I always will. I am aware it's much more then just burning a DVD, I work in audio visual restoration so I know how insanely complex it can get to take a 1940s newsreel and restore it for transfer into a digital format. I also do a lot of rare vinyl transfer and damnit it takes forever to get all those filters just right, but it's worth it when you're done. Recently I transferred Phantom "The Divine Comedy", rare vinyl. I only mentioned that if it were me I'd give it away for free, and you have a little fit over the issue. I've always been taught to understand things from both sides of the fence. I see the point of value and I still stick with my choice. I used to collect sports cards as a kid, but now I just give them away as birthday gifts since the value they have is near impossible to find someone willing to purchase them for. I'll keep some of the cards due to sentimental value, but that's about it. We're just two different breeds of people here Klompton, didn't mean to turn it into a silly shouting match. See you on the forum.
See you assume that I like money and hence I am hoarding what I have to make money off of it. Your wrong. You can ask several people on here who have approached me for trades or purchases and they have been turned down. I do neither.
Klompton.. about you I assume nothing, nor is there a single word indicating such in my posts.. Admittedly I find certain elements of this thread amusing... The mirror glows with ugly reflections.
You really dont get it, do you? When these fights were originally produced, somebody owned them. In order for somebody else to gain ownership, they had to buy the product off the owner. Are you following me here? Now, in order for another man to own the fims, he has to buy it off the new owner. Now...why do you feel entitled to have ownership of those videos, for not paying? Did you film the fight at the time it happened? Did you buy that product off the man who did? You gave your boxing gloves away to a kid? Good for you. Wheres my pair? Some of these guys own hundreds of films. And I'm sure there will come a time when they get old, and pass on parts of their collections to their kids, nephews, etc. And by doing that, they are acting no different then you giving your pair of gloves away. Your reasoning and logic is cringeworthy at best The best approach would be to start a fund with members here to buy the films. 300 members throw in one dollar each, and we have a new fight.
That's a fine idea in principle but you have to realise the people "releasing" these rare films don't want 300 people owning them unless they each pay $300. As soon as a seller of rare films realises that the film is being disseminated to a wide audience then they will shut down the selling. Forget about youtube - the quality is garbage and personally watching a fight on my PC is not the same experience as watching it on a large screen TV.
Perhaps a private server with a paypal account for donations and a monthly membership fee would work. I wish there was some sort of theater venue that could play these fights for a price of admission. Pay the admission, sit down, watch some classic/rare footage, take some notes, come back the next day. That would be awesome.