For a nothing fight this had some very serious repercussions. This fight set in motion a chain of events that led to Doc Anderson receiving a life sentence with no possibility of parole for murdering Gastineau's manager (and his own former manager) Elvis Parker. Here's a brief wikipedia synopsis of what alledgedly happened This content is protected
--That's bad even by boxing's standards, Griffo. I remember watching this fight on USA way back when and being thoroughly embarrassed. Professional athletes in any sport other than kickboxing who decide to turn pro as boxers should be duly punished for their hubris. Every fighter, from the bums to the Ring Generals have a moral obligation to beat-the-living-hell out of any and all trespassers.
I remember Alonzo Highsmith also tried his hand at boxing... If memory serves he and Gast fought and he knocked him out in the 2nd round.. He was better then Gast but still had nothing to offer the sport..
All these team sports guys sucked. It took a lot to develop into a pro boxer. The movements have to become automatic, and that takes years and years of practice. Highsmith, Walker, Too tall Jones, Gastinueau, Mickey Rourke, they all were epic failures in boxing. Look at Mike Grant, he got into boxing because someone suggested it to him at McDonalds. The guy had zero experience, but HBO built him into the so called heir apparent to Lennox Lewis. What a joke. Probably the most successful fighter that falls under this type of experience is Hasim Rahman. He had like 7 or 8 amatuer fights and then turned pro at a late age. Kevin Rooney developed him and he did pretty good as a pro.
How bout when Gastineau fought Alonzo Highsmith? He put a whooping on him too...Highsmith wasnt bad at all, had the athleticism and skillset to do ok as a boxer. [yt]movtSx1mPYk[/yt]
But he is nowhere within fifty leagues of say, Francois Botha, a born fighter and a specimen more blessed with the "athleticism" that is protean to boxing specifically. And yet, many will deride a fighter like Botha while exalting what could have been from these stick and ball athletes. yech... please wake me up when it is 1950 again.
" Quote Of The Year " :good:good:good:good:good:good:good:good Gastineau's manager was a peice of **** .Anderson wrote an article about him in either the Ring, or Ko, he was as crooked ,and venal as Toro Molina's manager in " The Harder They Fall ".
His manager was Elvis Parker. A bit of a shyster yeah, but in the warped world of boxing a Character. Just a shame Anderson had to waste his life, taking Parker's, most reports I have read suggest Anderson was a decent fella... As for Gastineau, I remember the Ring's review of his fight with Dukes. It was there, it was first brought up that Mighty Mark's boxing career was perhaps not on the level...
And guess what... the same goes for boxers who have the hubris to invade the MMA as if they didn't need years of training and experience in the grappling sciences. James Toney is a fool. He got what he deserved and I'm not talking about his purse -which I hope someone robs him of.
From the sounds of it.... Anderson did the world a service. They should let him outta prison, and allow him to put some holes in Arum, and Shaw.
Does anybody remember the altercation Gastineau got into after losing an arm wrestling contest to a 158 pound bartender?