For most of boxings history, various drugs have been used between rounds to keep a fighter going. Jim Jeffries asked for cocaine to be injected into his broken hands to alow him to fight a second bout on the same card. Gene Tunney was fed adrenaline and spirits, to keep him on his feet while Harry Greb was beating him up, and nearly died as a result. Jake LaMotta drank between rounds, to keep him on his feet through the St Valentines day masacre.
The second two of these are questionable. First, LaMotta was not drinking to keep him on his feet against Robinson. Thats a myth that senile old Ferdie Pacheco came up with. Its Bull****. Tunney was not "fed" adrenaline. It was being used to try to stop his cuts from bleeding. He did not "nearly die" from it either. The combination of blood he was swallowing from his broken nose and LIBERAL amounts of brandy he was given (this was common at the time) to help from getting feint, made him naseous. He collapsed after the fight and was bed ridden for a time but this was from the beating he suffered and the loss of blood, not from the adrenaline or brandy.
I forgot to add my personal fav: Mike Ayala being on Heroin against Lopez. That was a hell of a fight for a guy who was on another planet at the time.
LaMotta says he had a shot of whiskey in his dressing room before the fight. Ferdie must've taken that and run with it.
Heard Duran drank a quart of beer before a fight, im pretty sure it was the fight against Robbie Sims.
My father told me that Ruben Olivares would disappear on drinking binges that lasted days...only to come in and ko his top ranked opponent Whitaker allegedly would fight coked out.
ive heard rumours from people that would know about shannan taylor fighting shane mosley after snorting coke all morning.
Was ringside at the Librado Andrade-Tito Mendoza main-go at the Bren Center in irvine, California. Andrade kept bouncing Mendoza off the canvas, but to his credit, Mendoza kept gettin' up and throwin' bombs, 'n coming out fresh as a daisy every round. Before the last round, eagle-eyed judge Marty Denkin shouted to the ref that Mendoza's cornerman had an illegal stimulant secreted in the towel covering his face, and to confiscate it. I was sitting right next to Denkin 'n didn't spot it. Sure enough, he did -- a bluish substance. Mendoza lost by a lopsided margin. His purse was held-up and his cornerman had a suspension hearing before the California Boxing Commission. Never heard the outcome
My avi Mando Ramos was known to drink and do drugs the night before a fight, and most of the time win. Many insiders have said Mando would have been an ATG if not for his drug and alchohol problems.