Boxers you met in real life

Before he fought Marvin Hagler, Minter said, 'No black man will ever take my title,' or something close to that. Then Hagler destroyed him in 3. I always wondered if Bernard Hopkins intentionally paraphrased that statement before fighting Joe Calzaghe. Just goes to show you that sometimes racial loudmouths get their commupance.

 

i met ali and i remember he had humongous hands

 

i grew up in stratford /newham
hotbed of boxing and football especially for my age group (50)
same junior class as lennox
i lived at edith road in the 70s/ colin mcmillan was a neighbour
played football with nigel benn /nightgale arms
saw frank bruno at the weights gym ( romford road ) every week but did not talk to him/ he went for sauna and massage .
mark kaylor
dennis andries trained at same gym i played football for/ windmill lane for a little while
maurice hope only once

 

Met Bruno in Torremolinos, had to swim out into the sea for an alleged signed t shirt but nearly drowned in the process as I can't swim. Which is ironic as I'm white, 5'10 can't swim... yet can slam dunk, who'd have thought.

On the plus side it was part of a Good Morning ITV breakfast programme and got to be in a Mr motivator sketch (I was 13).

Sparred with Jamie Moore when he was at Little Hulton amateur boxing, super nice guy, but when in game mode very intimidating.

And that's about it.

 

Jose Torres
Zan Judah
Paulie Malinaggi
Lou Devalle
Tommy Hearns
Omar Sheika
Larry Holmes
Mike Tyson

 

Met Ali at a local gym. Was working out and then a large crowd walked in and I didn't see him at first. I was bench pressing and then he leaned over and looked at me. I was shocked. Got up and he said "I'm Muhammad Ali...I said "I know who you are." We shook hands and talked for about 5 minutes. Very nice guy. Wish I had a camera. Also when I was a kid my older brother took me to the "rasslin" matches. They had Archie Moore there as a referee. When we went to the bathroom during the break we turned a corner and there he was. Introduced myself and he took a few minutes to talk to me. I think he was very surprised that I knew who he was. I told him that I had watched his fights and he was very gracious. Great memory. If there is anybody here unfamiliar with him look up some of his fights. He was a really tough guy. Later in life he was in a couple of Charles Bronson movies and was the boxing trainer/consultant for Bronson's movie "Hard Times". Great experiences both.

 

I took my son to a museum in South London middle of last year. Who should be there but David Haye with his son and daughter. We exchanged pleasantries and he told me that he was coming back in the New Year. This was months before his comeback was announced and I kind of dismissed it as talk at the time. To give him his dues he was very pleasant and he was also freakin ripped and in shape.

 

I met Christ Eubank Senior; I remember when he shook my hand I was quite shocked at how strong his hand was. I was about 15 at the time and he was in his prime. Also met Sam Soliman and I know Serge Yannick whom is a bit of an illiterate idiot and overweight last time I saw him, looks like he's given up.

 

i met floyd once. he said "what up hoe?" i said "what you call me, b----?" he said "nothing"

 

Was that after Ward struggled mightily with his brother?

 

I sparred with Chocolatito.

 

nothing big

Maromero paez
Ponce de Leon
Martirosyan
Mickey garcia
Israel vasquez
Antonio de Marco
Mauricio Herrera
John Molina
Chris Arreola

 

Saw Lennox around town growing up. Met him and got an autograph after he returned from the Olympics. Fitz Vanderpool many times in passing. Had a few conversations with Todd Nadon, who probably no one knows... good guy, but it was plain as day that his career caused damage. Spent a week at the same vacation resort as Ryan Ford, he retired from mma and is back to boxing full time...super nice guy, very approachable and open to talk to fight fans.

 

Antonio Tarver
Met few years back. Watched him train and till this day I dont think I've ever seen someone hit a heavy bag as he did in real life. Didn't get to say much besides that he looked strong on the bag and good luck for the fight to which he just said thanks man and then we took a pick.

Buddy McGirt
Met him when I met Tarver. Couldn't believe how big he has gotten since retirment. Again didn't say much

Sam Soliman
Met at the Mundine VS Mosely fight. Was a cool guy. He spotted me looking at him as he was walking past from a few meters away. I probs looked stupid coz for a moment I couldn't put my finger on why he was familiar. he stopped walking where he was going came over and said gday. I finally figured recognised him and shook his hand. He stayed and chatted to me while I waited in line for drinks.

Daniel Geale
Seemed nice just had a quick gday and got a pic

Gairy St Clair
He was a cool. Met him at the Green VS Jones Jr weigh in. chatted for a while and kept calling over a bunch of other boxers who were around like Paul Briggs (before he made a fool of himself in Green fight), Jackson Asiku (at the time IBO World Champ), Barry Michael, Lester Ellis

Glen and Kevin Kelly
Kevin was cool as. Met randomly as he was just some random bloke I said gday to while on the **** at the Casino in Perth. Didn’t know him from a bar of soap when he said his name was Kevin but once he mention that they call him Bones I know who he was straight away. Top bloke… we became random drunk friends as you do when you’ve knocked back a tonne of beers. Talked for ages over the course of the night about his and his brothers fights, shouted each other drinks. Good bloke!
Met Glen randomly a week later in Sydney at the train station. Again I didn’t recognise him, my cousin I was with did. He was alright. Stopped and chatted quickly. We both had a laugh about how I’d met his brother out of the random in Perth the week before and that was about it.

Their probably the biggest name boxers I’ve met. Not a lot of superstars out here in Aus to have the chance of saying gday to.

 

Lennox Lewis is one of the nicest guys you could wish to meet
A real Gentle Giant, outside the ring that is LOL:good