One of the first fights I ever saw was Gatti vs Ward I. Between that and old Ali and Robinson fights I was hooked.
I find it bizarre and kind of disturbing that 10 year olds can become so attracted to watching boxing on TV. I became interested in boxing and started boxing myself just before I was 18, meaning as I was reaching the age of reason. I was aware of Tyson as a child even in the late 80s, then later I guess I was exposed to who Ali was, but they sure didn't spark any interest in boxing for me. I only became curious about boxing when I did because I discovered that it wasn't just fighting, and I wanted to know what it was about. I learnt about it like an exercise, and remember at first I didn't expect to like it. I studied the illustrated entry on boxing punches and defensive technique in the encylopedia my parents had, and kept it open to refer to as I watched all the boxing I could on TV. I was interested in boxing as a martial art before a sport. Describing it like this makes it sound like it happened so much earlier, but 1997 was still before I had internet acccess. That it wasn't easy and that I didn't know anyone who was into boxing and discovered it on my own made it a really personal journey. As more of boxing opened up and made sense, I loved just everything about it. As long as they could prove successful I was impressed with all styles, which I think any new boxing follower should be. I then walked into the local boxing gym. Ended up being important for me as a discipline to focus on, to get away from being a lazy pothead kid. A lot of fights from 1997 were special to me, but no fight or boxer made me fall in love with boxing. I watched De la Hoya-Whitaker as a curious onlooker but at that time I was just as interested in ESPN and Tuesday Night Fights shows. When I didn't know what I was looking at I don't think I could've become hooked on boxing by how great a boxer or a fight might have been, and I definitely didn't care about personalities. Didn't the first times watching boxing seem like watching a confusing blur to anyone else, but that you wanted to make sense of? By my couple months apprenticeship watching boxing, and starting boxing myself, I watched fights like Tapia-Romero and Jones-Griffin 2 already as an obsessed, committed fan. I fell enamoured with Tapia, Jones, and Gatti (against Ruelas) when I saw them for the first time, not with boxing. By the way, I don't think the late 90s have been matched since: Lewis, Holyfield, Jones, Hopkins, Oscar, Tito, Whitaker, Quartey, Jose Lopez Lopez, Tszyu, Mosley, Mayweather, Gatti, Hamed, Morales, Junior Jones, Canizales, Mark Johnson, Ricardo Lopez, Penalosa, a lot more, I just loved so many guys then, damn what an era.
Besides the Gatti-Ward trilogy being some of the first fights I ever saw, I remember about that time being really interested in this rising star Wladimir Klitschko and being really shocked when Brewster KO'd him. It was a few years before I discovered Pacquiao and I wasn't interested in the lower weight classes then; so seeing this invincible heavyweight lose made a huge impression on me. I remember thinking how tactical and smart he was fighting. His technique reminded me of playing chess the way that he'd capture the center and control movement in the ring. I started watching old Robinson and Ali fights, then Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, and Duran. When I found Ring's fight of the year list I systematically watched those. I was doing something similar with IMDB's top 250 films at the time, and this dovetailed nicely with that. I liked how deep the history of the sport was, the feeling of a long and distinguished tradition. You can read old articles by Nat Fleischer or A.J. Liebling, really talented old sportswriters that bring the past alive and make you appreciate it on an artistic level. I suppose the other thing that really got me into the sport was Ernest Hemingway. He was my favorite author and was always writing about boxers in his stories. I was a young man trying to find my way, and the way he wrote about boxing as this ritual where virtues like strength, honor, fortitude, skill, and discipline were exalted made me want to experience some of that; since I come from a society where manliness has largely been neutered.
Billy McCoy knocked my two front teeth out when I was 12, with a straight right/right cross. I been hooked ever since. 2 years later I knocked all of Billys front teeth out.
I think I will look up old Billy?? Hopefully he will have some permanent dentures that I can knock out of his mouth.
When i were a little kid my dad let me stay up late on a Wednesday night to watch a tv show with him called Sportsnight which showed highlights of a mixture of the previous weekends sports action. Sometimes they showed some Boxing and sometimes a guy from Norwich fought called Billy Schewer and he was heavy handed and very agressive and i found his fights very exciting. I think he may be the man to hook me on to Boxing. The night of Barry McGuigans famous big night was also a bit of an event in my house and his victory was really amazing and turned the night into a huge party for my family. I would also say Mike Tyson and Naseem Hamed helped they were so damn exciting.
Have you read Joyce Carol Oates' 'On Boxing'? That was a book that influenced me when I was getting into boxing. I actually hated jocks and tough guys, so it kind of took reading a sympathetic perspective from a woman and relative outsider about boxing to help me see that agreed fighting might be valid. Unlike a Hemingway or Mailer who celebrate machismo, she brings attention to more. The ways through his ring style a boxer can actualise himself, but also the insecurities and frailties of boxers. You love Gatti-Ward, so you might appreciate that she praises a great fight not as a confrontation between the boxers but as a shared creative experience. It seems to be criticised a lot, maybe called too poetic or artificial, but I think it's great because it gets at the complications and contradictions of boxing without resolving them.
I watch boxing because of my mom lol.. My dad don't watch any sports, he watches only news kinda guy. Boxing is on free TV when I grew up in Indonesia, it still is until now. Born in mid 70's I was too late to appreciate Ali and his time, so my first introduction to live boxing was through Tyson, Chavez and on later date dela Hoya.
I stumbled across a bunch of old boxing books and read them about thirty times over (I still read them sometimes now) reading about the great fighters Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard I was fascinated then I got access to my uncle and granddads fight dvds and I've watched the sport non stop since then
Honestly Mike tysons punch out. I did take notice of him first ever when he was in tokyo fighting Tubbs.....i was about 15??? i think? Boxing in itself? My father was a boxer and my moms brothers were ...( amatuer level) i didnt start getting into wanting to actually fight up until 24 yrs old...i won my first toughman contest after a pack of guinness and no training...i fought 5 times in one night the next night. I was involved in all combat areas from 1991 to present...only a fool doesnt know boxing if one wants to be more aware of how to handle one self.....ive taught and changed many martial artist s mind on that one bc they are very against HOOK punches and some pugilistic techniques Tuesday night fights..also helped back int he 90's ...it really showed what boxing could be.It was the WWE of its time ...but it was real. in the end i guess it was the beatings i took from big bro...and knew if i studied that art i could eventually get him...i did. in the end for me it was about being a better fighter...you have to know certain fight styles...boxing is one.
I am beginning to hate boxing as it is crooked as hell......................I like fair fights, hate watching a bad sparring session on TV, the house fighter always wins....................Vegas is criminal, referees, boxing commission and the judges, way too many robberies...............the boxer does not win a fight, the promoter does..............one fighter has to obey the rules and the other does not, depending on the promoter, it is clear......................... I hardly remember the first fight I ever saw, I was too young to remember...............