Dempsey was terrific....very cordial.......Liston was quiet! We watched him punch the heavy bag...and then skip rope! I shook his hand when he was leaving. That was in November 1964.
Ryan Garcia Henry Tilman Don Wilson (technically a kickboxer but he had like 6 boxing matches so he counts) Leo Santa Cruz Gabe Rosado and Ive met a few other pros who aren't big names right now but I have met Nicholas Irizarry who was an amateur star and is now I think like 6-0 in the pros and I watched him in some super intense sparring sessions I think that guy might go somewhere tbh his last fight was an MD against some journeyman level guy but in the gym I saw he had some very good power defense and handspeed he chewed through the amateur team at our gym with hardly breaking a sweat and only our really experienced pro guys were giving him any issue and he was hurting them very bad he fractured one of our best guys orbital bones.
Not really. He seemed very nice. Maybe he was high. It was in Vegas the weekend of Chocolatito’s US debut (Rafael Marquez-Noshioka undercard).
At lighweight I've met Carlos Ortiz, Mando Ramos, Ken Buchanan, Roberto Duran, Chango Carmona, Rodolfo Gonzalez, Ruben Navarro, Art Frias, Ray Mancini, Sean O'Grady and the Ruelas brothers.
I've meet a lot of great boxers in my life. A lot through me boxing, coaching, or announcing (been apart of the boxing game since I was 6). Glad to know a lot of these people, and some know me personally and remember me (I hope at least lol) Evander Holyfield Emanuel Steward * Thomas Hearns * Anthony Dirrell ** Andre Dirrell "Irish" Mickey Ward Cornelius K9 Bundrage ** Larry Holmes * James Buster Douglas Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini * James "Lights Out" Toney * Gerard Washington Tyrone Harris ** Raeese Aleem ** Oscar De La Hoya Leon Spinks Mike Tyson Tony Harrison ** Butterbean (From my hometown) Roy Jones Jr * David Reid * Kelly Pavlik Vernon Forrest (My dad was actually close friends with Vernon during college and boxing career, said that one of Forrest's dreams in life was to own a Subway sandwich shop, thought that was cool.) Jordon Shimmell (from that one knockout everyone has seen) * Claressa Shields (I announced a bunch of her amateur fights) * Al Mitchell (If you know Amateur boxing and Olympic Boxing, Al is a goddamn icon) * There's probably more that, but that is what at the top of my head right now. Loved the chance to actually hang out and train with some of them as well. * = knows me as a person ** = Sparred against
