Boxing is a dirty goddamn business . 74 years on the planet half of em in Hells Kitchen you dont need to be the great kreskin over here to realise that's no joke. In the spring of 2003 a kirklaind laing was still sparring and holding his own in London boxing clubs.This Steve Bunce character makes a patronising exploitative flick 90% me me me about him " finding" kirk,and than at very the end when he does, showing Kirk in a destitute **** stained state we didn't need to see him in unless your the Marquis de Sade over there .Bunce concludes it with " I'm not sure i wanted to meet this kirklaind laing.I left him.Left him to his memories " Bunce did do just that but not before humiliating the kid on TV ,talk about a guy who speaks outta both sides of his mouth at the same time 6 years later when he's the king of the hill,the UK" Teddy Atlas with his own shows on Setanta.He gets asked about Laing ,disrespects his family as greedy, for wanting money and than commenting about discussing Laing arrogantly and airily says "we're lowering the tone tonight". I threw my Heineken at the goddamn tv in this hellhole apartment hearing that " Why you lousy no good bum" I screamed at the TV. In 17 years Bunce never invited Kirk to 1 boxnation or setanta interview,never organised 1 benefit dinner never sent any dough to the guy for the video. I'm old school I know a low no good shyster when I see one .Fighters need a goddamn union like Gerry Cooney tried.A video should be their copyright. All this is giving me a what you call it motivisation to start something. All of us on here give 10 Bucks a month to give the old fighters. Hey its a start.
Hey! I love the old fighters of the seventies! Even the guys that weren’t at the top. But they chose that career. I think it would be cool if u could help out say like one of ur fav guy or guys, but to have fans help support guys in general I don’t think so. Just my opinion of course.
Good post. I think Steve Bunce is a very stange man. He does know his boxing, and his enthusiastic somewhat unpolished style, man-down-the-pub style, is his unique selling point, I guess. BUT there's something really odd about him. He can't talk without shouting and he says some really weird things, is very insenstive. He's like someone with some kind of strange autism or something. He obviously has a fetish for the hard luck stories, sensationalizes them, for example, I heard him on a pre-fight rant bring up something about Alejandro Gonzalez, I think, a boxer who turned up murdered in Mexico, one of three bodies in the back of a truck. Nothing to do with the fight. Nothing subtle about the way he portrayed it, just shouting about bodies in trucks, not interested in genuine heartfelt condolences, just enjoying the sensationalism. it's one thing in print, but seeing a Bunce rant about it on a Saturday night boxing show, out of the blue, kind of inappropriate. He pretended to be Laing's friend, sat in the park with him, can of beer on the bench, but presented the whole thing as sad and tragic and a bit hopeless. Then by the time they aired it, or the following week, Laing fell from his balcony at his flat. Not a good look for Bunce or the BBC actually.
You're not wrong kid. He said about joe frazier in a rant "He's brown bread" just after he died . And he was also peddling Laing style on deaths door bs about aussie joe bugner.
Not this **** again. Some of these bums are just destined to end up as old tramps aimlessly walking the streets or sat on park benches. They deserve nothing.
Bit harsh that mate. At the very least they should have your respect for what they did in the ring, not wish them nothing but misery. Let us hope you never end up on a park bench, because this is life fella, and you never know what it will deal you next.
Boxing needs to set up something similar to the NFL Player Care Foundation for its retired athletes. The NFL's endeavor took forever to come to fruition.
Yes it is harsh but I think Kirkland was always going to have a difficult ending. He actually bragged at times being out of his face before big fights. I’m sure he even said he was out partying before an ABA amateur fight. Your talent will only get you so far. He was never going to reach say Honeyghan’s heights. Shame though he only ever seemed to hurt himself.
He was nicknamed the Gifted One. Was that because he could box well for a few rounds while smashed out of his face before losing or was it because he was nicknamed the Gifted One or was it because he showed he could beat world class fighters and hang in there with the best.
Yeah? You based this entirely on one close 10 round non title fight against a flat uninspired Duran? What other world class or even Honeyghan level fighters did Laing fight and beat to make you think he was so much better than Honeyghan?
Colin Jones. He was really putting it to him especially the first fight. If not for Jones strong chin Laing would have won inside of about 8 rounds. Laing just oozed with natural talent only problem was himself. He wad just so fluid and fast and he could get vicious when he wanted to. You just couldn't get him to train on a consistent basis. Honeyghan accomplished much more as a pro but from a natural talent Laing had it. If you talk to people who were around him they will tell you he would disappear for weeks when a fight was scheduled and then appear the week before the bout. I got to see him vs Picciotti who was a pretty tough fighter and Laing just coasted against him.
