Punch drunk ex-fighters

Yes, it was a shocker, in the same vein as the Quarry one.

 

Great quote!

A lot of people say “Well, it’s boxing, not ballet!” Just as well.

I don’t know that any boxers could could cope with the rigours and punishment that ballet dancers endure.

In making the true point, it’s perhaps more apt to say “C’mon, this is ballet, not boxing!”.

Suffice to say, Larry Holmes’ couldn’t have carried Nureyev’s cod piece - that was a cod piece, right?

I even saw one female ballet dancer stand on the bulge protruding from Nureyev’s groin like it was a customised ledge made just for her.

Quite a feat if that was just and ONLY “Little” Nureyev supporting that gal.

Btw, I never notice that ballet gave girls thick legs - I always thought that they had decent looking pins.

 

Excellent observation re Sam Langford.

For all his long career and tough fights - including the many well beyond his natural weight class - Sam sounded fine and with a very positive attitude and disposition - not least reflected in his post eye operation comment re him “now” being able to see all the pretty nurses.

What a legend he was at every level.

 

The Moyer Brothers, Riddick Bowe, Evander, Meldrik Taylor

 

If you ever get a chance to watch two early-'80s comedies -- Modern Problems and Top Secret -- I recommend the films' ballet scenes.

And I too differ with Liebling in that I like girls with athletic legs.

OK.... I guess it's time to pivot from ballet back to boxing...

 

Excellent! Funny, of the two films you mentioned, I have seen Top Secret - I likely unconsciously sourced my cod piece comment from the ballet scene in that movie. Maybe Kenny Everrett did a similar parody. At any rate. TS was, all together, a fun film with a number of quotable hook scenes.

 

Speech problems are one thing, behavioral and cognitive problems are another.

Theres some guys who have a hard time speaking but if you actually understand what theyre trying to say they still seem to have a completely coherent and intellectual thought process.

Then theres other boxers with perfect pronounciation who's personal lives are a huge mess or who just dont make any sense in what theyre saying.

Makes you wonder who has it worse.

Honestly i would rather have a speech impediment, as surely you would atleast be aware of it and people will still inderstand you once they get used to it.

The other kind of CTE is just scary

 

Youre assuming a boxer loses 30 IQ points, Duran and Moore fought for decades and both got hit but not to the degree a lot of people do. Dempsey was another one who was clear even as an old man he had defense as did Duran and Moore. A lot of guys simply dont have great defensive skills cant roll with a punch etc. I think a lot of the damage these days actually comes from the amateurs with the headgear and lack of proper defense being taught.

 

I believe it's probable that some fighters suffering from CTE are reported as having died of Alzheimer's, people such as Floyd Patterson and old Archie Moore.

 

Yeah rolling with punches helps a lot also. The problem is the better you are the better hitters you face and Duran and Moore got hit a lot and hard especially since they both fought way past prime.

I am not assuming that a boxer loses 30 points of iq it was just a simple example that does not tell the whole story. I am not a neuroscientist so I can’t really say exactly what it is. But some boxers have more intelligence in their brains to lose is what I’m getting at.

 

It’s a rough watch, but also possibly the best boxing documentary I’ve ever seen.

 

The list goes on and on.

You can just notice the speech deterioration in guys like James Toney, Thomas Hearns, Meldrick Taylor, Riddick Bowe, Terry Norris.

Norris’s wife said he will also have night terrors and throw punches in his sleep. There’s a short video on YT from awhile back about Norris.

This content is protected

Wilfred Benitez is in terrible shape and needs 24 hour care.

Donald Curry is brain damaged and struggling badly. Even before he turned pro, he had 400 or so amateur fights.

https://fwtx.com/culture/people/broken-and-alone/

David Reid

https://www.phillyvoice.com/american-dream-nightmare-phillys-david-reid/amp/

I wonder about Tommy Morrison. He seemed to lose his mind toward the end, rambling nonsense about how he could teleport and how he didn’t have HIV, which was “just a piece of dead skin” anyway. I wondered if he had brain damage from his career, or doing too many drugs, or maybe he just liked saying outrageous things.

 

True. Sadly time finally caught up with George.

The Quarry's damage I attribute mainly to their POS father. He had them pounding each other at the age of 4 and it was ingrained into their minds thinking that "that's the way it is done".. Mike and Jerry use to beat the crap out of each other in sparring, mainly Jerry pounding Mike. One of the issues they had was the only thing they knew how to do was fight. Jerry was one of the first fighters to be tested for permanent brain trama and it show irreparable damage. He didn't care and didn't change a thing.

 

Toney has sounded terrible for years, can hardly tell what he is saying. Havent heard him for a while so not sure if he has got worse....

 

My granddad was a amateur fighter. My granduncle was a pro fighter who had a common opponent with Jake LaMotta. My mom said he was punchy. In retrospect that wasn't nice.