Boxing - When & Why

My grandad was a "Back step barber" and i can remember being a wee one waiting to get sheared listening to the old blokes stories about boxing for as long as i can remember back . roughly around 1968 .

 

Went with m Uncle to Festival Hall and watched the Great Man Hector Thompson fight Manny Santos to a Draw,was hooked for life.!!!!

Mahunga

 

It was watching Fenech that got me in, then early Tyson. Liked Pernell Whitacker too

 

Watching Golden Gloves on a Saturday morning on the tele as a 7 or 8 yr old and boxing with one glove each in the front yard with my Gyppo and Maori mate.

 

the first fight that i went to was at a sydney rsl club.

one fight was between heavyweights and the guy who was ko'd ended up right out of the ring and landed right at my feet.

pretty good action for an introduction to boxing hey.

 

Yes mate i remember being gutted my old man wouldn't take me to the Movies to see Ali v Frazier on Close circuit , started crying if i remember his very words " Son i can't take you to town at 12 midnight it's too rough and your mam with have my bollocks " lol

Oh and Cagney was ace ,,"You dirty rat"....:gun

 

I have had a love of boxing since I was a child.

My first memory of anything boxing is of sitting in front of the loungeroom stereo listening to the Radio DJ announce that Mohamed Ali had just been beaten and then the song "Float like Butterfly Sting Like a Bee" was played.....
I was devastated.
The world of boxing ended as we knew it then in 1981.
The radio announcer had said Ali was to retire.

Have always had a interest in boxing.
Have always gone out of my way to watch it when it's interesting enough whether that be a big international telecast or local and live at the town hall.

Got to my mid twenties and watched 2 blokes in a pub in Darwin arguing about how mentally hopeless Golotta was after being smashed in the first round against Lewis and thought, what the **** would these guys know about boxing. What even qualifies them to be so passionate in dissing a fighter. Have they even had a fight in the ring? Had I?

Grew some balls that moment and started training at a boxing gym where I knew no one and 9 months later had an amature fight. Got fight of the night out of 10 fights.

It was a great experience. Got to spar with James Swan and a swag of other state and national title holders from the NT. Made some great mates and got to know people from all walks. Everyone comes together in a boxing gym, for the most part egos and attitudes are left at the door and everybody is broken down to one common denominator, courage, to get in and test yourself agianst another in front of your peers.

All these years later and I still have my oldest boxing sparring (verbal only)at hand to get together with to talk about, laugh about and enjoy boxing for what it is. Wev'e been going at it since we were about 14, our first boxing argument would have taken place around the time of Happy Pants / Tone Loc being the big trend and he was probably wearing a pair at the time if my memory serves me right.

 

I first started watching boxing because of the fab 4 era of the 1980's. The great fights between Leonard, Duran, Hagler and Hearns. I loved the razzle dazzle of Sugar Ray Leonard. I also remember watching the rise of Jeff Fenech on free to air TV as he won world titles at several different weights. Who could ever forget the ferocious rise of the young Mike Tyson. I also remember the great upset of light heavy Michael Spinks going up to heavy with no lead in fights and dethroning the great Larry Holmes.
Have followed boxing closely ever since.

 

Must be a similar age to me as i followed this exact route :good

 

I remember as a kid my dad was a martial artist and loved boxing. Ever since i remember, all the mainstream guys of the mid to late eighties were who I knew and followed. Mostly heavies... Tyson obviously, I was a fan of old Ali vids and stuff. Pretty unknowledgable fan at the time, given I was very young. When I got a little older dad introduced me to a young guy named Kostya Tszyu who trained at the gym my parents worked at. Went to all his Newcastle fights and became a huge fan... Still am. I was still pretty unexposed to the wider world of the sport tho. Not knowing the full details I just knew Oscar, Mosley etc as the best guys around at the time. But heavies were still my main focus. Then one day not long after it actually happened I caught Mosley-de la hoya 1 or 2 I can't remember but I do rember being stunned by their output, their fight to the final bell finish and having never seen a fight like it I wasjust instantly transformed. From then on I took what I was watching much more seriously. Sought out the good
fights and fighters Rather than only seeing those who made the sport report on the news etc. That fight is what I owe to me
becoming the fan I am now and for teaching me that there is so much more to it than just big guys bashing each other for entertainment.

I still did always think that boxing was just the ultimate in sport competition. The rawest form of competing against a fellow man that there is. It's brilliant and nothing gets me as excited as a good fight just before the bell. I get nervous and twitchy before watching a big fight particlarly with a fav of mine involved. Heart racing, literally sittig on the edge of my seat. Just incomparable to anything else I watch.

Recently I've begun to worry a bit about it too. There aren't many fights coming up of real scale compared to the match ups we have had for the last 2 yrs. Possibly because so many of the greats are slowly dropping off... not so long ago the sport was in such depth with De le hoya, Mosley, Lewis, Tyson, Hopkins, RJJ, Gatti, Hatton, Barrera, Morales, Calzaghe to name just a few. But all are retired or nearing /at the end of their greatness. (I could nameany more too but my pizza will be ready in a second and I have to head home with it) with all those names gone/going I just don't see as many replacing them... Hopefully it will be neck deep in greatness again but with the sport less and less in the mainstream albeit for a few superstars I do worry it will take some time before it's anywhere near it's hey day