Bert sugar rip

Bert definitely enjoyed being Bert!

RIP

 

Sugar Ray Leonard on Bert Sugar :

source : http://ringtv.craveonline.com/blog/172107-lampley-leonard-roach-reflect-on-sugar

 

RIP Bert, a true Xpert, you will be missed.

 

What a shocking piece of news, i knew he was'nt well recently but this is a very sad loss to the sport. I have been so fortunate to have sat & got drunk with him in vegas on more than a few occasions in the MGM Zuri bar where we'd neck grey goose & smoke Cahiba's. No wonder he used to give me quality time as yer can't get these top end cuban cigars in the states & i always made sure i chuck a couple on the bar when i arrived at the MGM.

He was a ****in great character & once he knew you were on the level then he'd reveal his real self & yer could'nt get a more genuine funny ****er to have a blast with. He always took time out for fans to have the their picture taken with him even when all he wanted to do was neck the vodka & select his hooker for the night. He must have had to pose for on average around 20 requests a night when sat esconced at the bar.

I used to get approached 1st seeing i was always sat with him & burt would grumble at me now & again but he'd always oblige. Funny thing is i've never had my picture taken with him, never thought about it once. He used to just sit on his own in the bar but he really enjoyed the company of me & a few other english fight fans proberbly because none of us gave a **** about anything except getting totalled, telling jokes & generally having a blast, very rarely talked shop, we'd maybe go over the up-coming fight & have a real heated debate sometimes but i found him a top bloke & you can only say as you find regardless of other negative press form other quarters he got ect ect.

He will be sorely missed & it's the guys like Burt & his generation that for me were great for boxing from a fans point of view as he was most definetly not a company man. He's a pic i took of the old git doing his thing with a mates bird:smoke

God bless him:yep

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A bridge from the sepia-colored past to today's digital age.

Twenty years ago I chanced upon Boxing Illustrated's rockin' 100th Anniversary issue for the sport. It was an education on boxing, its historical portraits and action shots mesmerizing.

Thank you, Bert, for doing what a true boxing fan should do: promote what he believes to be the greatest of all sports.

And thank God for George Foreman, recently assigned by TIME magazine to obit Frazier and Dundee. Along with Sugar, Smokin' Joe and Angelo were icons that personified joy itself.

A sunny, avuncular former heavyweight champion; a cigar-chompin', yarn-spinnin' happy pugilistic ambassador: they are pure life for the sport we love.

 

I remember his editorials in BI often had a go at the AMA, who wanted boxing shut down. Bert used to come out with guns blazing when he had a pop at them (more than a pop, mind you) but he did it with class.

I really must dig out a few of these mags again, at least I can remember him that way.

(Lovely read Duranimal. Top post.)