Best boxer you've ever met?

I know a lot of boxing people and have met hundreds of fighters and ex fighters, but i was very impressed when i met Archie Moore in 95, he was still as sharp as a tack.. he was with Dick Saddler and Doc Broadus .. great peoples.........

 

You must be a contemporary, hh. Met many of the ol' timers you mention at Stillman's gym, and others at gyms and fight clubs 'round the country.

 

I am extremely interested in any first hand experiences with Jack Dempsey ... there are fewer and fewer around ...

 

I was about six or seven, hg. My dad took me to meet Dempsey at his restaurant in Manhattan. Jack, in a suit, was ramrod straight and strapping, graciously signing autographs close to the large picture window facing Broadway.

My dad brought me over to him. He bent down and challenged, "Put up your dukes!" Huge fists roiling in front of my eyes.

I jumped into a stance. He roared with laughter, scooped me up with one arm and ruffled my hair. Never forget that monument-of-a-face so close to mine.

 

Michael Jennings

 

ken buchanan

 

Met Dempsey in the early '40s...Lincoln much earlier.

 

hhascup or garfield what was Walcott like and did any of you meet Charles if so what was he like?

 

Personally,I'd be seriously impressed if someone mentioned they had met the likes of Jack Johnson,Sam Langford or Benny Leonard.....

 

I met Walcott several times as he was the New Jersey Boxing Commissioner for a while. His office use to call me up for information about former boxers. This was before the internet. I talked to him several times and he was always nice.

We even put up a monument of Walcott in Camden and I was asked to be the guest speaker. Now they want to move it to a better place. Last week I met with several people doing a documentary on Walcott and they interviewed me for the cameras.

 

Any mention of when that documentry might be coming out?

 

I was told sometime in 2010

 

I've been lucky enough to have grown up in the world of boxing and have had a drink with some of the great British boxers like Buchanan, Winstone, Minter, Stracey, Downes, Conteh. McGowan to name a few, Cooper, the list go's on.
As a young kid there was always boxing people about. Peter Kane and Larry Gains to name a couple.
Had a lovely afternoon a few years back with Dick McTaggert (Scotland and Britains greatest amateur boxer, Olympic gold and bronze medal winner and Val Barker winner for 1956) and a couple of mates of mine, both fighters, Flyweight Billy Walker and Carl Taylor both from the Sixties.
My ex boss was Johnny Pritchett, former British and Commonwealth Middleweight champ. I worked for him 15 years and still keep in touch with him over here in Spain where he's retired to.

 

I met a few boxers in Azusa, California at a benefit for a local boxer who suffered two detatched retina's & was partially blinded.(Johnny Chavez). Of who I got to meet were, Mike Quarry, Michael Carbajal, Albert Davila, Danny Lopez, Ruben Castillo, Ray Mancini, Jorge Paez. But probably the best was "Sugar" Shane Mosley, who was just turning pro at the time. Very nice guy.