Boxers You've met.

I met Emanuel in I forget the year. A friend of mine from New York introduced me to him, but he was getting an award that night and I didn't really interact with him. Just got a picture.

 

Yeah Holmes is a good guy, bit bitter about how he was viewed/not getting the recognition he felt he deserved, but I seen enough to know he's an emotional loyal guy

 

Larry Holmes, Evander Holyfield, Randall “Tex” Cobb, Clint Jackson, Gerry Cooney, several others.

I’ve posted this before, I think, but one of the most memorable and random was running into Paul Hodkinson around March 1992 when I was in England — a few months after he had won the WBC featherweight title.

Was in Liverpool doing the Beatles tour and stopped to get something to eat with my then-GF (she was studying in the UK at the time) and turned a corner and there was a sign at a men’s clothier saying Hocko would be there like an hour later to do a personal appearance/autographs (IIRC, the clothier provided Paul with suits and he was doing this as a return favor). Well, we weren’t going to be able to wait around that long but I stuck my head in the shop anyway and Paul walks in (as a boxing fan I recognized him) — he’s not really going to do the appearance yet but we chatted for a minute and he said since I was from America (and I clearly knew who he was and had seen him fight), he went and got his belt and let me hold it and then posed for a few pictures with us and couldn’t have been a nicer guy, very cheery and didn’t seem put out at all. Wished him well and we were on our way.

 

My wife and I went out to the Outlets near Tannersville to go shopping. We stopped by Caesar's because its close by. We were told that Lennox was training there for the Tyson fight, but they announced public workouts when the camp wanted them to happen. On our way back to the car we saw Emanuel and said hello, he saw me and said "oh no, we got the Great White Hope!" I'm 6'2 and 280lbs, I laughed and said "yeah I'm Andrew Golota". We chatted for a few minutes and wished him well against Tyson, not that I felt he needed it. Nice guy overall.

 

Jesus Christ I'd be more thrilled by meeting the Beatles than any boxer. I've met the guys from Deep Purple twice, Carl Palmer from ELP, Carmine Appice from Vanilla Fudge, Beck, Bogert and Appice, Rod Stewart, Ozzy, etc. Bernie Shaw from Uriah Heep, and got Ritchie Blackmore's and Candice Night's autographs at a Blackmores Night show in Philadelphia.

 

And Leslie West after a Mountain show, said hi to him, he just grunted and walked past me. He still had both legs then.

 

I'mma say about 3 months after they had fought

 

I've met these....

Calzaghe twice (was a dick both times)
David haye (nice guy)
chris eubank snr (dick!)
Barry mcguigan (my drunk mate pestered him in this pub all night, he has a signed photo on his wall that says 'now leave me alone!')
Darren barker (nice guy)
John conteh (nice guy)

probably more but I cant think right now

my dad has met loads!! he was good mates with Alan minter at one point and other boxers from that stable
henry cooper
he met Cornelius boza Edwards in a shoe shop
AJ

 

LoCicero?

 

I interviewed Cobb for my film and spent the day with him .. got to see him behind the act seen a million times in interviews, ect .. he is huge, very gruff, moody, showed a guy how he could throw a side kick and came within an inch of the guys face scaring the **** out of the whole crew and just a bit off. Loud, abrasive and the sort of guy who really doesn't seem to give a fu-k about anyone or anything .. He was not that far off the character he played in Rasing Arizona and I remember feeling in a post apocalypse universe he'd go that route in a second. I spent close to fifteen hours with him and remembered how Norton in his book talked about a drunk Cobb stalking him in the lobby the night after their fight and how it scared the **** out of him. I could see why. That said he was kid of bright and could be very likable when he felt like it. When he lett we all hit the bar down the street.

I was a kid working out at Gleason's gym when Rosario was training to fight Camacho at MSG. Went in the wrong section of the locker room to change and team Rosario was there , a few days before the fight and Edwin was screaming at one of them and had a physical presence of true violence ready to explode. The look in his eye was murder. Black as hell. Scary ****.

Saw Mercer with Andrew Golota surrounded by managers and press walking through Penn Station on the way to MSG for a press conference for a fight that never came off .. after Golota's Bowe fights but before Lewis .. they stopped multiple times as some following reporters and cameramen took questions .. I ws surprised how young Golota looked in person, like a big kid with a near crew cut .. Mercer on the other hand looked much bigger in person than you'd expect and radiated physical power and menace. He was very thick, solid as a rock and had a scowl that said he did not want to be there or be bothered. He looked like he'd make Golota his wife if he felt like it. One of the two most powerful physical presences I ever saw in person. The other was Tua who I met as a young pro at a boxing awards dinner in 1998. (forgot to mention).

Met Foster at my one trip to the Boxing Hall of Fame back in 1998 or 99, I forget which year. He was not a young guy even then but very tall, razor thin and fit, very stoic, with a sit back and scope the joint presence, like a great white shark. Distant with a default face that was a disinterested scowl. His body language and attitude was pure keep away. I watched him for quite a while. He was not rude but watching him and then remembering how dangerous he was in the ring it gave many pause.

One more story, at same dinner sitting at the table directly across from me was an older Willie Pep with a very good looking young lady, clearly much younger than him. As the dinner progressed I tried my best not to check her out but I was young and of course I did and once or twice she did the same ( who knows why ) .. then all of a sudden Pep turned to me and gave me a very long, hard look. He was in his later 70's but that was all it took. I did not look over again.

 

Great stuff. I love that attention to detail. Thanku.
I met Tua on the AC boardwalk. They were doing the weight in for the Monte Johnson fight there. I got to talk to him for a bit. Really nice and soft spoken. I could not believe how small he appeared since he looks like a tank in the ring. But when I watched him fight live the next night he looked huge once in the ring. I couldn't understand it. Here I am one day thinking I could get this guy on the boardwalk lol !! Then the next he looks scary as all in the ring.

 

Not in particular Holmes was a class act Tyson was friendly but nothing of note off the top of my head....