Or legends of the game. Doesn't have to be fighters. I just googled Frank Cappuinco I only knew him as a ref not a judge. I remember him reffing Tyson fight or fights. I loved his name. Rest in Peace. Cus D'Amato. Legend. Say no more. Enzo Calzaghe. Another legend. Which guys do know for their work in the Sweet Science? Another ripper is Colonel Bob Sheridan. His voice was Iconic.
Kenny Adams. He trained basically every high level US amateur from the mid 80's to the early 2000's and played a huge role in the success of the USA amateur program. It basically fell apart when he left.
Interesting topic. I don't know many, but obviously Bert Sugar. Al Bernstein also comes to mind. You could throw in Jim Lampley and Larry Merchant as well. I'm curious who people think is the most respected living boxing historian is?
Not a celebrity like some mentioned on this thread so far, but Springs Toledo might be the most noteworthy boxing historian today. At least as far as American experts go. Much of his boxing writing is focused on historic fighters and boxing history. Don King and Bob Arum have probably seen the most fighters and fights (in person) of anyone living given how many cards with how many bouts they both have put on over the years. J Russell Peltz also deserves a mention.
I honestly think the classic Boxing Historians are a thing of the past. I'd say 'most' so called historians today are Collectors Researcher and in general have not the same retained 'automatic' knowledge of past historians like Gilbert Odd. Nat Fleischer, Tracey Callas and the like... Collectors for Hobby/Interest are not Historians and even Collector Researchers are only 'UP' on their own particular area of interest i.e. a particular Fighter or two, an Era, a Division... you get the point. Some, most certainly not all, might have a fleeting general overall understanding of Boxing History but no in-Depth Encyclopedic type of knowledge. Not a bad thing, just the difference between today verses once upon a time devotions to something. I'd say 'some' of the guys on these Boxing Forums have a greater arching level of knowledge of the overall & specific Fighters, Eras and/or Divisions than most 'so called' historian Collectors!
No matter how much I may have goofed around on anyone, there's at least a solid dozen posters on Classic of note that would have an enormous edge in historical knowledge of boxing over most of the people mentioned thus far, I'd wager.
Hi Guys. Over my time in boxing, two writers are a standout, Peter Wilson, and Hugh McIlvanney. Mike.
Hank Kaplan ain’t walkin’ through that door! But Brooklyn College probably houses the most extensive collection of boxing material (I don’t mean equipment like heavy bags, gloves and rings — although there are a few such items like a heavy bag Muhammad Ali worked on before fighting Sonny Liston) … the Hank Kaplan Collection that he left to the college for historic preservation. The collection include literally more than half a million items from old photos and negatives, hundreds of feet of clippings spanning more than 100 years starting in the 1890s, 2,600 books, etc, etc. My understanding is the collection can be viewed by appointment. https://archives.brooklyn.cuny.edu/repositories/2/resources/40
