Describe the first fight you ever watched

Sean O'Grady fight I should think. Absolute blood bath.

 

First live one, (On TV that is), was Manilla aged 7. I always watched the highlights of the Tuesday night shows on Grandstand on a Saturday. These fights often featured guys like the Finnegans, John Conteh, John H Stracey etc....

 

Jimmy Anderson/ Brian Hudson, on a Saturday afternoon late 60s I think.

 

Saw the Sonny Liston-Cassius Clay I fight on closed circuit with my Father on Feb.25, 1964. My first "live" fight was Bob Foster vs Andy Kendall for the Lt-Heavy title in West Springfield Mass on May 24,1969. Shook hands with Howard Cosell that night. He did the fight on "Wide World Of Sports".

 

THE FIGHT EVERYONE WAS TALKING ABOUT , I WAS IN THE FOURTH GRADE ALI VS QUARRY 10/26/70.
ALI HAD BEEN EXILED FROM THE SPORT, AND QUARRY WAS RANKED # 1.
Muhammad Ali (29-0 23 Knockouts) vs Jerry Quarry (37-4-4 23 Knockouts).

 

THE BIG ONE OF THE BIG ONES WAS 5 MONTHS LATER "BATTLE OF THE CENTURY
MARCH 8, 1971 Muhammad Ali (31-0 25 KNOCKOUTS) VS CHAMPION JOE FRAZIER (26-0 23 KNOCKOUTS).

 

The first fight I remember being on TV was Ali-Lyle (a month before I turned 8), though I don't remember watching it. In fact, it wasn't until fairly recently that I realized that memory was of the Ali-Lyle fight. I just remember my dad being excited about watching "the fight" on Friday night, and (as I've posted before) me being upset because I couldn't watch Sanford and Son. Turns out that his excitement of watching a fight on live TV was because there hadn't been a heavyweight championship broadcast live in several years, at least in the U.S.

The first one I remember watching was Ali-Coopman. I think Alfredo Escalera was on the undercard. Just checked BoxRec. Escalera was indeed on the undercard. The next month I watched Ali-Young and Norton-Stander. The month after that was Ali-Dunn. For some reason, that summer, it seemed that every TV store and department store that sold these new-fangled machines on which you could record TV would show Ali-Dunn. I must've seen Ali-Dunn at least five times that summer. It amused 9 year-old me that many of the adults who stopped to watch had no idea that it was a taped fight. I should have taken bets.

 

Foreman v Young is the one I remember watching from start to finish. I remember walking in our TV room when the Frazier v Ali 3 was on befor that and being completely in awe. I was trying Karate at the time and into Bruce Lee and Sonny Chiba. After seeing that I only wanted to learn how to Box lol

 

The 1st fight I saw was "The Thrilla in Manila " a rebroadcast on ABC's Wide World of Sports in 75 or 76" ( The fight was shown multiple times) It was my 1st time actually sitting and watching a boxing match. I was a Isshin Ryu Karate practioner at the time and had been in and won many local tournaments . But the Sensi I had was one of the "New era" instructors and believed in using different techniques from different Martial arts disciplines including of course Boxing.
So one day a Saturday we sat in the Dojo and watched the fight. I was amazed at the toughness of both men, but I didn’t see the technical aspects of boxing until 1979 watching Leonard vs Benitez.
I really didn’t appreciate the technical aspect of boxing until I saw Leonard vs Benitez . This is the time I actually fell in love with the sport ( This and the fact I had my head handed to me in a Boxer vs Karate match I participated in. You know the type Big headed Karate practioner, point fighter me with all my different kicks, strikes, and throws I just knew no fighter using just his hands would defeat me........ WRONG!!!! I had a harsh lesson in the difference in "point fighting" and boxing in their element, a boxing ring )
The technical brilliance of Leonard/Benitez is a must watch if one loves the sport. I haven't seen any fight since that rivaled the skill level that both fighters showed, and at the right time for both fighters in their primes. It's a beautiful fight to watch, especially if one wants too see the way boxing used to look, in comparison to today's fighters.

 

How many of us who watched boxing as kids wanted to grow up to be a fighter? I sure did. I was going to win the gold in '88 and the heavyweight championship a few years later. Then I was going to defend my title every two to three months.

When I made it to the gym I found out that, despite watching hours of boxing on tv and practicing on a heavy bag in the garage, I telegraphed my punches, couldn't figure out how to throw a right hand against another boxer, and flinched when punches came at me. Had a decent jab, though. But I was definitely not good enough to be competitive. I sucked. But for a few months I did get to work under trainer Danny Rodriguez, who can be seen in Eddie Machen's corner (among others) against Sonny Liston.