Favorite old school boxer(s) from your area

British Cruiserweight Champion Tee Jay. I lived around the corner of All Star boxing club (west London) run by Jay´s father.

Fought Holyfield in the 1984 Olympics before turning pro with little fanfare.

In 1987 I tuned in to see Tee Jay take on the favoured champion Roy Smith. Smith was the favourite but was shockingly dropped 4 times and stopped in a round.

Felt really chuffed for Tee Jay, unfortunately he bravely lost his crown to future champ to Glen McCrory. 2 further losses in title fights finished his career.

Great to see a local lads like Jay and fellow stablemate James Oyebola make waves in the professional market.

Unfortunately died at 44 from a heart attack. James Oyebola also died young at 46 after being shot in an altercation (he was a bouncer) in a nightclub.

 

Robert James Fitzsimmons boxings first three-division world champion.

Len Harvey a very decent boxer of the 20s and 30s, when i got interested in boxing history as a teen, my father told me Len had been the world record holder for his grip power, and as Cornwall was not well known for a lot of sporting champions/ record holders i read up on Lens career and life.

 

Just outside Newark, New Jersey USA

currently rooting for Shakur Stevenson Who got us a silver medal at the Olympics I know he’s not a fan favorite for a lot of people who don’t like his style, but I’m hoping he can erase that poor performance and do big things. I actually met his grandfather while I was working an amateur event few years ago.

Raymond Ford is from Camden, which is farther south but New Jersey is a small state so it’s easy to root for people and see them fight even if they’re on the other side he competed well but just lost his belt

Vito mielnicki A real local kid, his posters hang in the shop windows on the main street in the town that I was living in and he got a lot of local love. I don’t think he has much upside or is going to win a title, but I root for him.

zhilai Zhang trains or has trained in Bloomfield, New Jersey and I believe in the Joyce fight it said fighting out of Bloomfield on the screen. One of the guys that frequented a gym I was at mentioned watching him train for that fight and not being confident in his preparation.

in the past, I didn’t pay that much attention to local fighters when I was a kid. I was a little rebellious and didn’t root for people just because they were from the area as silly as that sounds.

boxing in New Jersey I feel like has historically been for people that are not from the state but came to live there either through immigration or changing states: Qawi and Lockridge have a Camden connection though I’m not sure either was born there. Tomasz Adamek came to claim Jersey City as his home. Arturo Gatti is synonymous with boxing in New Jersey though he wasn’t born or raised here. I had a high school teacher who knew Bruce Seldon who I think is a Jersey guy

Bobby Cysz is in my avatar he fought around here before my time and my dad knew him through business after his fighting days were over but had seen him live several times. He was on hard times working at a grocery store near where I grew up, but I saw him recently near where I live at a bar seemed to be doing well.

then there’s a lot of tributes to the heavyweights that won and challenged for the title. Tony Galento plaza in Orange, Chuck Wepner got a statue in Bayonne and his picture dons many bars likely from his time as a liquor salesman.. Braddock has his share of tributes as well

 

Lou Nova
Max Baer
Chico Corrales
Tony Lopez
Pete Ranzany
- Sacramento, CA

Oleg Maskaev as well. He lives in West Sacramento (a small city just West of Sacramento, but in a different county) and has been here for about 20 years. Apparently he ran for city council in 2013.

I feel proud that this city shares connections to potentially the best fight ever (Castillo-Corrales I), the lineal heavyweight championship, fights against Joe Louis, Chavez, and Mayweather.

We currently have a couple of social media hypejobs doing the softball circuit, enjoying robberies at local hotels, but nothing good. Best I've seen is probably coming from Oakland in this region. We are more of an MMA town since the early-mid 2000s, which really took off with the rise of Tyson Griffin and Urijah Faber (among others). There are scores of top flight MMA fighters here but a pretty small selection of decent boxers.

 

The whole Damn family fought. And they had a hugh family, even the girls...
Funny story.
I fell in love with boxing after the Leonard vs Benitez fight , I saw the skill level of both fighters and wanted to do it.
For yrs prior I studied Isshin Ryu Karate under a Sensi who was greatly influenced by Lee Jun Fan, (Bruce Lee) and he was teaching different martial arts philosophies early including boxing.
Our Dojo won a lot a local tournaments because of that.
Anyway I found a local boxing gym and B. Gray would train there occasionally.
In my teenage hubris I thought I'd be ok in a boxing ring against him having known his family and him for yrs .
I thought with my extensive martial arts background, and the different styles I'd been taught, and boxing seemly being so one dimensional I'd do well......
I had my ass handed to me in about 20 seconds.
Outside blocks , rising blocks , etc are no defense for a good stiff jab.
Forward and reverse punches from me was hitting ......Air. even the tried and true backfist, was easily defended by him.
It was a painful lesson learned lol.....
A mistake I'd NEVER make again.......

 

Just out of curiosity, are you familiar with Pete "Buffalo" Balcunas? He was a Heavyweight who fought out of South Florida, but made more of a mark on the sport as a trainer. He was the trainer of John Coward who I mentioned earlier in the thread, among many others. He was friends with my Father, and used to bring boxing films to our house (the type with the reel and projector) when I was a kid.

Never seen him fight, but I remember him being a good guy, and kind of put boxing on the radar for me. I'd add him to my list of favorites local fighters for that reason.

https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/Pete_Balcunas

 

Rocky Marciano...Marvin Hagler...Paul Pender...Willie Pep...Harold Gomes...just to name a few in New England.

 

There are too many to name in one sitting, I'll surely forget a few.

Detroit was the region that I fought out of...........

Hilmer Kenty
Joe Louis
James Toney
Dwight Davison
Thomas Hearns
Jimmy Paul
Milton McCrory

That's a list if title holders.

From my era.......

Oba Carr
James Toney
Marlon Thomas
Ka-dy King
Jamie Stevenson

 

Ringo Bonavena lived fifteen km away from my house in Buenos Aires, my friends grandma used to party with him too. And my grandmother remembers some of hus funny quotes. Nicolino Locche was also very loved at that time in Argentina and buenos aires, since he fought a lot here, but he was from Mendoza, another province.