Unless I’ve missed it, I’m surprised Archie Moore hasn’t come up yet. He started his ABC — Any Boy Can — foundation in San Diego either upon retirement or maybe late in his active career. It taught boxing fundamentals but went far beyond, teaching self-esteem and how to carry one’s self (firm handshake and look people in the eye for basics) and sportsmanship. When he went to I think Argentina for a title defense he bought shoes and clothes for underprivileged youth and also spent time with them. The president of the country offered him a commission to come work with youth, which he politely turned down. Later he was appointed to a position by Ronald Reagan to work with youth, and spent a good part of his post-boxing life doing this. We should all aspire to be more like him in this regard.
I still remember Archie Moore on that day in Dec 1969 on our last day of school before Christmas Vacation started. As I had posted before, he was at our local Junior High, he brought a truck load of Carnation Ice Cream in cups, along with gallons of soda pop. He showed us the fights he had with Rocky Marciano in Sept 1955 and Muhammad Ali in Nov 1962. He talked about our new Youth Center that he had built for our neighborhood. The center had boxing equipment, a ring, color television, a portable 8 track player, and a Stereo to listen to records. It also had counselors on hand, also a snack bar. His message to us was to serve our community, obey the law and get all the education that we could get. I remember shaking his hand, I boasted about that event throughout my life, I am now 63 years old.
Max Schmelling. Helped save Jews, punished by Hitler for losing, great friends with Joe Louis, helped pay for his funeral, lived until 99.
Hey Mike Unless you’ve seen it before you might like David’s appearance on New Zealand’s Wheel of Fortune. Looks more nervous than he did for any fight, Ha! Much was made that DT said “O” For Awesome but he actually said “O” for Olsen. Funny he picked a specific surname to confirm his letter instead of saying “Octopus” or the like. Hear the compère also say “Not yit (yet) anyway”. For NZ’ers, “I”s and “E”s are interchangeable. Suffice to say, they do love their Fish and Cheps. And the number Six? It’s not hard to nut out how that comes out. LOL. I love the Kiwi’s accent, love the Kiwi’s overall. This content is protected
Lol "o for old" he said? Lol. My cousin, not really connected to him, was in New Zealand he twas a kiwi! We always wondered about David's ancestry, if he is a Samoan, and NZ ers are called kiwis, doesn't that make the hard headed and stoned chinned Pacific Islanders from Samoa , should they be called coconuts? Just wondering, no harm intended!
Ooh no, not having a go at you but that is and would be interpreted as derogatory. I know a few Kiwis and they’re fine with ribbing re their accent - of course if they took offence to that it would be no problem leaving it out.
He called Saint Ali “Clay” you ignorant heretic. But honestly yeah, I used to think it’d be Eubank but Eubank just had good manners, he killed someone with a car and wouldn’t take the wrap and continues to drive like a lunatic despite the fact. Chris also gave two of his kids away to someone he barely knew in Vegas, used a homeless man Max as a butler who ran away back to the streets for reasons he didn’t elaborate on. Eccentric looney with aristocratic manners in truth. Next was Emile then I found out he slept with underaged gay teenagers. Suppose just about everyone has there human side. None the less I think it was an era thing and not totally evil, every other part of his life was soaked in kindness and dignity but I cannot call him totally “good” for that. The truth is I don’t think any of us are totally good. Most of the ones we do think are we just don’t know well enough. But the same can be said in a better light about bad men. To know all is to forgive all brother.
All due respect groovy cat if you call any of those islander lads a coconut you might wanna tell him what you want written on your grave.
Yeah, I agree. And Floyd probably would as well, being a Catholic who would've believed in Original Sin and all.
I know it has been quoted many times so excuse me for quoting it again but it is a classic.After his loss to Dick Tiger he was asked who he would like to fight next, his answer the B***ard who made this fight
Most pro and amateur fighters are good people away from the boxing ring the octagon or the dojo. It's the few bad players that get the attention. It's like in law enforcement . For every Derek Chauvin there's literally over a thousand officers that do the job the right way everyday without fanfare. Saving lives without media attention .
