My family is responsible for my interest in boxing. My father and brothers have always taken a keen interest in sport and boxing in particular. Being the youngest and the only girl growing up in our household I didn't have a lot of choice really! If it wasn't for their early influence I doubt it would have appealed as much. Now I have nothing but admiration for the sport - its the ultimate one on one challenge.
First fight I remember seeing on TV was the Muhammad Ali v Leon Spinks rematch in 1978. I then followed Minter, Bruno, & McGuigan through the early 1980s. There was a real buzz around Bruno's fights before he lost to Bonecrusher Smith in 1984. They always showed the Bruno fights on Sportsnight and whenever I hear that theme I always think back to those occasions at the Albert Hall or Wembley. The Rocky films helped keep the interest up as well.
The good old days of the Benn, Eubank, Collins etc on ITV for me. I do remember getting up early Sunday morning and watching the Tyson/Douglas fight.
I remember watching Tyson destroy Berbick on Saturday Grandstand. I was about 10 at the time and have followed boxing ever since.
Football is a real passion of mine but at the moment it full of nancy pansies who get paid way too much.
My grandad used to box in the navy and i used to stay up when i was little and watch the big fights with him like tyson vs bruno etc.
About 4 years ago when i was a 17 year old, i was flicking through the channels and came across ''the contender'' watched alot of the episodes, for some reason the show instilled passion and fire in me, it made me want to take up boxing as a hobby, it was a very good feeling (havent felt that way in a long while), i went on to watch rocky IV the sound track and training montage was inspiring it really motivated to study hard 10hrs a day everyday for my A-level exams, after i was done with my a-levels i started watching naseem hamed videos throughout the summer, from then on i became a full time boxing fan, i only started showing interest in the current british scene when khan came along.
I set my alarm and woke up as a kid to listen to tyson v bruno I. was totally gutted that big frank lost!! i think my knowledge has moved on slightly since then, but i'm sure disappointments will always be a part of it.