Instances of famous people who had great amateur careers

Ozzy couldn't box oranges, as for Tony he had a rep as a tough fearsome guy in Birmingham but I don't think he ever actually boxed.

 

Rod did box in the Army, I believe his record was 17-1.

 

I'm not positive but Lyle Alzado who had his 8 round bout in 79 against Ali, might have been a NY Golden Gloves champ.

 

Mickey Rourke was a pretty good boxer ...he sparred with Carlos Monzon apparently

 

Rocky Johnson ...Dwayne Johnson’s dad ...a lot of people know he was a professional wrestler in the 70s ...but how many people know he was golden gloves

 

Willie D ...the rapper from the group “The Ghetto Boys “ ...he was an amateur boxer ...he won a few tough man contests

 

Martin Lawrence...was a boxer in his younger days ...I’m not how successful he was ...but he’s proud of himself

 

Yeah I did recollect that Palance boxed pro but wasn’t 100% so didn’t want to mislead and I was too lazy to check.

Re Mitch, exactly as I presented it. A well corroborated and newspaper reported story but no actual background in boxing. There are other stories of the same ilk re Mitch.

 

Here’s Ryan O’Neil actually sparing w Joe Frazier

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Norman Wisdom was a good boxer in the army and I've heard that Freddie Mercury also boxed as a schoolboy.

 

Les Dawson and Bradley Walsh both boxed.

 

Dawson was managed and promoted by Johnny Best whose step son, Pete was the original drummer with The Beatles.

 

Not exactly amateur, but Robert Mitchum was a semi-pro boxer on some shady circuit.

As noted, he also knocked out Bernie Reynolds in a bar fight, and in another famous encounter starched three sailors. One bad, bad dude.

 

The novelist Ernest Hemingway boxed in high school.

 

He spared Ken Norton and George Foreman.

Roddy Piper also claimed to be golden gloves, and Lou Duva seemed to confirm that he had some real skills when he trained Piper for the Mr. T "fight" at wrestlemania II, but I have heard some people dispute it.