Just finished Johnny Lewis' book. Anybody had a read?

thanks HT, without this thread i wouldnt have purchased the book myself as i wasnt aware it was published, nothing has been in any news papers or news stations in my area about the book. I dont think the book paints Johnny as a saint, otherwise we wouldnt have seen the parts in which he tells KT to **** off etc. Johnny is what i would term old school and in my eyes is somewhat of a ledgend, he has touched so many lives and helped so many boxers it cant be ignored. I like people who are straight down the line and Johnny appears to be a person of such quality imo.

Many people would bite their tounge but Lewis has the courage to speak up and defend what he feels is right, he has high morals imo and such qualitys should be commended.

Im glad we are able to have a civil debate and discussions about this book, it can get heated but its the choice of words that can turn the tide with that respect. I guess rather than bark and yell names ive found it more productive to debate with case evidence in whatever subject we are debating.

The 10% was nothning guys, if you look at USA, 33% cut to manager, does that inclued the trainers cut? if not KT was paying very little and pocketing a tone. His greed doesnt just stretch to his trainers and team but also the companys that supported him by way of Production, SKY to name one.

As i mention in another post, i thought KT was greedy the night of his first Crew Fighter, many KT Fans on his forum made the trip from around Australia to attend this event, fans were matched with other fans on KTs forums and they fought it out for a Charity event. KT attended and afterwards their was a dinner held at a russian restarunt in Sydney, this dinner was to be for the guys who made the trip and got into the ring.
Now going back to 2005 which is when this occured, the cost of food is not as high as the cost of food today. The meals provided were not 3 course meals but more so finger food and a couple of bottles of cheap russian spirits sitting on each table. The cost was 60$ per head. Today for a wedding, 3 course meal, starting prices are 35$ per head, then it goes upto around $50 a head and the food gets better, venue for $50 a head is also one of the best venues for a wedding in this area thus the price tag, the best place which is over the top is $90 per head but includeds 4.5 hrs of alchol.

After reading Johnnys book and going back to that night in the Russian Restarunt watching KT get pissed got me thinking, we all got ripped. He would have made a deal with the restraunt owner because the $60 a head was a rip off. You dont rip off fans who have travel to get into the ring for a charity event. No costs paid. KT being the rich guy he is should have made a deal with the owner of the restraunt and the guys who got into the ring and made the event possible shouldnt have had to pay. The hang ons who attended should have been made to pay.

After a fight, i dont think its a good thing to get pissed, its not good for the brain so afterwards i was a bit in awe at watching KT make a fool of himself on the **** infront of his fans. It always made me think about the true nature of KT, id meet him many times and just couldnt really read him, everything seemed rehurst, it was only until i saw him pissed that i realise what this was all about. Now the book has shed light and only backs up what i orignally concluded about KT that night.

 

As i mention in another post, i thought KT was greedy the night of his first Crew Fighter, many KT Fans on his forum made the trip from around Australia to attend this event, fans were matched with other fans on KTs forums and they fought it out for a Charity event.


This sounds interesting has anything been tried on this site, Ty who did you fight and how was the day would it be worth doing again. How did they stop guys hating each other not bashing the **** out of each other or is that what happened

 

I dont think it would be possible on this site m8, too many people live internationally so the costs would just be crazy. The Crew Fighter KT had was attended by people living in Australia only.

I was matched with Birchy as the main event. Birchy and i were the only ones who had alot of experiance and it was a good match up. The other guys , well some did go a bit hard or tried to, others just took it easy like a sparring session but in slow motion lol, KTs son was outstanding and stopped his opponent with a body shot, he stopped a boy from QLD who had amateur experiance, Glenn Azar brought him up for the event.

There is a book KT published by paul upham called Something Worth fighting for, in Chapter 8 "CrewFighter, the power of Tszyu", page 157 it has a bit of info about Crew Fighter, and a few photos, somehow i ended up in two of the photos published in the book lol. I meet a lot of great people at Crew Fighter, Dylan Whipper, Harris Mores etc, got to catch up with others id interviewed that past year, sakio bikka, hussy and Billy Dibb and others.

The dinner dissapointed me the most, i got a nice one from birchy in round one and i had a black eye the next day, its just not good for guys who get punched in the head to get on the **** that same day, it does damage to the brain and makes you punch drunk ive always belived, so i was a little dissapointed to see it was more of a **** up than a get together, talk and dinner. It really should have been for the guys who made the trip only as they should get that treatment atleast for making the trip, instead their was a bunch of people who never even got into the ring who attended the dinner causing it to turn into a **** up. I left early, my trainer doesnt drink and as i mention before i dont drink after a fight so it wasnt too impressive for me personally and put a sour taste in my mouth for Tszyu.

Up until that point id meet KT a few times and had dinner with him in Albury sitting opposite him so i had many chances to speak to him and ask him questions, i never formall got to interview him for the site i used to work for as he was one who was always hard to get an inteview with.

Johnny on the other hand was pretty easy to interview, ive been to Johnnys home, sat in his lounge room and had a video recorded interview with him, the guy is so down to earth its not funny. It was prior to the Hatton fight and i asked the question about Hatton as Hatton was making some noise at the time about wanting to fight Tszyu, at the time Johnny said Hatton wasnt even on their radar.

Now after having a think about it all and taking in whats been revealed in the book its clear to me now why Johnny didnt have a clue about Kostya vs Hatton, Kostya never allowed Johnny to partake in this process as was the situation with the Vince Phillips fight, i think it was no more than 4 months after i interviewed Johnny and asked him the question about Hatton that it was released in the media that Tszyu had signed to fight Hatton in the UK. I was scratching my head for days about it but now it all makes sence.

 

Couldn't put it down. Great read. Some of the stories will surprise a lot of people. One thing that wasn't a surprise is that Johnny Lewis is a great man from the "Old School".

 

I always saw Tszyu as abit of an arrogant *****, I remember saying on these forums that the guy isn't humble in the slightest and I copped alot of **** for it. He's just like Green, self-absorbed and likes to tell everyone how humble he is, which actually is a contradiction. Money money money

 

Kostya's love of the ca$h cost him big time..

Made him take the fight against Hatton over there at a ridiculous time and with a crook of a ref..All for the 5 mill or so the poms dangled infront of his mug..

 

A lot of what's been written about Kostya & Johnny doesn't surprise me.
I'm not being judgemental, just observations that give weight to Johns statements.
On the 3 occasions that I took an interest in KT outside of the ring finished with negative reactions.
The first time was when my Grandson Nick wanted a photo of him. (Over 10 years ago)
We sat down & wrote KT a nice letter. Put a stamped address envelope & $10 in it & sent it off. No response.
Big Jim finally got the photo for me.
Once again, Nick & his dad went up to Sydney to watch him spar in Martin Place, hoping to get a photo with him. KT turned up with a a group of impenetrable minders, done the job & left.
Fortunately the day was saved because Sam Soliman was there. They said gday to him & Sam stopped & talked them for 10-15 minutes. Absolute gentleman.

Finally, the Tszyu crew.
I was a regular at the site & I followed the process that those terrific bunch of blokes done for charity.
I spoke to a couple of the diehards after the Crewfighter 1 & the "dinner". I got the immpression that their loyaly was tested & they got a bit of a touch-up with the $60 clip.
I rarely visited the site after that & his bratish whinge about favoritism in his "dancing with stars" soured me even more.
He went OK in it but I'm sure he thought it was dancing his skills, & not the Tszyu Crew voting, that kept him in for as long as they did.

It seems a shame that so much good was done here, but so much damage resulted.

 

bravo Pops, spot on!

 

thats one of the things i like about mundine.
I was at a weigh in and he walked past and i said hello, he stopped and had a ****ing chat.... seriously im a ****ing nobody... why talk to me?
I mentioned that i tutor some kids at the local aboriginal school... he said come back in 10 and then gave me some free tickets to bring some of the kids....

unreal

after the fight we met up with him (bit of stalking involved i guess ) and he says hello to them has a quick chat and gives them the address of his gym... tells them to write him a letter and he will send them a free t-shirt each.

Then like 2 years later I am in sydney so i stop in at the gym. He walks in later that day and walks by and shakes my hand and says hello.... no way in the world that he could possibly have recognised me....

then his dad and solamon haumonos dad sit down and chat with me for like 40 minutes while we watch him train.

 

Mundine was snobbed by a cricket player when he was a kid, he waited and waited to get an autograph only to be pushed aside by the cricket player he folled by women who wanted autographs and or more important people then a kid, he said to himself if he ever got famouse he would not be like the cricket player that brushed him aside.

As you have witnessed the guy is really down to earth, the stuff in the media is all for the cameras, his a diffrent person off camera.

 

Jesus Christ have I come to the right forum ? Tszyu hatred everywhere and Mundine love left, right and centre. :nut

 

Haha I think Ive slipped into a paralel upside down universe or something. Does everyone have moustaches?

 

I have met Kostya a few times and He has always been a gentleman.

I have heard the same thing about Mundine from my mates that used to 'know' him.

 

Thanks for that mate sounds interesting, any alcohol after physical activity is no good whilst your body is trying to repair the alcohol is trying to destroy a good 24 hours after boxing or footy is best to aid rapid recovery