Sparring Stories

slender4 · Jun 9, 2014

The best fighter ever to come from Kronk was a guy named Bernard "Superbad" Mayes, in the early eightes, he was maybe the best amateur in America, and beat the hell out of the rest of the Detroit guys (Hilmer Kenty, Duane Thomas, Jimmy Paul, Milton McCrory) on the amateur circuit.

Emanuel Steward had him spar with Thomas Hearns when Hearns was a world champ in his prime at welterweight, and Mayes an inactive undercard fighter, and he said he toyed with Hearns every day, just made him look stupid. Steward said he was the most talented fighter he ever coached outside of De La Hoya (?). But Mayes couldn't let the liqur go, and he ended up dying of cirrhosis at 27.

slender4 · Jun 9, 2014

elderado said: ↑

Them soft American livers can't handle the drink
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LOL, Guinness is one thing, but I'd like to see some of those Irish lads drink 8-9 40's of Colt .45!

grumpy old man · Jun 9, 2014

slender4 said: ↑

The best fighter ever to come from Kronk was a guy named Bernard "Superbad" Mayes, in the early eightes, he was maybe the best amateur in America, and beat the hell out of the rest of the Detroit guys (Hilmer Kenty, Duane Thomas, Jimmy Paul, Milton McCrory) on the amateur circuit.

Emanuel Steward had him spar with Thomas Hearns when Hearns was a world champ in his prime at welterweight, and Mayes an inactive undercard fighter, and he said he toyed with Hearns every day, just made him look stupid. Steward said he was the most talented fighter he ever coached outside of De La Hoya (?). But Mayes couldn't let the liqur go, and he ended up dying of cirrhosis at 27.
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Great post. What a waste of potential and life.

doug.ie · Jun 9, 2014

he was 33 when he died though..

http://www.facebook.com/classicboxi...5623215123/439585206186498/?type=1&permPage=1

grumpy old man · Jun 9, 2014

doug.ie said: ↑

he was 33 when he died though..

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:good

slender4 · Jun 9, 2014

doug.ie said: ↑

he was 33 when he died though..

http://www.facebook.com/classicboxi...5623215123/439585206186498/?type=1&permPage=1
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Ooops, my mistake.

Shake · Jun 11, 2014

I would bet my life on prime Frazier vs any Young.

energie · Jun 11, 2014

ForemanJab said: ↑

Good story is Tyson getting knocked out cold in sparring by Oliver Mccall 3 weeks before he fought Spinks. Dundee was there and said it. Later confirmed by McCall in an interview.
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go watch tyson spar with mccall on steve lotts channel on youtube...

Titan1 · Jun 13, 2014

slender4 said: ↑

The best fighter ever to come from Kronk was a guy named Bernard "Superbad" Mayes, in the early eightes, he was maybe the best amateur in America, and beat the hell out of the rest of the Detroit guys (Hilmer Kenty, Duane Thomas, Jimmy Paul, Milton McCrory) on the amateur circuit.

Emanuel Steward had him spar with Thomas Hearns when Hearns was a world champ in his prime at welterweight, and Mayes an inactive undercard fighter, and he said he toyed with Hearns every day, just made him look stupid. Steward said he was the most talented fighter he ever coached outside of De La Hoya (?). But Mayes couldn't let the liqur go, and he ended up dying of cirrhosis at 27.
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Alex Ramos talked about sparring with him and James Shuler, and said that both guys were tough spars.Can't see him fighting Kenty, since Mays was about 14, 15 when Hilmer was a top amatuer.

KidGalahad · Jun 13, 2014

hard to believe that muhammad ali sparred as late as january of 1986. found this report from 1986 by chance and it says he actually did.
however, the last paragraph reveals that it looks like it was no real sparring, but rather a favor his former sparring partners did him. nevertheless it was fun to read.

philly.com said:

Shuffles Back Into Ring Ex-champ, Near Age 44, Testing Time By Sparring With Tubbs, Witherspoon

By Elmer Smith, Daily News Sports Writer
POSTED: January 15, 1986

ATLANTA Muhammad Ali's fists and feet picked up speed when Jimmy Ellis called ''time" on the former champion's eighth and final round of sparring.
Ali heard him and knew his time was up. But he needed to end this sparring session, his seventh in as many days, with his own personal punctuation point.
So he advanced on Tony Tubbs, the World Boxing Association heavyweight champion, behind a flicking jab as the crowd began to chant "Ali, Ali." And he threw a three-punch combination.

Then, he brought the cheering to a crescendo with a slow-motion version of the old Ali shuffle and walked away.
The End.
Or was it the beginning ? Was it just good, clean fun? A way to lose weight? Or is there something more that has prompted this return to center stage for boxing's most beloved figure?
"I'm coming back . . . ," Ali said teasingly one day last week to a crowd that strained to hear his barely audible voice, "to my senses."
The sparring sessions started a week ago when Ali, dressed in his street clothes, walked up to Slim Jim Robinson, Tim Witherspoon's trainer, and asked for a protective cup.
"He said he wanted to go three rounds with Tim," Robinson said. "I gave him a headgear and he slid a cup on over his pants and went three rounds in his street shoes.
"The next day he came in with a sweat suit and a pair of sneakers and we've been sparring ever since, sometimes six rounds, sometimes eight. He's been as many as 10 with Tim.
"I don't know what it's all about, really. But I know the last time this happened, he walked into one of my training sessions when I had Eddie Mustafa Muhammad.
"He went in in his street clothes just like this time and boxed a few rounds. Then he said we're going to box until one of us drops. They went 30 minutes before I made them stop.
"When he came out of the ring, he said. 'I'm going to make a comeback'.
"That was in 1980, about a year after he had won his title back from Leon Spinks. About nine months later, he fought Larry Holmes."
In an interview after his final session with Witherspoon Monday, Ali, who will turn 44 Friday, delighted in tantalizing a reporter by raising the possibility of a comeback and then stepping back from it.
"I came in to lose some weight and feel better," he said. "I lost about 15 pounds. Look at this."
He stood and pulled the top of the sweat suit out of his waist band. The liquified excesses of years of inactivity rolled in rivulets from beneath the suit.
"I feel surprisingly good," Ali said. "I feel like I'm in my prime. I'm working with the top contender for the first time in five years. My punches are landing, body punches landing.
''I asked Don King if he would get me an exhibition fight if I looked good against the top contender. I said I want a 10-round exhibition, five rounds apiece with two top contenders in Madison Square Garden.
"And I said if I look good against them, would he get me a title shot. He said, 'Yes' ".
King's version differed slightly. "I told him that if he looked good, I'd put him in there for an exhibition," King said. "He's bringing himself back.
"I'd be willing to get some other retired fighter. I'd get Joe Frazier or somebody like that and let them make a little money for charity."
Witherspoon had some reservations about the comeback possibility.
"I don't know about a comeback," Witherspoon said. "But he might be able to fight a few exhibitions. He amazes me. He's still got the timing. He still throws the jab pretty good.
"He can take a punch to the body, too. I hit him to the body for real. But I can't bring myself to hit him hard in the head.
"He tells me to hit him in the head hard. But I can't. I don't want the whole world mad at me.".
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source: http://articles.philly.com/1986-01-15/sports/26052257_1_training-sessions-shuffles-muhammad-ali

grumpy old man · Jun 13, 2014

"I feel surprisingly good," Ali said. "I feel like I'm in my prime. I'm working with the top contender for the first time in five years. My punches are landing, body punches landing".

Signs Ali was already starting to lose the plot here.

Muhammad Ali, one of the biggest head-hunters in boxing history 'body punching' ??

Titan1 · Jun 15, 2014

Tim Witherspoon bloodying Gerry Cooney's nose, now that was something.

Azzer85 · Jun 16, 2014

energie said: ↑

go watch tyson spar with mccall on steve lotts channel on youtube...
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Dont listen to him, hes a proven liar

Sangria · Jun 16, 2014

Azzer85 said: ↑

Dont listen to him, hes a proven liar
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Watched that video where McCall quits from a body shot, saying Tyson hit him on the hip bone.

Bummy Davis · Oct 18, 2014

Shannon Briggs got Knocked out cold by Lou Saverese

5"7 middleweight Tom"the Bomb" Bethea bust up 6'5 265lb Leroy Jones (28th St. Gym in NYC

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