Sports Greatest Sledges & Comments

Love it!

...and the Louis v Ali one too.

 

Classic!

I'd forgotten that one - well done for remembering it.

 

Barry Michael had one of the best and longest repertoires of sledges on the planet.

Always had enough material to last the full 15 x 3's.

In the lead-up to fighting Lester Ellis for his world title, amongst other things, Michael kept reminding Ellis that he was a man and Lester was still a boy.

In the ring just prior to the opening bell Michael kept thanking Lester for his title.

When Lester stung him hard early in the bout and caused Michael to see stars, Michael just said 'is that the best you can do Less' and kept reminding Ellis to 'pace himself because there's another 12 rounds to go'.

Another sledge that Michael kept throwing at Lester was 'tell your mum to stop leaving her shoes in my panel van'.

 

When Barry Michael fought Frankie Ropis on Ash wednesday in 1983 in Melbourne it was stinking hot and hard enough to breathe just sitting around, let alone having to box 12 x 3's.

'Frank the Tank' was a very formidable opponent and the bout was a take no backward steps war from start to finish.

In later rounds, Ropis was breathing very heavily and Michael kept saying to him 'Frank, you sound like a bloody steam train!'


(Matty might be able to expand on the story perhaps)

 

"Sonny Liston is nothing. The man can't talk. The man can't fight. The man needs talking lessons. The man needs boxing lessons. And since he's gonna fight me, he needs falling lessons"


.....Muhammad Ali prior fighting Sonny Liston in Feb 1964.

 

Not sledges but comments worth a laugh none-the-less:


Frank Bruno: "I was in a no-win situation, so I'm glad that I won rather than lost. "

Marlon Starling: "I'll fight Lloyd Honeyghan for nothing if the price is right"

Dennis Pennis: Have you ever thought of writing your autobiography?
Chris Eubank: On what?

Don King, on boxing's rating system: "When we started, it was based on lies. It's changing now. There are no secrets in the business. You've got to come with the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It's becoming very confusing."

Buddy McGirt, when he was asked by Gil Clancy who would win the up-coming fight between Maurice Blocker and Glenwood Brown he replied: "The black guy."

Harry Carpenter: "This boxer is doing what is expected of him, bleeding from his nose."

Jack Handy: "To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography and the dancers hit each other."

Brian London, answering if he would fight Ali again: "Sure, as long as he ties a 56 lb. weight to each leg."

Willie Pep: "I've got it made. I've got a wife and a TV set -- and they're both working."

George Foreman: "Bob, I can't chase these guys anymore."
Bob Arum: "George, I cant put it in the contracts that they can't run."

Randall "Tex" Cobb: "If you screw things up in tennis, it's 15-love. If you screw up in boxing, it's your ass."

Bob Hope: "I was called "Rembrandt" Hope in my boxing days, because I spent so much time on the canvas."

Bob Arum, after his fighter, Iran Barkley, won a fight: "If you think Barkley was mad before the fight, wait until he sees how many people are taking part of his purse."

Marlene Bugner, wife of Joe Bugner: "I don't know what impressive is, but Joe was impressive tonight."

Jim Watt, former WBC lightweight champion, when asked about his "white complexion" by a reporter said: "I'm like a bottle of milk with gloves."

Tony Galento, when asked about Shakespeare: "I ain't never heard of him. I suppose he's one of them foreign heavyweights. They're all lousy. Sure as hell I'll moider de bum."

Tony Sibson, on being beaten in a match: "I figured I'd find him sooner or later but I never did. I asked myself "Where did he go?" I knew he was there because he kept hitting me."

Mike Tyson, on fighting Lennox Lewis: "My main objective is to be professional, but to kill him."

Harry Carpenter: "He looks up through blood smeared lips."

 

Here's a few more along the same vein:

Willie Pep, talking to an old opponent years after each retired. "Do you recognize me?" the old opponent asked. Willie looked hard and considered before finally replying "Lie down so I can recognize you."

Mark Kaylor: "I'm concentrating so much I don't know what I'm doing half the time."

Willie Pastrano, when asked by the ring doctor if he knew where he was: "You're damn right I do. I'm in Madison Square Garden getting the sh*t knocked out of me."

Henry Cooper, replying to boxing abolitionist, Baroness Edith Summerskill, about the brutalities of his sport.
Baroness: "Mr. Cooper, have you looked in the mirror lately and seen the state of your nose?"
Cooper: "Well madam, have you looked in the mirror and seen the state of your nose? Boxing is my excuse. What's yours?"

Eddie Shaw, referring to Herol "Bomber" Graham : "He has turned defensive boxing into a poetic art. Trouble is, nobody ever knocked anybody out with a poem."

Mike Tyson, on writer Wallace Matthews: "[He] called me a '******' and a 'recluse'. I'm not a recluse."

Harry Carpenter: "It's not one of Bruno's fastest wins... but it's one of them."

Mark Kaylor: "I've only ever seen Errol Christie fight once before and that was the best I've ever seen him fight."

Lou Duva, Veteran boxing trainer, on the spartan training regimen of heavyweight Andrew Golota: "He's a guy who gets up at six o'clock in the morning regardless of what time it is."

Randall "Tex" Cobb: "When I got up I stuck to my plan -- stumbling forward and getting hit in the face."

Blackie Sherrod, talking about a heavyweight contender: "He has everything a boxer needs except speed, stamina, a punch, and ability to take punishment. In other words, he owns a pair of shorts."

Max Barr, on Joe Louis: "He hit me 18 times while I was in the act of falling."

Harry Kabakoff, on Chango Cruz: "The bum was up and down so many times I thought he was an Otis elevator."

Terry Lawless: "He's standing there making a sitting target of himself."

Mike Tyson, to the Nevada State Athletic Commission: "I'm not Mother Teresa. But I'm also not Charles Manson."

Nick Wilshire: "I can only see it going one way, that's my way. How it's actually going to go I can't really say."

Tommy Farr: "Every time I hear the name Joe Louis my nose starts to bleed."

Dan Duva, on Mike Tyson hooking up again with promoter Don King: " Why would anyone expect him to come out smarter? He went to prison for three years, not Princeton."

Alan Massengale, after Don Zimmer got knocked down by Pedro Martinez in the playoffs and Evander Holyfield lost to James Toney.: "I felt sorry for Zimmer this weekend. Next time, if he wants to rumble, maybe he should pick on someone a little closer to his age. Evander Holyfield might be available."

Harry Carpenter: "Marvelous oriental pace he's got, just like a Buddhist statue."

Tex Cobb, responding to a reporter who said Cobb was a fat, cocaine snorting , drunk. Cobb replied: "I'm not fat.

Dan Duva, referring to whether or not he thought Mike Tyson would learn anything in prison: "He went to prison for three years, not Princeton."

Max Baer, when asked for his definition of fear: "Standing across the ring from Joe Louis and knowing he wants to go home early."

George Foreman: "The referee is the most important man in the ring besides the two fighters."