We all know the tragic stories in boxing, and have all felt sympathy for the fighters who were left paralysed, brain damaged or even killed in the ring. Also we all know the names of fighters such as Duk Koo Kim, Gerald Mclellan and Benny Paret and what happened to them, but what about the so called "winners" of the fights? Does anyone have any stories of how the other fighter in the ring was affected, or even how it affected families of both fighters or people who were involved in the fight?
Usually it does affect them. Benn was never the same after the McClellan fight, although he took a load of physical damage during that one as well as mentally of course. I have a short documentary where he says he tried to commit suicide and had a lot of problems. Then again, boxers in general have a tendency for psychological trouble, so maybe it's coincidence.
after srr killed a man he said it took a long time before he could hit a man hard again.marciano almost quit after the vingo fight. the ref in the mancini x kim fight committed suicide and i believe kims mgr/tr did to.
Ezzard Charles's finishing ability and "killer instinct" (for lack of a better term) were said to be forever diminished after the Sam Baroudi tragedy. Geroge Jones became friends with Beethoven Scotland's widow. They had a segment on ESPN about it. Gabriel Ruelas kept in touch with Jimmy Garcia's family after Garcia died. I think they helped convince him to keep fighting, if I'm not mistaken. I don't know if it's true or just an internet rumor, but I've heard that Teddy Reid has actually bragged about killing someone in the ring. It made me happy to see him get KO'd by the likes of Kermit Cintron and others. Max Baer apparently helped pay for the college tuition of Frankie Campbell's kids. Jimmy Doyle's death is said to be one of the reasons why Ray Robinson was so difficult in negotations.
I don't Know if Mancini was the most affected but he has to be close: "After Kim died Mancini went to the funeral in South Korea, but he fell into a deep depression afterwards.[3] He has said that the hardest moments came when people approached him and asked if he was the boxer who "killed" Duk Koo Kim. Mancini went through a period of reflection, as he blamed himself for Kim's death. In addition, Kim's mother committed suicide four months after the fight, as did the bout's referee, Richard Green, in July of 1983." Before the fight Mancinin was 25-1 with 20 KO's after the fight he went 4-4. Mancini's trainer quit after saying Ray would no longer train like he used to. BTW most of this is from Boxrec. IMHO Mancini could have been one of the all time greats but it's just wasn't in the cards.
LUPE PINTOR fought on after the Johnny Owens tragedy. Years later he met up with the Owens family. In was a very emotional meeting and is included in a multi-part download available on the Net. Think it's called The Matchstick Man (which was Owens' nickname). Similarly, EMILE GRIFFITH fought on after the Benny Paret tragedy, and met up with Paret's son years later. In the Griffith v Paret fight the referee let Paret down miserably in my opinion! Have a look at footage of the final seconds and it's clear Paret is out on his feet and absolutely defencless, but the pounding continued. Apparently Paret had baited Griffith before the match regarding his sexuality, and it's fair to say Griffith was motivated to give Paret some grief. There's an excellent TV doco on Griffith's life that covers the Paret incident thoroughly.
Jacob Morake died after fighting Brian Mitchell, who stopped him in the 12th. Mitchell took it very hard and like many in his situation considered giving up the sport. It wasn't until Morake's mother urged him to continue that he could lace up a pair of gloves again.
